Literature

General EditorDavid Damrosch, Harvard UniversityGunilla Lindberg-Wada, Stockholm UniversityVolume EditorAnders Pettersson, Umeå UniversityRegional EditorsAfrica: Eileen Julien, Indiana University BloomingtonThe Americas: Djelal Kadir, Pennsylvania State UniversityEast Asia: Zhang Longxi, City University of Hong KongEurope: Anders Pettersson, Umeå UniversitySouth and Southeast Asia and Oceania: Harish Trivedi, University of DelhiWest and Central Asia: As²ad E. Khairallah, The American University of Beirut

• ContentsFull Table of Contents viiTimeline xiContributors to Volume 1 lixGeneral Introduction: Literature, History, World lxiiiAnders Pettersson and David Damrosch, with the collective of editorsReflections on the Idea of LiteraturelxiiiAbout Literature: A World HistorylxxviiiIntroduction to Volume 1: The World before 200 ce 1Anders Pettersson1 East Asia7Zhang Longxi, Bruce Fulton, and Gunilla Lindberg-WadaIntroduction: East Asia as a Region7Chinese Literature9Poetry in Pre-Qin China9Prose Works in Pre-Qin China17The Literature of the Han Dynasty20The Literature of the Jian-an Period (196–220)272 South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania30Harish Trivedi, Harry Aveling, Teri Yamada, and Susan NajitaIntroduction30South Asia31The Vedas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads 31The Great Epics44Collections of Tales48Early Tamil Literature54Southeast Asia57Oceania583 Worlds Apart: Comparing Literary Traditions before the Global Age62Wiebke Denecke4 West and Central Asia 79As ad E. Khairallah, David Damrosch, and Bo UtasIntroduction79The Ancient Near East82The Invention of Writing82What Was Literature?87The First Patron of Literature95The Bible as Literature? 98Iran1015 Africa107Karin Barber, Biodun Jeyifo, Eileen Julien, and Steve VinsonIntroduction107Ancient Egypt 108Language, Script, and “Literature”108Ancient Egyptian Genres110Orality 1236 Writing Systems and Cultural Memory128David Damrosch7 Europe141Anders PetterssonIntroduction141Ancient Greece146Greek Epic and Lyric Poetry146Classical Greek Drama 157Classical Greek Prose167Literature in Greek, 300 bce–200 ce 174Ancient Rome180Latin Literature before 100 bce 180First-century bce Latin Poetry and Prose184Latin Literature during the First Two Centuries ce 201Writing, Reading, and Literary Thought in Greco-Roman Culture206Concluding Remarks: Greco-Roman Literary Culture in a Wider Perspective2098 The Americas214Djelal Kadir, Quentin Youngberg, Albert Braz, and Donatella Izzo  9 Literatures before 200 ce: Concluding Remarks222Anders PetterssonFull Table of ContentsVolume 1: Before 200 ceTimeline xiContributors to Volume 1 lixGeneral Introduction: Literature, History, World lxiiiIntroduction to Volume 1: The World before 200 ce 11 East Asia 72 South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania303 Worlds Apart: Comparing Literary Traditions before the Global Age624 West and Central Asia 795 Africa 1076 Writing Systems and Cultural Memory 1287 Europe 1418 The Americas 2149 Literatures before 200 ce: Concluding Remarks222VOLUME 2: 200–1500Contributors to Volume 2 ixIntroduction to Volume 2: Peoples, Languages, and Literatures between 200 and 1500 ce 2291 East Asia 2352 Court Literature in East Asia and Europe 3453 South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania 3554 Animal Stories in South Asia and Europe 4265 West and Central Asia 4336 Alexander the Great in Medieval Literature 5277 Africa 5428 The Circum-Mediterranean Scene in the First Centuries of the Second Millennium – Mirrored in the Works of Ramon Llull 5899 Europe 59610 Christian and Islamic Mysticism 67011 The Americas 683VOLUME 3: 1500–1800Contributors to Volume 3 ixIntroduction to Volume 3: Literature of the World between 1500 and 1800 6971 East Asia 7052 South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania 7543 West and Central Asia 8134 Africa 8625 Europe 8926 The Americas 9777 Utopia and Anti-Utopia in the Literary World 1016VOLUME 4: 1800–2000Contributors to Volume 4 ixIntroduction to Volume 4: Literature of the World between 1800 and 2000 10291 East Asia 10342 South and Southeast Asia 10913 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand 11794 West and Central Asia 12215 Africa 13226 Europe 14137 The Americas 1517Index 1547