world literature sample masterpieces (summary)

1

IntroductionA masterpiece refers to a creation that has

been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship. On the literature, it is the highest recognition that a literary work can receive. It possesses universality, artistry, permanence and uniqueness. It can stimulate thoughts from its intellectual value and may lead to mold the moral and emotional aspect.

Samples of the great masterpieces in the world are God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoys, King Lear by William Shakespeare, El Cid – The Heroism of Rodrigo de Vivar from Spain, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Of a Promise Kept by Lafcadio Hearn, Don Juan and Don Juan Tenorio by Tirso de Molina, Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and the most popular and one my favorite is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

These also includes the long lasting Holy Qu’ran of Muslims and The Holy Bible of Christians.

2

God Sees The Truth But Waits ……………………….3

King Lear …………………………………………………..…..9

Rodrigo de Vivar - El Cid ………………………………14

Don Quixote ………………………………………………..18

Impossible Dream ………………………………………..28

Oedipus Rex …………………..…………………………….29

Of a Promise Kept ………………………………………..33

Don Juan………………………………………………………41

The Lost Diary of Don Juan……………………………45

Communist Manifesto………………………………….46

Holy Qu’ran…………………………………………………..52

The Holy Bible .………………………………………….…54

Table of Contents

4

Once there lived a young merchant named Ivan Dmitri Aksenov with his family in the land of Vladimir, who in his younger days lived life to the fullest by experiencing all the material things world has to offer. Until he got married.

One summer, he planned to go to Nizhny fair but his wife warned him that she had a bad dream of her husband-- she dreamt about Ivan that he returned from the town with hair of grey. Ivan laughed as if he doesn't care and went on the fair.

He travelled half way and met a merchant, whom he spent the night drinking tea with and shared an adjoining room in the inn. Since Aksenov is not used of sleeping for long hours he decided to wake up and continued his journey.

Along the way of his journey, two soldiers in a troika stopped him, and began asking questions, for the merchant he met halfway on his travel was found dead. Since all evidences of the crime are pointing Aksenov guilty he was imprisoned.

5

Learning the sad fate of Aksenov, his wife remembered her dream about Aksenov and was worried and even considered the thought of her husband being guilty. The thought made Aksenov even sadder.

26 years in prison made Aksenov a well-grounded and God-fearing man. In spite the fact that his family has completely forgotten him, he still serves as a “Grandpa” to the other prisoners. Then came a new prisoner named Makar Semyonich.

After months of knowing each other, Aksenov discovered that Makar is the one who killed the merchant whom he was told he murdered. He was furious with what he found out but didn't speak or uttered a word about it.

Until one night, Aksenov heard some earth rolling under where the prisoners were sleeping. He went out and saw Makar. Makar told him not to tell a word about what he had witnessed or else he will kill him.

When they were led out to work, a soldier noticed a prisoner took of some earth off his boots.The soldier searched for escaping plans and found the tunnel.

6

Then, they asked each of them who knew about this but they denied for they knew they will be killed before the one who did it as Makar warned them. Finally, the governor asked Ivan for he knew he was a just man. But then Ivan said it wasn't his right or his will but God's to tell such name.

Night fell and Makar went to Ivan. He thanked him and felt sorry for what he had done to him a long time ago that made Ivan suffer for all this years. He sobbed as well as Ivan and said that the Lord will forgive you. Makar said that he will confess to the governor so that Ivan would be sent free--back to his home.

Ivan did not want to go out of prison for he has no family neither home to back to; rather, he waited for his last hour to come.

In spite of what they've talked about, Makar Semyonich confessed his guilt. But when the order for Ivan Dmitri Aksenov's release came, he was already dead.

7

This, I think, it means that sometimes, God waits before delivering his justice, not because he wants to hurt you but because he has a plan for you. Everything in life has a purpose. Maybe the most appropriate punishment that the criminal deserves, and the most appropriate compensation that the victim deserves, can be awarded only in the destined period of time.

One of the essential gist on this story is the impact to one’s morality. We are not omniscient in this world. Sometimes we have to be cautious on everything we need to do. Life is undying struggle but since God is the omnipotent and omnipresent, we should not worry a lot. He has plans for us.

Things may happened if it is fated for you. All we have to do is to trust in him, love and serve him and most of all, have faith in him.

Since man is created by God, still there is a piece of kindness planted into in his heart. Those seed of kindness will still grow, if it is being watered with a bit of kindness too.

Influence of the Literature

9

Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her father’s blessing.

Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise.

Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he heads out onto the heat.

10

When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has also been brought.

In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril, whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.

The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.

11

The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king. It was written between 1603 and 1606 and later revised. Shakespeare's earlier version, The True Chronicle of the History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters, was published in quarto (bookbinding) in 1608. The Tragedy of King Lear, a more theatrical version, was included in the 1623 First Folio (A collections of his 36 plays).

Multiple plays has been performed with these story and was often revised with a happy ending for audiences who disliked its dark and depressing tone, but since the 19th century Shakespeare's original version has been regarded as one of his supreme achievements.

If you're looking for the moral hero, yes it is Cordelia takes the honor. She sacrifices everything and transcends the typical female role, exhibiting honor, loyalty, respect, love, and truth. Her decision not to participate in the scenario, and the manipulation of her father by her sisters speaks louder about who she is as a person. Unfortunately, her father considers it a test which she fails and yet, she is the daughter who gave up her life to save his father.


12

King Lear, Lear himself, suffering from the tragic flaw of a prideful and self-righteous nature, learns to see the world through new eyes, even as he suffers the consequences of his actions in the opening act of the play.

Themes are usually more useful than morals but one could say, that don't believe all the promises or words of others by simply looking at their face value. Look beyond the superficial to see the real person beneath the words. So, Lear preferred to hear the empty compliments of Goneril and Regan rather than to see the true love of his daughter Cordelia. Now, he understands that clothes and position, ultimately do not make the man, but on how we interact in the world as if they do.

So, the overall message, for me, is to look beyond the surface -- the title, job, sex or rank of a person to see what is in their heart. To not be too quick to listen to the easy words someone might speak, but to take care to watch how they behave before judging them or their actions.


13

"God Sees the Truth, But Waits“ is one of the best short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy that first published in 1872.

It was adapted into television series Katha Sagar (A Sea of Stories), a popular Indian television series that aired on DD National in 1986. The series was directed by Shyam Benegal along with many renowned directors. The series featured a collection of stories by world famous short story writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Rabindranath Tagore, Leo Tolstoy, O. Henry, Anton Chekov and many more.

It was also adapted into a CBS Radio Mystery Theatre program, All Things Are Possible (1978) directed by Himan Brown , an American producer of radio program.

English translations were also published under titles "The Confessed Crime" and "Exiled to Siberia".

The theme of the story was the eventual triumph of truth over falsehood. It was taken in the form of parable of forgiveness.


15

On the eleventh-century Spain is divided into Christian kingdoms and Moorish (Morons from Morroco) strongholds. The young Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar dubbed El Cid by his followers, vows to see his country at peace, free from the invader. Vigorously brave and resourceful. The noble knight hates bloodshed and faces treason charges at court for the clemency shown to some emirs.

His accuser, Gomez, father of his fiancée, killed his father where in he actually saw the event. To be just, he killed Chimene’s father as well. Chimene, saw what happened and avowed the dismissal of her marriage to Rodrigo. She enters a convent.

On King Ferdinand's death, his kingdom is divided among his two children. Sancho challenges the decision and imprisons Alfonso, who is released by the Cid. Sancho assassinated by his brother. Alfonso now claims that throne, too, and exiles Rodrigo.

Chimene realizes the nobility of Rodrigo and joins him. They in a place who is very far from the kingdom. Rodrigo and Chimene had two daughters.

16

Years had past and the Spain is being defeated by the Morons. Knights of King Alfonso approached Rodrigo to help them beating the Moorish population. Rodrigo refuses at first but on realization of the consequences, he decided to comeback and leave Chimene to the convent with their two children.

When he goes into battle against Ben Yussef. The years pass, Rodrigo becomes a revered warrior, but refuses to aid Alfonso, preferring his own strategy. He lays siege to Valencia, catapulting food into its starving garrison. When the Valencians kill their evil ruler, Al Kadir, they offer the crown to the Cid. He sends it to Alfonso, who rushes, hysterically gratified, to his side.

But fatedly the Cid has been hit by a stray arrow during the last war attack. He ask his soldier to call his family from the convent to be with him. Attended by Chimene, he hides the wound from his men and prepares a final bid to drive the Moors from Spain.

Finally their troop was able to defeat the Morons that leads them to back off because of Rodrigo.

17

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043–1099) was a Castilian nobleman and military leader in medieval Spain. He was called El Cid (the Lord) by the Moors and El Campeador (the Champion) by Christians. He is the national hero of Spain. He was born in Vivar del Cid, a town near the city of Burgos.

This epic story tells about fighting for your honor. Values of humility, responsibility, loyalty, sincerity, just, respectful, faithful, courage, forgiving and being good was the whole content of his great story.

Rodrigo’s heroic deeds is considered the beating heart of the Christianity during medieval period. He offered his own life for the sake of being pious to his beliefs. A man of all time, a person of dignity and principles.


19

Alonso Quixano is a Hidalgo, a low ranking Spanish person of nobility. He is about 50 years old and he lives in a settlement near the La Mancha region in Spain towards the beginning of the 17th century. He loves reading stories about knights and fantastic stories about chivalry, princesses, magicians, enchanted castles… In fact, he is so involved with these fantasies that he slowly starts to lose touch with reality and begins to believe that he is one of these fiction heroes.

Alonso finds some old armor and prepares an old horse from the stable which he names Rocinante. The knight decides he needs to have a maiden, so, in his imagination he converts a young villager named Aldonza Lorenzo, who he was once in love with, into the lovely Lady Dulcinea del Toboso. As for himself, he bestows the name Don Quixote because it rhymes with the name of the famous knight “Lanzarote”, also known as Lancelot.So, the new knight sets off on an adventure with a ridiculous new costume and the hope of committing heroic deeds. However, it will not take long for misunderstandings to occur between the real world and the fantasy world of Don Quixote.

20

Dulcinea rejected Don Quixote in regards of his love to her but he swear not to give up.

In one scene, Don Quixote arrives to an inn, which he believes to be a castle, and demands that the innkeeper dub him the noble title of “knight”. Later, he comes upon a young shepherd whose master has tied to a tree and frees. Next, Don Quixote is insulted by some merchants who he promptly attacks. The merchants give Don Quixote a brutal beating and leave him on the side of the road where he is found by a peasant and delivered home.

Don Quixote convinces his neighbor, Sancho Panza, to be his squire by promising him riches, fame and the governorship of an island. Sancho, unlike Don Quixote, is a practical albeit ignorant man. Little by little he is seduced by the wild dreams of his new master. Together, they sneak away in the early dawn and their famous adventures begin.

The duo quickly come upon large windmills which Don Quixote believes to be ferocious giants and thus attacks.

21

The pair continues on to live many other exciting adventures when Don Quixote attacks a flock of sheep believing it to be an army, when his horse Rocinante pursues some mares, when he has a sword duel with a Biscayan, frees some inmates that then attack him, finds a barber basin which he believes to be a magical helmet and many other comical situations that occur in an inn.

Later, the outrageous knight decides to move to a mountain top in order to show his penance and earn the love of his imaginary maiden. His two best friends, a priest and a barber, are forced to trick him into a cage in order to bring him back to his settlement.

In the second part of the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha novel, published 10 years later, Don Quixote departs on another adventure with Sancho. This part of the novel is more critically acclaimed by critics because the protagonist, treated with more respect by the author, is successful in some of his endeavors and becomes a more reflexive and self conscious character. Sancho, on the other hand, becomes more of a dreamer. The second part of Don Quixote of La Mancha is written under the assumption that all of the characters have already read the first part of the novel and are thus familiar with both Don Quixote and Sancho. As a result, the people they meet will try to take advantage of the pair.

22

A Duke and Duchess encounter Don Quixote and Sancho and decide to invite them to their palace for amusement and practical jokes. For example, they tell Don Quixote that Dulcinea is under Merlin's spell to put him through a series of tests. They also deceive Sancho into lashing himself, believing that it will release the maiden from the spell. The Duke later gives Sancho a false governorship and Sancho proves to be a wise and practical ruler, however this is also a deceptive prank that leads to humiliation.

Don Quixote is forced to lay down his arms and abandon his acts of chivalry for a period of one year when he is conquered in a battle with the Knight of the White Moon. The conditions were agreed upon before the battle with the knight, who was really to one of Don Quixote's friends dressed in a costume. Defeated, they start their journey home

Don Quixote retires in the countryside and eventually falls sick. He recovers his full sanity and, despite Sancho's encouragement to restore his faith in fantasy, takes back the name of Alonso Quixano and the former adventurer called Don Quixote is no more. In his place, Alonso Quixano apologizes for all the craziness and any harm that he may have caused before passing away.

23

One of the greatest fictional works in the late 16th century by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615. Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon.

As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. It has a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexander Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” (1844) and Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884). In 2002 list , Don Quixote was cited as the "best literary work ever written“.

Quixote has served as an important thematic source not only in literature but also in much of art and music, inspiring works by Pablo Picasso and Richard Strauss.


24

The contrasts between the tall, thin, fancy-struck, and idealistic Quixote and the fat, squat, world-weary Panza is a motif echoed ever since the book’s publication.Don Quixote's imaginings are the butt of outrageous and cruel practical jokes in the novel. The character of Don Quixote became so well known in its time that the word quixotic (which means indulging in unrealistic and impractical idealism) was quickly adopted by many languages.

When it was first published, Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution, it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting—not comic at all.

Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's innate idealism and nobility are viewed by the world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.


25

The novel was an immediate success. In total, the novel is believed to have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide in 1611. Now a days, it is common knowledge that Don Quixote has sold over 500 million copies, and in fact, that number is conservative. It is often regarded as the second best selling book behind only the Bible, and at least conceded as the greatest selling work of fiction of all time, without out a close second. This book has been a best seller for 400+ years, it continues to sell quite well.

Don Quixote is one of the best literary masterpiece of the world.

It teaches us to have a vision in life. We will be lead by that through imagination. Don Quixote was not just dreaming about those characters but he firmly believed in them and visualised them to be so. In his mind, the reality is less what others thought they were, but what he himself imagined and believe them to be.

In the same way, good leaders need to go beyond the ordinary and to have the vision and moral courage to pursue something that is unconventional. This the first step to be great.


26

T he second virtue is commitment and here there is a need for one to be committed to one's own will, committed to beauty (or the purity of one's own goals), and a dogged persistence. Here, it is important to disregard to some extent the law of consequences in the world, and to have a deeply rooted sense of self that goes beyond the externalities of one's world.

Commitment can come in the form of a strong stick-to-itiveness to whatever one believes strongly in, and to bring honors to that cause. It means that one should have a road map that one sticks to, and energy and passion to keep going down that cause even when hard times.

Finally, and probably most important, it is vital to have joy in one's pursuit. A sense of humors and an ability to laugh off life's failures and get over them is vital. Despite being ridiculed, attacked and scorned, Don Quixote never gave up on his end goals. He found joy in engagement and being involved in the action, struggle and injuries of pursuit. There is also a constant sense of affirmation and true enjoyment in what he does.


27

I was deeply inspired by these simple lessons of what Don Quixote posses. Yes, it would be a foolish act to embrace Don Quixote's principles whole-heartedly without considering their consequence, but there is a lot of truth in this life we need to face.

We have to look beyond the aspect of being quixotic. Life is unending march that we need to face and conquer.

No wonder that through the inspiring story of Don Quixote, a song composer Mitch Leigh with lyricists Joe Darion made the song "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" which have been popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and also featured in the 1972 film. It was awarded the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.


28

To dream the impossible dreamTo fight the unbeatable foeTo bear with unbearable sorrowTo run where the brave dare not goTo right the unrightable wrongTo love pure and chaste from afarTo try when your arms are too wearyTo reach the unreachable starThis is my questTo follow that starNo matter how hopelessNo matter how farTo fight for the rightWithout question or pauseTo be willing to march into HellFor a heavenly causeAnd I know if I'll only be true To this glorious questThat my heart will lie peaceful and calmWhen I'm laid to my restAnd the world will be better for thisThat one man, scorned and covered with scarsStill strove with his last ounce of courageTo reach the unreachable star

"The Impossible Dream"from MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)

music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion

30

King Oedipus, aware that a terrible curse has been fallen Thebes. So he sends his brother-in-law Creon, to seek for the advice of Apollo. Creon informs Oedipus that the curse will be lifted if the murderer of Laius, the former king, is found and prosecuted. Laius was murdered many years ago at the crossroads.

Oedipus dedicates himself to the discovery and prosecution of Laius’s murderer. Oedipus subjects a series of unwilling citizens to questioning, including a blind prophet. Teiresias, the blind prophet, informs Oedipus that Oedipus himself killed Laius. This news really bothers Oedipus, but his wife Jocasta tells him not to believe in prophets—they've been wrong before. As an example, she tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her. Well, she and Laius had the child killed, so obviously that prophecy did not come true, right?

Jocasta's story doesn't comfort Oedipus. As a child, an old man told Oedipus that he was adopted, and that he would eventually kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother.

31

Not to mention, Oedipus once killed a man at a crossroads, which sounds a lot like the way Lauis died.

Jocasta urges Oedipus not to look into the past any further, but he stubbornly ignores her. Oedipus goes on to question a messenger and the shepherd. Both of whom have information about how Oedipus was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a new family.

In a moment of insight, Jocasta realizes that she is Oedipus’s mother and that Laius was his father. Horrified at what has happened, she kills herself. Shortly thereafter, Oedipus, too, realizes that he was Laius’s murder and that he’s been married to (and having children with) his mother. In horror and despair, he gouges his eyes out and immediately exiled from Thebes.

32

The Latin title Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed 429 BC. It was the second of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone.

The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on how Oedipus's own faults contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall, as opposed to having fate be the sole cause. Over the centuries, Oedipus Rex has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence.

Fate is a theme that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular. The idea that attempting to avoid an oracle is the very thing which brings it about is a common motif in many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Persues.

The intellectual value you can perfectly adapt to this is the reality of destiny. You cannot run from your fate if it is destined for you.


33

Of aPromise

Kept

34

"I shall return in the early autumn," said Akana Soyemon several hundred years ago, when bidding goodbye to his brother by adoption, young Hasebe Samon. The time was spring, and the place was the village of Kato in the province of Harima. Akana was an Izumo samurai, and he wanted to visit his birthplace.

Hasebe said, "Your Izumo, the Country of the Eight-Cloud Rising, is very distant. Perhaps it will therefore be difficult for you to promise to return here upon any particular day. But, if we were to know the exact day, we should feel happier. We could then prepare a feast of welcome and we could watch at the gateway for your coming.”

"Why, as for that," responded Akana, "I have been so much accustomed to travel that I can usually tell beforehand how long it will take me to reach a place; and I can safely promise you to be here upon a particular day. Suppose we say the day of the festival Choyo?""That is the ninth day of the ninth month," said Hasebe; "then the chrysanthemums will be in bloom, and we can go together to look at them. How pleasant! . . .

35

So you promise to come back on the ninth day of the ninth month?“ … "On the ninth day of the ninth month," repeated Akana, smiling while saying farewell. Then he strode away from the village of Kato in the province of Harima, and Hasebe Samon and the mother of Hasebe looked after him with tears in their eyes.

Swiftly the months went by and the autumn came, the season of chrysanthemums. And early upon the morning of the ninth day of the ninth month Hasebe prepared to welcome his adopted brother. He made ready a feast of good things, bought wine, decorated the guest-room, and filled the vases of the alcove with chrysanthemums of two colors. Then his mother, watching him, and said: "The province of Izumo, my son, is more than one hundred miles from this place; and the journey hence over the mountains is difficult and weary. You cannot be sure that Akana will be able to come today. Would it not be better, before you take all this trouble, to wait for his coming?" Hasebe made an answer — "Akana promised to be here today. He could not break a promise! And if he were to see us beginning to make preparation after his arrival, he would know that we had doubted his word and we should be put into shame."

36

In the morning many travellers passed through the village, some of them samurai. Hasebe, watching each one that came, more than once imagined that he saw Akana approaching. The temple bells sounded the hour of midday and Akana did not yet appear. Through the afternoon he also watched and waited in vain. The sun set came and still there was no sign of Akana seen.

Nevertheless Hasebe remained at the gate, gazing down the road. Later his mother went to him, and said: "The mind of a man, my son, — as our proverb declares — may change as quickly as the sky of autumn. But your chrysanthemum flowers will still be fresh tomorrow. Better sleep now and in the morning you can watch again for Akana, if you wish." "Rest well, mother," replied Hasebe — "but I still believe that he will come." Then the mother went to her own room and Hasebe lingered at the gate.

The village slept but the silence was broken only by the noise of a little brook, and by the far-away barking of peasants' dogs. Hasébé still waited and waited until he saw the thin moon sink behind the neighboring hills. Then at last he began to doubt and to fear. Just as he was about to reenter the house, he perceived in the distance a tall man approaching, very lightly and quickly; and in the next moment he recognized Akana.

37

"Oh!" Hasebe cried springing to meet him. "I have been waiting for you from the morning until now! . . . So you really did keep your promise after all. . . . But you must be tired, poor brother! Come in, everything is ready for you.“

He guided Akana to the place of honor in the guest room, and hastened to trim the lights, which were burning low. "Mother," continued Hasebe, “ she felt a little tired this evening, and she has already gone to bed but I shall awaken her presently." Akana shook his head, and made a little gesture of disapproval. "As you will, brother," said by Hasebe and he set warm food and wine before the traveller.

Akana did not touch the food or the wine, but remained motionless and silent for a short time. Then, he speaks in a whisper. "Now I must tell you how it happened that I came this late. When I returned to Izumo I found that the people had almost forgotten the kindness of our former ruler, the good Lord Enya, and were seeking the favor of the usurper Tsunéhisa, who had possessed himself of the Tonda Castle. But I had to visit my cousin, Akana Tanji, though he had accepted service under Tsunéhisa, and was living, as a retainer, within the castle grounds. He persuaded me to present myself before Tsunéhisa.

38

I yielded chiefly in order to observe the character of the new ruler, whose face I had never seen. He is a skilled soldier, and of great courage, but he is cunning and cruel. I found it necessary to let him know that I could never enter into his service. After I left his presence he ordered my cousin to detain me to keep me confined within the house. I protested that I had promised to return to Harima upon the ninth day of the ninth month, but I was refused permission to go. I then hoped to escape from the castle at night; but I was constantly watched; and until to-day I could find no way to fulfill my promise. . . .“

"Until to-day!" exclaimed by Hasebe in bewilderment. “The castle is more than a hundred miles from here!”

"Yes,“ Akana replied "and no living man can travel on foot a hundred miles in one day. But I felt that, if I did not keep my promise, you could not think well of me and I remembered the ancient proverb, ”Tama yoku ichi nichi ni sen ri wo yuku” [The soul of a man can journey a thousand miles in a day]. Fortunately I had been allowed to keep my sword and through this, only was I able to come to you… Be good to our mother."

39

With these words he stood up and instantly disappeared. Then Hasebe knew that Akana had killed himself in order to fulfill the promise.

At earliest dawn Hasebe Samon set out for the Castle Tonda, in the province of Izumo. Reaching Matsué, he there learned that, on the night of the ninth day of the ninth month, Akana Soyemon had performed harakiri in the house of Akana Tanji, in the grounds of the castle. Then Hasebe went to the house of Akana Tanji, and reproached Akana Tanji for the treachery done, and slew him in the midst of his family, and escaped without hurt. And when the Lord Tsunéhisa had heard the story, he gave commands that Hasebe should not be pursued. For, although an unscrupulous and cruel man himself, the Lord Tsunéhisa could respect the love of truth in others, and could admire the friendship and the courage of Hasebe Samon.

40

Influence of the LiteratureNumerous version of translations and story

variation was influenced by this Japanese folktale.Literally and figuratively, the story gives us the dense value of uttering promises. That those promises are made not to be broken.

Now a days, promises can be associated with divinity. That even God made promises to Abraham in the Bible. It is a commitment by someone to do a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. It can also mean a capacity for good, similar to a value that is to be realized in the near future.

There are many types of promises like solemn promises, such as marriage vows or military oaths. An oath and affirmation can be a promise too but one special kind is the vow.

Whatever promises we commit, the most important is for us to act accordingly on what is expected from what you had promised.

41

Tirso de Molina

42

Don Juan is known as “The Seducer of Seville” , a womanizer man from Spain. He possesses a constant sense of humor that woman would easily fall.

He seduced a girl from a noble family. When her father grew angry, he sought revenge, but was killed by Don Juan. Soon afterward, Don Juan is joined for dinner by the ghost of the slain man, who then warns Don Juan of his impending death. Instead of repenting for his past transgressions, Don Juan refuses and it is eternally damned. He is very known for his libertinism.

He is not bothered about the future. All he know is that he needs to survive for today and fulfill all want he want on the present. He was not also bothered about his past. His life seems to be worthless because he do not commit love to any woman.

43

Influence of the LiteratureThe character of Don Juan first appeared in

the Spanish drama "El burlador de Sevilla," which translates to "The Seducer of Seville," by Tirso de Molina, in 1630. The legend Tirso’s tragedy, Don Juan became a universal character, as familiar as Don Quixote, Hamlet and Faust. Subsequently, he became the hero-villain of plays, novels, and poems. His legend was assured enduring popularity later immortalized in Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni," written in Italy 1787.

Through this famous character of hyper sexuality (Spanish slang), multiple poems, stories and theartre plays were created. Although the various iterations of the Don Juan myth show some variation, the basic storyline remains the same.

Starting with Tirso's work, Don Juan is portrayed as a wealthy, seductive libertine who devotes his life to seducing women, taking great pride in his ability to seduce women of all ages and stations in life. His life is also punctuated with violence and gambling, and in many interpretations (Tirso, Espronceda, Zorrilla), he kills Don Gonzalo, the father of a girl he has seduced, Doña Ana.

44

This leads to the famous last supper scene, whereby Don Juan invites the dead father to dinner.

The ending of Don Juan depends on which version of the legend one is reading. Tirso's original play was meant as religious parable against Don Juan's sinful ways, and ends with his death, having been denied salvation by God.

In French they have the translations of Don Juan into Dom Juan which is the last part in Molière's hypocrisy trilogy that also includes The School for Wives and Tartuff. It was first performed on February 15, 1660 in the Pailais Royal Theatre.

Other authors and playwrights would interpret the ending in their own fashion. Espronceda's Don Felix walks into hell and to his death of his own volition, whereas Zorrilla's Don Juan asks for and receives, a divine pardon. The figure of Don Juan has inspired many modern interpretations.

Its intellectual, moral and spiritual gist were presented on different styles according to different interpretations.


45

One of the authors Douglas Carlton Abrams wrote THE LOST DIARY OF DON JUAN. This is a magical novel that captures the secret life of the world's most famous lover, Don Juan. The story goes into detail about how Don Juan is raised as Juan Tenorio and abandoned in a convent. As being raised by nuns, Juan learns to love and worship all women, maybe a little much. Juan really wants no more in his life than to be a priest, but then he does the unforgivable—he has a love affair with a nun.

This causes Juan to leave the church forever, and the only home he has ever known. He is recruited by the mysterious Marquis de la Mota, who teaches Juan to become the world's greatest libertine and seducer of women. From here, it seems that Don Juan's mastery of passion becomes the epitome of his life... possibly a terrible thing in the age of repression. However, Don Juan's search for personal pleasure and gratification carry over to our modern age and has earned the man a reputation that will never be lived down. In this story, a diary is kept that compels Don Juan to confess everything and all of his irresistible claims to love.

47

The words on the pamphlet is about a contrary. They argue that all changes in the shape of society, in political institutions, in history itself, are driven by a process of collective struggle on the part of groups of people with similar economic situations in order to realize their material or economic interests.

These struggles, occurring throughout history from ancient Rome through the Middle Ages to the present day, have been struggles of economically subordinate classes against economically dominant classes who opposed their economic interests—slaves against masters, serfs against landlords, and so on. The modern industrialized world has been shaped by one such subordinate class—the bourgeoisie, or merchant class—in its struggle against the aristocratic elite of feudal society. Through world exploration, the discovery of raw materials and metals, and the opening of commercial markets across the globe, the bourgeoisie, whose livelihood is accumulation, grew wealthier and politically emboldened against the feudal order, which it eventually managed to sweep away through struggle and revolution.

The bourgeoisie have risen to the status of dominant class in the modern industrial world, shaping political institutions and society according to its own interests.

48

Far from doing away with class struggle, this once subordinate class, now dominant, has replaced one class struggle with another.

The bourgeoisie is the most spectacular force in history to date. The merchants’ zeal for accumulation has led them to conquer the globe, forcing everyone everywhere to adopt the capitalist mode of production. The bourgeois view, which sees the world as one big market for exchange, has fundamentally altered all aspects of society, even the family, destroying traditional ways of life and rural civilizations and creating enormous cities in their place. Under industrialization, the means of production and exchange that drive this process of expansion and change have created a new subordinate urban class whose fate is vitally tied to that of the bourgeoisie. This class is the industrial proletariat, or modern working class. These workers have been uprooted by the expansion of capitalism and forced to sell their labor to the bourgeoisie, a fact that offends them to the core of their existence as they recall those workers of earlier ages who owned and sold what they created. Modern industrial workers are exploited by the bourgeoisie and forced to compete with one another for ever-shrinking wages as the means of production grow more sophisticated.

49

The factory is the arena for the formation of a class struggle that will spill over into society at large. Modern industrial workers will come to recognize their exploitation at the hands of the bourgeoisie. Although the economic system forces them to compete with one another for ever shrinking wages, through common association on the factory floor they will overcome the divisions between themselves, realize their common fate, and begin to engage in a collective effort to protect their economic interests against the bourgeoisie. The workers will form collectivities and gradually take their demands to the political sphere as a force to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, the workers will be joined by an ever-increasing number of the lower middle class whose entrepreneurial livelihoods are being destroyed by the growth of huge factories owned by a shrinking number of superrich industrial elites.

Gradually, all of society will be drawn to one or the other side of the struggle. Like the bourgeoisie before them, the proletariat and their allies will act together in the interests of realizing their economic aims. They will move to sweep aside the bourgeoisie and its institutions, which stand in the way of this realization. The bourgeoisie, through its established mode of production, produces the seeds of its own destruction: the working class.

50

Political theorists Karl Marx and his coauthor, Friedrich Engels, begin The Communist Manifesto with the famous and provocative statement that the “history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle.” It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. This also the founding documents of Communism.

It was written late 1847 and first published February 1848. It was also serialized at around the same time in a German-language London newspaper, the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung. The first English translation was produced by Helen Macfarlane in 1850, and the book was first published in the United States by Stephen Pearl Andrew. The Manifesto went through a number of editions from 1872 to 1890; notable new prefaces were written by Marx and Engels for the 1872 German edition, the 1882 Russian edition, the 1883 French edition, and the 1888 English edition. The 1910 edition, translated by Samuel Moore with the assistance of Engels, has been the most commonly used English text translation.


51

Influence of the LiteratureThe influence of the Manifesto is long and

comprehensive. It is being used to shape the world. In the century and a half since its publication, it has been judged not only as a uniquely influential document in the theory and practice of revolutionary movements but also as a work of history, as economic, political, and cultural analysis and prophecy.

The Manifesto has been judged as an account of past, manipulator of the present, and guide for our future. This Manifesto has been unique and critically scrutinized by intellectual people.

It has also a big influence to education as per indicated on the Section Two of this Manifesto regarding the Proletarians and Communists. “ There must be a free education for children in public schools.” About how to run the government regarding the taxations, land reforms, capitalism, monopoly and population management. That is why this Manifesto is associated in the born of social movements and powerful political parties.

53


The Quran is the central religious text of Islam religion of] It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in Arabic Language. They consider Quran to be the only book that has been protected by God from distortion or corruption. Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed from God to Muhammad through the an Angel Gabriel, gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death. Shortly after Muhammad's death, the Quran was collected by his companions using written Quranic materials and everything that had been memorized of the Quran.

It is totally undoubtful to be influential for the 49 Muslim countries in the world which approximately over 1.6 billion or about 23.4% of the world’s population in 2010.

Most primarily, their lifestyle and cultural beliefs molds the community and even the society in which they belong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran#cite_note-Britannica-1

55


The Bible is widely considered to be the best selling and most influential book of all time. It has estimated annual sales of 100 million copies and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West where it was the first mass-printed book. It came from a Latin word “Biblia Sacra” which means holy book.

Most of the contemporary literature and art works was derived from the values and context of the holy bible. Paintings , artistic plays, stories and parables, and even dramatic imaginations of written works.

It already endures the test of time. It is considered the eternal reference of truth regardless of the religious affiliations. It heals the wound of humanity and truly it is considered the best of all masterpieces of the world.

56

Thank YouFor

Reading!

Literature

of theWorld

Avigail G. MaximoBSE-Filipino

world literature sample masterpieces (summary)

Education