Vietnamese religion, folklore and literature: Archetypal journeys from folktales to medieval fantasy short stories

Abstract

Basing on an analysis of social, cultural and historical contexts with bloody war and conflicts in Vietnamese medieval times in the 15th and 16th centuries, this study focuses on the discussion of the compromise as well as the implicit conflict between indigenous folklore and imported religions from China manifested from folktales to fantasy medieval literature. At the same time, we pointed out that with strong nationalism and Buddhist-Taoist colors of thought, Vietnamese Confucian writers adapted to the traditional folktales, reconciled it with the values and the aspirations of their own culture, and created a unique “anti-Confucianism” discourse in literature. The dynamics of fantasy genre and the complex textual intersection between traditional narratives and literature will be analyzed through the special regenerated process of the archetypal journey from folktales to Vietnamese medieval fantasy short stories.

Keywords

• archetypal journey
• buddhism
• confucianism
• fantasy literature
• folktales
• taoism