The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures

This book represents the first ever published introduction to the comparative study of traditional Asian literatures, embracing three vast literary zones: Arab-Islamic, Indo-South East Asian and Sino-Far Eastern. The aim of the book is to outline the main properties of Asian literatures in the period of 'reflective traditionalism' (the early centuries CE to the first half of the 19th century), when the creation of a vast body of aesthetically significant works was coupled with the emergence of literary self-awareness: when the nature of the creative process, the poetics and functions of the literary works, and the ways of their influence on the reader were thoroughly comprehended and committed to writing for the first time. The introduction defines the methodology of the macro-dimensional approach to the comparative study of traditional literatures which are understood as multi-level, hierarchial systems of genres. Then the book goes on to discuss such broader theoretical problems as the structure and evolution of literary zones and the types of ties between them, the relationship between poetics, literary aesthetics and the theological model of the world, the inspirati of the poet, the gift of the critic/reader, and the 'anthropomorphism' of literary systems, which turns them into an effective tool of personality formation. To clarify and explain these problems both the comparisons of traditional Arabic, Sanskrit, and classical Chinese literary doctrines with each other and the analysis of concrete literary works are used. The concluding chapter investigates the fortunes of traditionalism in modern Asian literatures as well as the attempt to revive the values of traditional literature in the perspective of the emergence of a neo-traditionalist trend in literature, which is analysed at different stages of its development. The book is intended for specialists in Asian literatures, comparative literature, and literary theory, and for students of these topics.