Masterworks of Asian Literature
Edited by Barbara Stoler Miller

Indian Texts

Lyric

Classical Sanskrit Lyric:

• Kalidasa (c. 400 C.E.). Meghaduta (The Cloud Messenger)
• Bhartrhari (fifth century C.E.). Poems
• Jayadeva (twelfth century C.E.). Gitagovinda

Classical Tamil Poetry and Poetics (first century B.C.E.-third century C.E.)

• Eight Anthologies
• Ten Long Poems

Devotional Poetry of Medieval North India (fifteenth-seventeenth century C.E.)

Kabir, et al

Lyric Poetry in Urdu: The Ghazal (sixteenth century until the present)

The Poems and Stories of Rabindranath Tagore

Narrative

Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad Gita (400 B.C.E.-400 C.E.)

Ramayana of Valmiki (500-300 B.C.E.)

Anita Desai: Fire on the Mountain (1977) and Games at Twilight (1978)

R. K. Narayan: The Financial Expert (1952)

The Short Stories of Premchand (1880-1936)

Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children (1980)

U. R. Anantha Murthy: Samskara

Drama

Two Classical Indian Plays:

• Kalidasa's Sakuntala (c. 400 C.E.)
• Sudraka's Little Clay Cart (c. 400 C.E.)

Chinese Texts

Lyric

The Book of Songs (sixth century B.C.E.)

The Poetry of Retreat (important poets Tao Qian and Xie Lingyun, fourth-fifth century C.E.)

Tang poetry: A return to the basics (eighth-ninth century C.E.)

• Wang Wei, Li Bai, Du Fu, Bo Juyi, Hanshan et al

Narrative

Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu) (second century B.C.E.)

Sima Qian: Records of the Historian (second-first century B.C.E.)

The Journey to the West (sixteenth century C.E.)

Cao Xueqin's Hongloumeng (eighteenth century C.E.) (Story of the Stone or Dream of the Red Chamber)

Liu E's The Travels of Lao Can (1903-04)

The Stories of Lu Xun (1918-1925)

Camel Xiangzi (Rickshaw) (1937) by Lao She (1899-1966)

Contemporary Chinese Letters

Drama

Wang Shifu: Story of the Western Wing (Romance of the Western Chamber) (thirteenth century C.E.)

Japanese Texts

Lyric

The Man'yoshu (seventh-eighth century C.E.) and Kokinshu (eighth-tenth century C.E.) collections

The Poetry of Matsuo Basho (1644-94 C.E.)

Narrative

Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji (eleventh century C.E.)

A Book of One's Own:

• The Gossamer Years
• Sei Shonagon: The Pillow Book
• The Confessions of Lady Nijo

Kamo no Chomei: "An Account of My Hut" (1212 C.E.)

Tanizaki Junichiro: Seven Japanese Tales (1910-1959)

Enchi Fumiko's The Waiting Years (1957) and Masks (1958)

Abe Kobo: The Woman in the Dunes (1962)

Mishima Yukio (1925-1970): The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country (1948)

[Natsume] Soseki's Kokoro (1914)

Drama

Three Plays of the Noh Theater (fifteenth-sixteenth century C.E.)

• Zeami (1363-1443): Atsumori
• Zeami: Izutsu
• [Kanze Kojiro] Nobumitsu (1435-1516): Ataka

Chikamatsu Monzaemon: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (1703 C.E.)

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Source: Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective: A Guide for Teaching. Ed. by Barbara Stoler Miller. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1994. © 1994 by Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York

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