The present volume consists of the papers read at the Fourth International Conference on the Theoretical Problems of Asian and African Literatures organised by the Department of Oriental Studies of the Slovak Academy of sciences and held at Smolenice Castle on March 24-28, 1980. It is a continuation of the proceedings published after the meetings of specialists in Asian and African literatures from socialist countries in Moscow (1966), Warsaw and Cracow (1972), and in Weimar (1976).