21ST CENTURY - SEMI FINALS

Question 1

World Literature

Answer 1

World Literature is the totality of all
national literatures. Each nation’s literature has its
own artistic and national features. As a concept, world literature emerged only
in the 19th century when the literary connections of
different countries had spread and strengthened. World literature is the cultural heritage of all humanity. It is essential to study world literature as it helps us understand the life of different people from all over the world.

Question 2

Jogann Wolfgang von
Goethe.

Answer 2

The term “world literature” was introduced by Jogann Wolfgang von
Goethe. He used the word “Weltliteratur” in 1827.

Question 3

In 1894 the world saw the first book about world literature – “The history of world literature”

Answer 3

The world literature emerged because of the development of
global economic and cultural relations. This global literary
process was also caused by the rapid development of national
literatures.

Question 4

The Bronze Age of Literature

Answer 4

Covers ancient literature from 2600 BC. It was in this period the literary works of Sumerians and Egyptians emerged, since they were also the first ancient civilizations who developed the early systems of writing including the cuneiform of the Sumerians and hieroglyphs of the Egyptians.

Question 5

Classical Literature (1200 BCE to 455 CE)

Answer 5

Refers to the great masterpieces of Greek, Roman, and other ancient civilizations.

Question 6

Medieval Literature

Answer 6

Refers broadly to any work written in Latin or the vernacular between C 476-1500 CE, including philosophy, religious treatises, legal texts, as well as works of the imagination.

Question 7

Modern Literature

Answer 7

Originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing.

Question 8

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 8

a technique in writing that attempts to depict the infinite thoughts and feelings which passthrough the mind of a narrator. The speaker’s thought process are more often depicted as overheard in the mind. Since stream of consciousness is a
technique for narration used in prose fiction, it is more of an interior monologue where the character only
talks in his mind without the actual verbal expression of his thought process.

Question 9

Monologue

Answer 9

long speech delivered or presented by an
individual character.

Question 10

Soliloquy

Answer 10

it is presented by a single
character to himself/herself as an expression of his/her inner thoughts to himself/herself.

Question 11

Contemporary Literature

Answer 11

Set after World War II or during the 1940s. Reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story emerged on this period, but it was also during this period that gave birth to the genre of magical realism which was a breakthrough at the time.

Question 12

Magical Realism

Answer 12

As a literary fiction style, magical realism paints a
realistic view of the modern world while also adding
magical elements, often dealing with the blurring of
the lines between fantasy and reality.

Question 13

21st Century Literature

Answer 13

It refers to any work written from 2001 onwards. It is characterized by the steep increase in the acceptability of literature of all types, inspired by the coming of age of millions of people who enjoyed the work of writers of speculative fiction.

Question 14

Speculative Fiction

Answer 14

It is a broad category of fiction encompassing genres
with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded
history, nature, or the present universe. Such fiction covers various themes in the context of
supernatural, futuristic, and other imaginative
realms.

Question 15

Dystopian Fiction

Answer 15

It is a kind of fiction denoting an imagined state or
society where there is great suffering and injustice.
This is the complete opposite of Utopian Fiction
which presents an ideal world free of suffering or pain.

Question 16

READING APPROACH

Answer 16

This approach is one way of solving students’ reading problems.

Question 17

SCANNING

Answer 17

is a technique that enables you to search for specific information. you have something to look for. you use this in menus, dictionaries, telephone books. Read the questions first to know the information you need. Look for words that are boldfaced, italicized, or underlined. Search for nouns and verbs.

Question 18

SKIMMING

Answer 18

to get the main idea, author’s purpose, and method of organization of the material. Read the topic sentence in the 1st paragraph, then go rapidly to the next paragraph to get the main idea. let you cover more material in less time. we use it in research, news, websites, television guide/program schedule.

Question 19

INTENSIVE READING

Answer 19

requires readers to read and
familiarize even the smallest details of a text. is applied when there is a specific
task given and an output is expected from the learners. Examples: list the events that happened in the story in a chronological order. cite all the elements of the story analyzed.

Question 20

EXTENSIVE READING

Answer 20

is done for “fun” and “pastime”. is loose and comfortable since no task or output is expected after.
reading develops general reading skills. Examples: reading a short story
reading an online series
comics, tales, riddles jokes

Question 21

Asia

Answer 21

the largest continent in the world, has a vast literary tradition. literature in the eastern hemisphere prospered and mirrored the developments of religion, war, and politics.

Question 22

China

Answer 22

one of the world’s cradles of civilization, has started its unbroken literary tradition in the 14th century BCE. The preservation of the Chinese language (both spoken and written), has made the
immeasurable prolonged existence of their literary traditions possible. It has retained its reputation by keeping the fundamentals of its identity intact.

Question 23

Du Fu

Answer 23

He is also known as Tu fu. According to many literary critics, he was the greatest
Chinese poet of all time. He wrote the poem “The Ballad of the Army Cats” which is
about conscription—and with hidden satire that speaks of the noticeable luxury of the court.

Question 24

Li Po

Answer 24

He is also known as Li Bai, a Chinese poet who is a competitor of Du Fu as China’s greatest poet. He was romantic in his personal life and his poetry. His works are known for its conversational tone and vivid imagery. He wrote the poem “Alone and Drinking under the Moon” that deals
with the ancient social custom of drinking.

Question 25

Wang Wei

Answer 25

He was a poet, painter, musician, and statesman during the Tang dynasty (the
golden ages of the Chinese cultural history). He was the established founder of the
respected Southern school of painter-poets. Many of his best poems were inspired by the local landscape.

Question 26

Mo Yan

Answer 26

He was a fictionist who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. His first novel was “Red Sorghum”, and still his best-known work. It tells
the story of the Chinese battling Japanese intruders as well as each other during the 1930s. It relates the story of a family in a rural area in
Shandong Province during this turbulent time.

Question 27

Yu Hua

Answer 27

He was a world-acclaimed short story writer and
considered as a champion for Chinese meta-fictional or postmodernist writing. His widely acclaimed novel “To Live” describes the struggles
endured by the son of a wealthy land-owner while
historical events caused and extended by the Chinese Revolution are fundamentally altering the
nature of Chinese society.

Question 28

Korea

Answer 28

Korea’s literary tradition is greatly influenced by China’s cultural dominance.
As early as the 4th century CE, Korean poets wrote literary pieces in Classical
Chinese poetry then transformations happened at the 7th century. Hangul, Korean’s distinct writing system and national alphabet, is developed in the 15th century that gave new beginnings of Korean
literature. In contemporary times, the Korean War has made a significant mark on Korean literature. In 1950, the themes present in the
literary works are about alienation, conscience, disintegration, and self- identity.

Question 29

Ch’oe Nam-Seon

Answer 29

He was considered a prominent historian, pioneering poet, and publisher in the Korean literature. He was also
a leading member of the modern literary movement and became notable in pioneering modern Korean poetry. One of his works, the poem “The Ocean to the Youth” made him a widely acclaimed poet. The poem aimed to produce cultural reform. He sought to bring modern knowledge about the world to the youth of Korea.

Question 30

Yi Kwang-su

Answer 30

He was also the one who launched the modern literary movement together with Ch’oe Nam-Seon. He was a novelist and wrote the first Korean novel “The Heartless” and became well-known because of it. It was a
description of the crossroads at which Korea found itself, stranded between tradition and modernity, and undergoing conflict between social realities and traditional ideals.

Question 31

Kim Ok

Answer 31

He was a Korean poet and included in the early
modernism movement of Korean poetry. He
wrote the first Korean collection of translation
from Western poetry “The Dance of Agony”

Question 32

Yun Hunggil

Answer 32

He was a South Korean novelist who won the
1977 Korean Literature Writers Award. He
wrote the classic novel “Changma” (The
Rainy Spell) that on a post-war family with two grandmothers and their shared grandson.

Question 33

Pak Kyongni

Answer 33

She was a South Korean poet and novelist.
She wrote the Korean’s masterpiece and
internationally acclaimed 21-volume epic novel T’oji (“The Land”), wherein she
chronicled the violent Korean history from
1897 to 1945.

Question 34

Japan

Answer 34

Japan has a rich and unique literary history even
though it has been influenced by the Chinese
language and Chinese literature. It has a world-
renowned poetic genre called haiku ( a short
descriptive poem with 17 syllables) and the diverse
forms of theatre Noh (traditional Japanese theatrical form and one of the oldest extant theatrical forms in the world) and Kabuki (traditional Japanese popular drama with singing and dancing performed in a
highly stylized manner). Japanese literature reflects simple yet complex,
imperfect yet abounding with beauty – the
traditional Japanese cultural identity. In
contemporary times, Western influences take part in the Japanese literature, specifically in the
pioneering of modern Japanese novels, translations
of the poetry, and reinventions of traditional
Japanese poetic forms like haiku and tanka.
Playwrights like Abe Kobo and Mishima Yukio are
Japan’s notable literalists.

Question 35

Abe Kobo

Answer 35

He was a Japanese novelist and playwright and also
known by the pseudonym of Abe Kimifusa. He wrote
the best-known play “Tomodachi” (Friends) which is a story, with dark humor, reveals the relationship with
the other, and exposes the peculiarity of human
relations in the present age.
“ He also won the 1967
Akutagawa Award. He also won the 1951 Akutagawa
Award for his short novel Kabe (“The Wall”).

Question 36

Kimitake Hiraoka

Answer 36

He is also known by the pen name Mishima Yukio, the most important Japanese novelist of the 20th century. He was one of the finalists of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Literature and won numerous awards for his works. He wrote the novel “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion” and won Yomiuri Prize from Yomiuri Newspaper Corporation for the best novel. “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”, translated into the English language by Ivan Morris, based on the burning of the Reliquary (or Golden Pavilion) of Kinkaku-Ji in Kyoto by a young Buddhist acolyte in 1950.

Question 37

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Answer 37

He was a Japanese writer and regarded as the Father of the Japanese short story. He wrote the short story
“Rashomon” that recounts the encounter between a
servant and an old woman in the dilapidated Rashōmon, the southern gate of the then-ruined city of Kyoto, where unclaimed corpses were sometimes dumped. The Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s premier literary award was
named after him to honor his memory after he died by
committing suicide.

Question 38

Haruki Murakami

Answer 38

He was a Japanese novelist who won the international
award Jerusalem Prize. He also won the Gunzou Literature Prize for his first novel “Hear the Wind Sing”. It featured episodes in the life of an unnamed
protagonist and his friend, the Rat, who hang out at a
bar. The unnamed protagonist reminisces and muses about life and intimacy. Murakami’s work has been translated into more than fifty languages.

Question 39

Middle East

Answer 39

Arabic literary tradition has been flourishing in the Middle East. Islam is the foundation of
culture in this region - an essential component. In contemporary
times, Arabic writers experience difficulties in producing their literary texts
due to the issue of freedom of expression and the tension between religious and secular movements

Question 40

Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad

Answer 40

He was an Egyptian poet, journalist, and literary
critic, an innovator of the 20th-century Arabic
poetry and criticism. He became famous for his
Abqariyat series, a seven-book compilation that
covers the life of seven of the most important
Sahabah (the disciples and followers of
Muhammad)

Question 41

Taha Hussein

Answer 41

He was an Egyptian novelist, essayist, critic, and
an outstanding figure in Egyptian literature. His
nickname was “The Dean of Arabic Literature”. He
wrote the novelized autobiography “The Days”, one of the most popular works of modern Arabic
literature that deals with his childhood in a small
village, then his studies in Egypt and France

Question 42

Ali Ahmad Said Esber

Answer 42

He is known also as Adonis as his pseudonym. He is
an award-winning Syrian-born Lebanese poet, literary
critic, and is a leader of the modernist movement in
contemporary Arabic poetry. He was the recipient of
numerous honors, including the 2011 Goethe Prize and
the 2017 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in
International. Some of his famous poems are “First
Poems” and “Leaves in the Wind”

Question 43

Etgar Keret

Answer 43

He is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for
film and television. His 2019 Fly Already (“Glitch at the Edge of the Galaxy”) published in English won Israel’s prestigious Sapir Prize in Literature

Question 44

South and South-East Asia

Answer 44

India is the cultural giant over South Asia. Hallmark writings such as Veda, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads are the roots of Indian literature. As early as 1500 BCE, the Veda written in the Sanskrit language introduced the birth of Indian literary works. Around the 16th century, written literature in India appeared. Kalidasa is a
notable and famous Indian writer considered to be the Hindu Shakespeare. The literary traditions of Southeast Asia possess the influences of Buddhist, Thai, and English cultures, especially in Burma literature. Malaysian and
Indonesian literature reflects a large part of the Sanskrit language and Islam culture. Southeast Asia literature presents themes on colonial and postcolonial experiences in Burmese literature and western literature influences in Thailand literature

Question 45

Rabindranath Tagore

Answer 45

He was a Bengali poet, short-story writer, song
composer, playwright, essayist, and painter. He was
referred to as “the Bard of Bengal”. He is a towering
figure of world literature and the most famous modern
Indian poet. He won the 1913 Nobel Prize for
Literature award for his book The English Gitanjali or
Song Offerings. It is a volume of poetry which is a
collection of devotional songs to the supreme.

Question 46

Dhanpat Rai Srivastava

Answer 46

Also known by his pseudonym Prem Chand, he is a famous Indian author of novels and short stories of his modern Hindustani literature. He pioneered in adapting Indian themes to Western literary styles. He wrote the most popular Hindi novel “Godaan” (Cow Donation) and considered one of the greatest Hindi novels of modern Indian literature. Its theme was around the socioeconomic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the
village poor

Question 47

Raja Rao

Answer 47

He is an Indian writer of novels and short stories in the English language. It won him the Sahitya Akademi Award. He was also rewarded the Neustadt
International Prize for Literature.

Question 48

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan
(R. K. Narayan)

Answer 48

One of the finest Indian authors in the English
language, he wrote the Sahitya Award-winning novel
“The Guide” which was adapted for film and for
Broadway

Question 49

Chart Korbjitti

Answer 49

He is the most successful Thai writer. His novel was
named as Book of the Year by Thailand’s Literature
Council and won him the S.E.A Write Award. He was
awarded the National Artist in Literature (2004) and
was among the honorees of the inaugural Silpathorn
Award, given to Thai contemporary artists.

Question 50

Nguyen Du

Answer 50

The best-loved poet and the father of Vietnamese
literature,

Question 51

Tengku Amir Hamzah

Answer 51

He was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of
Indonesia. His poem collection “Nyangi Sunyi” is
considered the most developed and shows the
theme of God and His relationship to humanity,
fate, dissatisfaction, and escape. He was the
only Indonesian poet recognized internationally

Question 52

Central Asia

Answer 52

Central Asian literature has different literary characteristics and political in culture. In contemporary times, Russian influence continues to be present in
Central Asia literature

Question 53

Abdullah Qodiriy

Answer 53

He was known by the pseudonym Julqunboy.
He was one of the most influential Uzbek writers of the 20th century and Soviet
playwright, poet, writer, and literary translator. His most famous work is the historical novel “O’tgan kunlar” (Days Gone By), the first Uzbek full-length novel

Question 54

Mukhtar Auez-uli

Answer 54

He was an early Soviet Kazakh writer and won recognition for the long novel “Abay” which is based on the life and poetry of
Kunanbay-uli

Question 55

Chingiz Aytmatov

Answer 55

He was a Soviet and Kyrgyz author and the best-known
figure in Kyrgyz and Russian literature.