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The literary canon is one of the most lively areas of debate in contemporary literary studies. This set of essays is both timely and original in its focus on the canon in South-East Asian literatures, covering Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They vary in focus, from the broad panoramic survey of trends in a national literature to very specific discussions of the role of individuals in shaping a canon or the place of a particular text within a tradition, and from contemporary to traditional literature. They include discussions of the development of prose fiction, censorship and artistic freedom, the role of westerners in codifying indigenous literatures, the writing of literary history, the development of literary criticism and indigenous aesthetics.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Buddhist hagiography in forming the canon in the classical literatures of Indochina, Yuriy M. Osipov; Chapter 2 Myanmar prose writing: tradition and innovation in the twentieth century, Annemarie Esche; Chapter 3 Continuity and change in the Burmese literary canon, Anna J. Allott; Chapter 4 Literature in transition: an overview of Vietnamese writing of the Renovation Period, Dana Healy; Chapter 5 The classics of Tagalog literature, Ruth Elynia S. Mabanglo; Chapter 6 Literary excellence as national domain: configuring the masterpiece novel in the Philippines and Malaysia, Luisa J. Mallari; Chapter 7 Development in Malay criticism, Lisbeth Littrup; Chapter 8 Is there a women's canon?, Christine Campbell; Chapter 9 The construction and institutionalisation of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi as the father of modern Malay literature: the role of westerners, Ungku Maimunah Mohd. Tahir; Chapter 10 The regulation of beauty: J. Kats and Javanese poetics, Bernard Arps; Chapter 11 The emergence of twentieth century Cambodian literary institutions: the case of Kambujasuriya, George Chigas; Chapter 12 The canon of Indonesian literature: an analysis of Indonesian literary histories available in Indonesia, E. Ulrich Kratz; Chapter 13 Towards the canonizing of the Thai novel, David Smyth; Chapter 14 ::, V. I. Braginsky; Chapter 15 ::, Peter Koret; Chapter 16 Shot by foreign can(n)ons: retrieving native poetics, Muhammad Haji Salleh;
About the author
Authored by Smyth, David
Summary
Contributions examine the idea of the literary canon in Southeast Asia as a list of famous authors and works which have stood the test of time and reflect a country's cultural unity.
Additional text
'We are fortunate in having this opportunity to compare and contrast the differing perceptions of national literary masterpieces in Southeast Asia. These sixteen papers are a very useful and welcome addition to our knowledge.' - Asian Affairs'A fine collection of well-presented, wonderfully researched papers that embraces a variety of different perspectives about the Southeast Asian literary world.' - The Journal of Asian Studies
