Features of 21st Century World Literature

Features
of 21st
Century
World
Literature
World literature in
the 21st Century
(published from 2001
until present) may be
distinguished
through the
following themes and
1. Irony, Playfulness
and Black Humor
-are used to treat serious
subjects, topics and
themes in a playful and
humorous way.
2. Intertextuality
-is the relationship between
one text and another or one
text within literary history
and can be a
reference to another literary
work, an extended
discussion of a work, or the
3. Metafiction
-is about a character
who is writing another
literary piece usually
done for emotional
distance and to
comment on the act of
There are two
metafiction:
a. Fabulation-
challenges the normal
structure of a literary
There are two
metafiction:
b. Historiographic
metafiction- concerns
about works that
fictionalize real
4. Temporal Distortion
- is when the time
setting of a story may
overlap, repeat, or
break into multiple
possibilities.
5. Magic Realism
- uses themes and
subjects that are often
imaginary and fantastic
and with a certain
dream-like quality but
are treated as real and
6. Technoculture and
Hyperreality
- refer to how people have
become flooded with
information, and how
technology has become
central focus in many lives
7. Paranoia
- is the fear that
every chaos
happening in the
world is intentional
QUIZ
TIME!
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which technique alters the

time setting of a narrative?
A. black humor
B. historiographic metafiction
C. magic realism
D. temporal distortion
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
2. This is a technique that treats

serious subjects as jokes.
A. hyperreality
B. intertextuality
C. paranoia
D. playfulness
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
3. The relationship between a

text and another is ____?
A. hyperreality
B. intertextuality
C. paranoia
D. playfulness
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
4. The fear that every chaos

happening in the
world is intentional or caused is
____?
A. hyperreality
B. intertextuality
C. paranoia
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
5. This is about a character who
is writing another literary piece –
usually done for
emotional distance and to
comment on the act of
storytelling.
A.Fabulation C. Hyperreality
I. IDENTIFICATION
Directions:
Identify whether the subject

matter is
technoculture or not. Write
TC if yes and NTC if not.
II. IDENTIFICATION
21st
Century
World
Literature:
Africa
Contemporary African literature has
produced many writers of renown including
its Nobel Prize-winners for Literature:
John Maxwell Coetzee (South Africa, 2003),

Nadine Gordimer (South Africa, 1991),
Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt, 1988), Wole Soyinka
(Nigeria, 1986), Claude Simon (Madagascar,
1985), and Albert Camus (Algeria, 1957).
Most African literature is a
reflection of social change –cultural
and political influences
coupled by awareness of a national
identity and modern problems.
These literary pieces often feature
any of the following themes:
colonialism (the effects of European
colonization to African societies),
liberation (the war and conflict for
independence),
nationalism (the struggle between
Communism and democracy, and the rise of
dictatorships), (asserting an identity that is
uniquely African and anticolonial).
Tradition (precolonial African fables,

legends and myths), (use of cultural and
traditional African beliefs)
displacement (the experiences of
refugees or those who have to leave
Africa because of war or conflict)
rootlessness (the narratives of Africans

who grow up in a foreign country and
their feelings of being foreign to both
their adoptive country and their African
heritage).
QUIZ
TIME!
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which theme focuses on the

impact of
European colonization on Africa?
A. colonialism
B. liberation
C. nationalism
D. tradition
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
2. Which theme revolves around

the war and
conflict for independence of
African states?
A. colonialism
B. liberation
C. nationalism
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
3. Which theme centers on

African identity?
A. colonialism
B. liberation
C. nationalism
D. tradition
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
4. Which theme celebrates

precolonial African beliefs and
practices?
A. colonialism
B. liberation
C. nationalism
D. tradition
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
5. Which theme focuses on the

experiences of African refugees?
A. colonialism
B. liberation
C. nationalism
D. displacement
II. IDENTIFICATION
Directions:
Identify whether the subject
matter is about displacement
or rootlessness. Write D if it
is about displacement and R
if it is about rootlessness.
II. IDENTIFICATION
II. IDENTIFICATION
of 21st
Century
World
Literature:
Asia
Asian literature
encompasses the rich
and widely diverse
cultural and ethnic
heritages found in such
countries as China,
Through translation,
the unique cultures of
Asia are shared
through a larger
global audience.
Family, migration and
life in the midst of
evolving socio-political
dynamics are some of
the common themes of
literary works
The continent has so far
produced the following
winners of the Nobel Prize
in Literature: Rabindranath
Tagore (India, 1913),
Yasunari Kawabata (Japan,
1968), Kenzaburo Oe
(Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian
The Man Asian Literary
Prize was an annual
literary award from 2007
and 2012, given to the best
novel by an Asian writer,
either written in English or
translated into English. It
aims “to significantly raise

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Features

1. Which technique alters the

2. This is a technique that treats

3. The relationship between a

4. The fear that every chaos

Identify whether the subject

John Maxwell Coetzee (South Africa, 2003),

Tradition (precolonial African fables,

rootlessness (the narratives of Africans

1. Which theme focuses on the

2. Which theme revolves around

3. Which theme centers on

4. Which theme celebrates

5. Which theme focuses on the

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