This work explores the formation of identity in literature from a variety of Asian countries: China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Palestine. The analysis applies new theoretical approaches to identity to indicate the transition from the traditional concept of literature to the modern one. Topics include: Malay literary characters in the literatures of Europe and Asia; ethnicity in modern Indonesian literature; the Self in Chinese classical and modern literature; identity in modern Japanese literature: the case of Natsume Soseki; constructing new identities in Indonesia's Peranakan-Chinese literature; the religious and cultural identity of Tagore; and personal identity in Palestinian autobiography.