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21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World

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21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Quarter 2 – Module 6: Literary genres and their elements, structures and
traditions in Asia
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education - Schools Division of Pasig City

Development Team of the Self-Learning Module

Writer:Jenylyn L. Rañin
Editor: Lina O. Bona
Technical Reviewer: Rowena D. Roxas
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Management Team: Ma. Evalou Concepcion A. Agustin
OIC-Schools Division Superintendent
Carolina T. Rivera, CESE
OIC-Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
Manuel A. Laguerta EdD
Chief Curriculum Implementation Division
Victor M. Javena, EdD
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Librada L. Agon,EdD(EPP/TLE/TVL/TVE)
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Pasig City

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 21st Century Literature from
the Philippines and the World

Quarter 2
Self-Learning Module 6
Literary genres and their
elements, structures, and
traditions in Asia

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Introductory Message

For the Facilitator:

Welcome to the21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the WorldSelf-
Learning Module 6 on Literary genres and their elements, structures and traditions
in Asia!

This Self-Learning Module was collaboratively designed, developed and

reviewed by educators from the Schools Division Office of Pasig City headed by its
Officer-in-Charge Schools Division Superintendent, Ma. Evalou Concepcion A.
Agustin, in partnership with the City Government of Pasig through its mayor,
Honorable Victor Ma. Regis N. Sotto.The writers utilized the standards set by the K
to 12 Curriculum using the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC)in
developing this instructional resource.

This learning material hopes to engage the learners in guided and

independent learning activities at their own pace and time. Further, this also aims
to help learners acquire the needed 21st century skills especially the 5 Cs, namely:
Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Character while
taking into consideration their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the
body of the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies
that will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this
module. You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them
to manage their own learning. Moreover, you are expected to encourage and assist
the learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

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 For the Learner:

Welcome to the 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the WorldSelf-
Learning Module 6 on Literary genres and their elements, structures and
traditions in Asia!

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful
opportunities for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You
will be enabled to process the contents of the learning material while being an
active learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

Expectations– This points to the set of knowledge and skills

that you will learn after completing the module.

Pretest - This measures your prior knowledge aboutthe lesson

at hand.

Recap - This part of the module provides a review ofconcepts

and skills that you already knowabout a previous lesson.

Lesson- This section discusses the topic in the module.

Activities - This is a set of activities that you need to perform.

Wrap-Up- This section summarizes the concepts and

application of the lesson.

Valuing- This partintegrates a desirable moral value in the

lesson.

Posttest - This measures how much you have learned from the
entire module.

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 EXPECTATIONS

This is your self-instructional module in 21st Century Literature from the

Philippines and the World. All the activities provided in this lesson will help
you compare and contrast: Literary genres and their elements, structures and
traditions in Asia!
Specifically, you will learn about the following:

1. differentiate the various literary genres, elements, structures and

traditions in Asia;
2. understand and appreciate literary genres, elements, structures
and traditions in Asia;and
3. write a close analysis and critical interpretation of a text from Asia.

PRETEST

Read each statement carefully and write the answers before each item.
_________1. It is the Earth's largest and most populous continent, located
primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres.
A. Europe C. Asia
B. America D. Africa
_________ 2. It is a genre of speculative fiction that contains imagined
elements that don’t exist in the real world.
A. Legend C. Haiku
B. Science Fiction D. Folklore

_________ 3. It is an unrhymed poetic in Japanese literature consisting of 17

syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively.
C. Legend C. Haiku
D. Science Fiction D. Folklore

________ 4.This refers to the place where Haruki Murakami was born.
A. Philippines C. Korea
B. India D. Japan

__________ 5. What is the name of the award given to Murakami?

A. Yomiuri Literary Prize C. Writer of the Decade
B. Literary Piece of the Year D. None of the above

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 RECAP

Read and analyze the names of some famous cotemporary African

writers in column A and match it with the title of their novels in column B.

Column A Column B
_________1. Chinua Achebe A. From a Crooked Rib
_________2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie B. So Long A Letter
_________3. AyiKwei Armah C. Things Fall Apart
_________4. Mariama Bâ D. Americanah
_________5. Nuruddin Farah E. The Beautiful Ones Are
Not Yet Born

LESSON

Asian Literature
Asian literature refers to the literature that was written over a period of
thousands of years, in a variety of countries in Asia. Asian literature
encompasses East Asian literature that includes Chinese, Japanese and
Korean literature; Central Asian literature comprising of Bengali, Indian,
Pakistani and Tamil literature; West Asian Literature that covers Arabic
literature, Persian literature and Turkish literature and South East Asian
Literature that is comprised of literature of the Philippines.
The study of the massive amount of Asian literature as a whole
requires the aggregation of literature under specific headings. Asian
literature can be divided into a host of different labels, categorized according
to religion, zone, region, ethnic group, literary genre, historical perspective
or language of origin.
Though throughout the centuries a vast amount of Asian literature has
been written, most of Asian literature can be broadly categorized as lyric,
drama or narrative. The literary type of Asian writing was usually
determined by the surrounding culture of the time and often expresses the
ideologies prevalent in the era.

Haiku, unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in

three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. The haiku first emerged
in Japanese literature during the 17th century, as a terse reaction to
elaborate poetic traditions, though it did not become known by the
name haiku until the 19th century. A poet cannot create poetry without
having a theme in mind. There exists a defined theme for Haiku and all
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Haiku poets are bound to follow it. Haiku is a nature poem which revolves
around seasons and nature. This means that Haiku brings the readers
closer to natural beauty while highlighting a particular aspect of human
psychology or activities which is associated with a seasonal word. For
instance, snow indicate winters- snow could be a time of celebration such as
Christmas or a phase of deep sorrow, grief and loneliness.

Science fiction (sci-fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that

contains imagined elements that don’t exist in the real world. Science fiction
spans a wide range of themes that often explore time travel, space travel, are
set in the future, and deal with the consequences of technological and
scientific advances.
Ancient Indian poetry such as the Hindu epic Ramayana (5th to 4th
century BC) includes Vimana flying machines able to travel into space or
under water, and destroy entire cities using advanced weapons. In the first
book of the Rigveda collection of Sanskrit hymns (1700–1100 BC), there is a
description of "mechanical birds" that are seen "jumping into space speedily
with a craft using fire and water... containing twelve stamghas (pillars), one
wheel, three machines, 300 pivots, and 60 instruments.

Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group

of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture
or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes.
They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to
handmade toys common to the group
Even though local tradition varies on how the different ethnic groups
around China classify these narratives they can be classified many different
groups that are to be sung or to be spoken. These include folk songs
categorized as epics (Shishi), and narrative poems (Xushishi) similar to long
ballads or lyrical fairy tales. There are also wedding songs (kujiage), drinking
songs (jiuge), love songs (quingge), and work songs (laodongge). As well as
the Spoken narratives such as folktales (minjiangushi), myths (shenhua),
legends (chuanshuo), animal tales (dongwugushi) and many more different
styles of stories.

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan in January 12,1949. He

grew up in Kobe and then moved to Tokyo, where he attended Waseda
University. After college, Murakami opened small jazz bar which he and his
wife ran for seven years. He is a famous Japanese author whose works have
been translated into several languages. According to John Wray (2015) in
The Paris Review, “Haruki Murakami” is not only arguably the most
experimental Japanese novelist to have been translated into English, he is
also the most popular, with sales in the millions worldwide. His greatest
novels inhabit the liminal zone between realism and fable, mystery and
science fiction. Internationally, Murakami is now the most widely-read
Japanese novelist of his generation; he has won virtually every prize in
Japan has to offer, including its greatest, the “Yomiuri Literary Prize”.

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 The Boy Named Crow
[Excerpt from Kafka on the Shore]
By Haruki Murakami
(Japan)
“So you’re all set for money then?” the boy named Crow asks in his
characteristic sluggish voice. The kind of voice that you have when you’ve just
woken up and your mouth feels heavy and dull. But he’s just pretending. He’s
totally awake. As always. I nod. “How much?”
I review the numbers in my head. “Close to Y400,000 in cash, plus some
money I can get from the ATM. I know it’s not a lot, but is should be enough. For
the time being.”
“Not bad.” The boy named Crow says, “For the time being.”
I give him another nod.
“I’m guessing this isn’t Christmas money from Santa Claus.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I replay.
Crow smirks and looks around. “I imagine you’ve started out by rifling
drawers, am I right?”
I don’t say anything. He knows whose money we’re talking about, so theirs is
no need for any long-winded interrogations. He’s just giving me a hard time.
“No matter,” Crow says. “You really need this money and you’re going to get
it– beg, borrow or steal. It’s your father’s money, so who cares, right? Get your
hands on that much and you should be able to make it. For the time being. But
what’s the plan after it’s all gone? Money isn’t like mushrooms in a forest- it doesn’t
just pop up on its own, you know. You’ll need to eat, a place to sleep. One day
you’re going to run out.”
“I’ll think about that when the time comes,” I say.
“When the time comes,” Crow repeats, as if weighing these words in his hand.
I nod.
“Like by getting a job or something?”
“Maybe,” I say.
Crow shakes his head. “You know you’ve got a lot to learn about the world.
Listen- what kind of job could a 15-year-old kid get in some far-off place he’s never
been to before? You haven’t even finished junior high. Who do you think’s going to
hire you?”
I blush a little. It doesn’t take much to make me blush.
“Forget it,” he says. “You’re just starting out and shouldn’t lay all this
depressing stuff on you. You’ve already decided what you’re going to do and all
that’s left is to set the wheels in motion. I mean, it’s your life. Basically, you have to
go with what you think is right.”
That’s right. When all is said and done, it is my life.
“I’ll tell you one thing, though. You’re going to have to get a lot tougher if you
want to make it.”
“I’m trying my best,” I say.
“I’m sure you are,” Crows says. “These last few years you’ve grown a whole lot
stronger. I’ve got to hand it to you.”
I nod again.
“But let’s face it- you’re only 15,” Crow goes on. “Your life’s just begun and
there’s a ton of things out in the world you’ve never laid eyes on. Things you never
could imagine.”

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 As always, we’re sitting beside each other on the old sofa in my father’s
study. Crow loves the study and all little objects scattered around there. Now he’s
toying with a bee-shaped glass paperweight. If my father was at home, you can bet
Crow would never go anywhere near it.
“But I have to get out of here,” I tell him. “No two ways about it.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He places the paperweight back on the table and
links his hands behind his head. “Not that running away is going to solve
everything. I don’t want to rain on your parade or anything, but I wouldn’t count on
escaping this place if I were you. No matter how far you run. Distance might not
solve anything.”
The boy named Crow lets out a sigh, then rests a fingertip on each of his
closed eyelids and speaks to me from the darkness within.
“How about we play our game?” he says.
“All right,” I say. I close my eyes and quietly take a breath.
“OK, picture a terrible storm,” he says. “Get everything else out of your head.”
I do as he says, get everything else out of my head. I forget who I am, even.
I’m a total blank. Then things begin to surface. Things that- as we sit here on the
old leather sofa in my father’s study- both of us can see.
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction,”
Crow says.
And that’s exactly what I do. I imagine a white funnel stretching vertically up
like a thick rope. My eyes are closed tight, hands cupped over my ears, so those
fine grains of sand can’t blow inside me. The sandstorm draws steadily closer. I can
feel the air pressing on my skin. It really is going to swallow me up.
The boy called Crow rests a hand softly on my shoulder and with that storm
vanishes.
“From now on- no matter what-you’ve got to be the world’s toughest 15-year-
old. That’s the only way you’re going to survive. And in order to do that, you’ve got
to figure out what it means to be tough. You following me?”
I keep my eyes closed and don’t reply. I just want to sink of into sleep like
this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the faint flutter of wings.
“You’re going to be the world’s toughest 15-year-old,” Crow whispers as I try
to fall asleep. As if he were carving the words in a deep blue tattoo on my heart.
On my fifteenth birthday I’ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town
and live in a corner of a small library. It’d take a week to go into the whole thing, all
the details. So I’ll just give the main point.
It sounds a little like a fairytale. But it’s no fairy tale, believe me. No matter
what sort of spin you put on it.

ACTIVITIES
Activity 1
Let’s try a few items as practice exercise. Answer the following questions
comprehensively.
1. What does the boy feel toward Crow?

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 2. How would you describe the boy named Crow?
3. How would you describe the boy’s relationship with his father? Could
this be considered a relationship that many people have with their
fathers? Why or why not?
4.Why does the boy want to run away?
5.Why does he have to be the toughest 15-year-old in the world?

Activity 2
Snail Mail
Do you have any problems with your father? After reading this
excerpt, how does this story relate to your relationship with your father?
Write a letter to your father, describing the story that you had just read and
what you felt about it. Write about how you feel about your father, what you
wish to say and how sometimes it can be hard to say it. With the help of
your teacher, mail this in the post office, so that it will have a greater
significance when your father receives it.

Activity 3
Directions:Complete the story diagram below with the needed information.

Story:__________________________ Author: _____________________

Setting Main Characters

Beginning

Middle

End

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 WRAP-UP
Directions: List down three things that you remember from the lesson, two
interesting things that you learned, and one question that you have or something
you are confused about the lesson.

Three things I remember from the lesson

1._________________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________________________________
Two interesting things that I learned
1._________________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________________
One question that I have from the lesson
1._________________________________________________________________________

VALUING
In 3-5 paragraphs, explain this line, “Sometimes fate is like a small
sandstorm that keeps changing direction,”
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

POSTTEST

Directions: Read each statement carefully and encircle the letter of the
correct answer.
1. He is a famous Japanese author who grew up in Kobe and then moved
to Tokyo, whose works have been translated into several languages.
A. Banana Yoshimoto C. Haruki Murakami
B. NatsuoKirino D. Yukio Mishima

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2. ______________ literature that includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Indian, Pakistani, Tamil, Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature.

A. African Literature C. European Literature

B. Asian Literature D. American Literature

3. Who are the characters in the excerpt from Kafka on the Shore
entitled “The Boy Named Crow”?

A. Boy, Father & Crow C. Boy & Crow

B. Boy, Father, Mother & Crow D. Father & Crow

4. In the story, fate is like a ______________________.

A. Paradise C. Waves
B. Sandstorm D. Garden

5. Which is not included in the different categories of Asian literature?

A. Religion C. Literary genre
B. Ethic Group D. None of the above

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 References
Andrew John C. Baronda “21 st Century Literature from the Philippines and the
World for Senior High School” Copyright 2016 Published by JFS Publishing
Services.

Marikit Tara A. Uychoco “21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the
World for Senior High School” Copyright 2016 Published by REX Book Store, Inc.

National PASS Center “Poetry: Form, Syllables, Mood, and Tone” Copyright 2012
Published by Solutions for Out-Of-School Youth.

Emilou Lindsay leazaMatam, Nerissa Cruz Gabelo, Felix M. Ambon, Edward E.

Babasa “21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World for Senior High
School” Philippine Copyright 2016 Published by MUTYA Publishing House, Inc.

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