Literature in South East Asia

 

 

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Almost every country in Southeast Asia was ruled by foreigners, leaving a great impact on their cultural heritage. The traditional literature in Southeast Asia is a mixture of culture, beliefs and religions which were mostly passed on by word of mouth or through dance as most of the population couldn't read at that time.  

For much of its history, Vietnam was under the rule of China so a lot of Vietnamese literature was written in Classic Chinese. Ancient symbolic scripts like Chu Nom and Chu Quoc Ngu date back to the 10th and 16th century respectively. On the other hand, Cambodian folklore was not written down until the 19th century and was passed on only through word of mouth or dancing. Many of these folklores are borrowed features from the Hindu mythologies of Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

Laos being a landlocked country was never influenced by Indian or Chinese literature but had a huge Buddhist influence. Buddhist writings were written on palm leaves and kept safely in wooden caskets. Many ancient classical texts and poems written in Sanskrit can be found in Cambodia that date back to the 5th century B.C. 

As a result of western colonization, well-known genres of Western Literature like novels, theatre, short stories, plays and essays were adapted by Southeast Asians.