An Overview of Medieval Court Literature in Vietnam

Abstract

Court literature is a form of literary arts composed by kings and members of the court within court spaces. Such works convey profound reflection of courts’ philosophy and worldview in those days. While its main idea was to praise the kings and their dynasties, court literature proves an interesting cultural and literary phenomenon encompassing political culture, court’s literary and arts policies, instructive literature and propagandist literature, etc... This paper provides a definition of court literature as well as a brief analysis on some main characteristics of medieval Vietnamese court literature.