This paper examines the colonial partition of the Timorese island into East and West Timor and its consequences for the development of their literary polysystems. It argues that the incorporation of the two regions into different colonial and subsequently national formations produced divergent linguistic, cultural, and literary trajectories. In East Timor, Portuguese colonial rule pursued assimilationist policies, particularly Portuguesification or Lusitanization, through the dissemination of Portuguese language, culture, traditions, and identity. In West Timor, Dutch colonial rule followed a different political and cultural trajectory, which was subsequently incorporated into the Indonesian national framework. Drawing on Itamar Even-Zohar’s Polysystem Theory and Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism, this paper examines the resulting positions of canonized and peripheral literary repertoires. While Portuguese-language literature acquired a central position in East Timor and contributed to the articulation of national identity, the indigenous Atoni Meto literary repertoire, particularly Natoni, remained peripheral to the dominant Indonesian literary polysystem despite its continuing cultural significance. The paper also examines divergent patterns of literary interference: East Timorese literature developed significant relations with Lusophone literary systems, whereas West Timorese literary production became increasingly connected to the Indonesian literary polysystem. The paper concludes that the literary asymmetries between East and West Timor are deeply rooted in the colonial partition of the island and its subsequent incorporation into different linguistic, political, and cultural formations.
This article examines the fiction of the Self-Reliance Literary Group as a form of ethical narrative in which modern subjectivity is constituted through processes of moral choice rather than through the affirmation of predefined ethical norms. Moving beyond approaches that interpret these works primarily in terms of individual liberation or social reform, the study argues that the ethical significance of the Self-Reliance Literary Group's narratives lies in their capacity to stage moral dilemmas, ethical hesitation, and responsibility within the specific historical context of colonial modernity in Vietnam during the 1930 s. Drawing on narrative ethics and literary ethical criticism, the article analyzes how ethical meaning is generated not only through characters' actions and decisions but also through narrative form, including open endings, shifts in focalization, and the deliberate suspension of moral judgment. These narrative strategies invite readers to participate in ethical reflection rather than to accept fixed moral conclusions. By situating Vietnamese modern fiction within broader debates on ethical narrative and moral reasoning, this study contributes to the reconfiguration of ethical criticism from a comparative and non-Western perspective, highlighting the discursive potential of Vietnamese literature in global discussions of narrative ethics. (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).
Sinologist Andrew Lam once presented The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting,<<(sic)(sic)(sic)>>) as "Romeo and Juliet of the East." Tang Xianzu also mentioned "Four dreams in my life, I am only satisfied with The Peony Pavilion." Although The Peony Pavilion is not as well-known as Romeo and Juliet worldwide, its cultural imprint is noticeable in its adaptations. Sinologist Cyril Birch takes it as the best work of lyricism in Chinese drama. This article will pay close attention to how poetically the two plays represent love, by comparing their titles, names, structures, styles, seven-character quatrains and sonnets, vulgarities, etc. This paper demonstrates that they all contain the holistic poetic nature in different language systems and cultural backgrounds. (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)center dot(sic) (Andrew Lam)(sic)(sic)<<(sic)(sic)(sic)>>(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)<<(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)>>".(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic): "(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)."(sic)(sic)<<(sic)(sic)(sic)>>(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)<<(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)>>, (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) (Cyril Birch)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic): (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).
