THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD GENRE OF PROSE WRITING IN CHINA AND VIETNAM: HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

East Asian literature received literary traditions from China, typically the memoir genre. However, the formation of Chinese literary genres in each country changes in accordance with the cultural and social situation. This study aims to generalize the history of the formation and characteristics of the medieval writing genre in China and Vietnam. At the same time, the author provides a comparative perspective to clarify some factors in the process of receiving the genre and building unique features for national literature. The article mainly uses statistical and classification methods to help point out the stages of development as well as typical authors and works of medieval writing in China and Vietnam, and uses the comparison and contrast method to identify similarities and differences in the formation process as well as genre characteristics of the two countries' medieval writing. On the basis of theoretical research, the article has explained the correlation between the characteristics of Vietnamese and Chinese medieval writing. The research results have shown the influence-reception relationship, affirming the independent and autonomous movement of Vietnamese medieval literature during ten centuries of development.