Unit 13

English 203:
Literature of the NonWestern World
Introduction .Explication Questions Review

Review:

In this course, we unfortunately only get a sample taste of the literature of nonWestern cultures.  This is especially true of India & Native American writing.  In both cases, we found rather nonliterary writing.  Because we only have a tiny sample of the writing from cultures that flourished for thousands of years, our editor understandably tried to pick texts that distilled much of a particular culture's values.  These are most often found in religious texts.  Even though the religious cultures of Asia are unfamiliar to most of us, they are accessible.  Ancient Native American literature & culture are not accessible; or if they are, they are accessible only in fragments to archeologists & linguists.

We did not have a chance to read contemporary East Indian or Native American writing.   Both cultures are currently in the midst of a kind of renaissance or literary boom.  Penguin Press publishes many contemporary Indian novels.  The University presses of New Mexico & Arizona publish many contemporary Native American novels.  If you don't find these at your bookstore, you can find them at Amazon. Don't forget to look for Andean music as well.  The group Sukay is good.  Search for such authors as:

I hope you enjoyed reading at least some of the material in this course.  I know that reading only a fragment of something like the Ramayana often frustrates more than illuminates; & that only reading something like Sakuntala, which is meant to be performed, is also frustrating.  Still, this course at least made you aware of some of the nonWestern world's great literature.  Now that you know it exists, you can read more of the literature of one of the cultures that interests you most.

If you enjoyed this course, WT has other literature courses available on-line.  Well, only one at the moment, English 201: Masterpieces in Western World Literature.  That course studies works by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Dante, Boccaccio, & Cervantes.  The second course in this sequence, English 202 will soon be available on line.