'Literature' is literally "acquaintance with letters" (from [Latin]] ''littera''
letter) as in the first sense given in the
Oxford English Dictionary, or
works of art, which in Western culture are mainly
prose, both
fiction and
non-fiction,
drama and
poetry. In much of, if not all, the world texts can be
oral as well and include such
genres as
epic,
legend,
myth,
ballad, plus other forms of oral poetry, and
folktale.
Introduction
Nations can have literatures, as can
corporations,
philosophical schools or
historical periods. Popular belief commonly holds that the literature of a
nation, for example, comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The
Hebrew Bible,
Persian ''
Shahnama'', the
Indian ''
Mahabharata'', ''
Ramayana'' and ''
Thirukural'', the ''
Iliad'' and the ''
Odyssey'', ''
Beowulf'', and the
Constitution of the United States, all fall within this definition of a kind of literature.
More generally, one can equate a literature with a collection of stories, poems, and plays that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or may not have
nationalistic implications. The
Western Canon forms one such literature.
The term "literature" has different meanings depending on who is using it and in what context. It could be applied broadly to mean any symbolic record, encompassing everything from images and
sculptures to letters. In a more narrow sense the term could mean only text composed of letters, or other examples of symbolic written language (
Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example). An even more narrow interpretation is that text have a physical form, such as on paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of
inscriptions or
digital media.
Furthermore, people may perceive a difference between "literature" and some popular forms of written work. The terms "
literary fiction" and "
literary merit" often serve to distinguish between individual works. For example, almost all literate people perceive the works of
Charles Dickens as "literature", whereas some critics look down on the works of
Jeffrey Archer as unworthy of inclusion under the general heading of "
English literature". Critics may exclude works from the classification "literature", for example, on the grounds of a poor standard of
grammar and
syntax, of an
unbelievable or disjointed
story-line, or of inconsistent or unconvincing
characters.
Genre fiction (for example: romance, crime, or science fiction) may also become excluded from consideration as "literature".
Frequently, the texts that make up literature crossed over these boundaries.
Illustrated stories,
hypertexts,
cave paintings and inscribed
monuments have all at one time or another pushed the boundaries of "literature".
Different historical periods have emphasized various characteristics of literature. Early works often had an overt or covert religious or didactic purpose. Moralizing or prescriptive literature stems from such sources. The exotic nature of
romance flourished from the
Middle Ages onwards, whereas the
Age of Reason manufactured nationalistic epics and philosophical
tracts.
Romanticism emphasized the popular folk literature and emotive involvement, but gave way in the 19th-century West to a phase of so-called
realism and
naturalism, investigations into what is real. The 20th century brought demands for
symbolism or
psychological insight in the delineation and development of character.
The
Muslim Scientist and
Philosopher Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq defined Literature as follows: "Literature is the garment which one puts on what he says or writes so that it may appear more attractive."
[1]
Forms of literature
Poetry
A
poem is defined as a composition written in
verse (although verse has been equally used for epic and dramatic fiction). Poems rely heavily on
imagery, precise word choice, and
metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of stresses (
metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical
prosody); and they may or may not utilize
rhyme. One cannot readily characterize
poetry precisely. Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the ''formal'' properties of the words it uses — the properties attached to the
written or
spoken form of the words, rather than to their meaning. Metre depends on
syllables and on
rhythms of speech; rhyme and
alliteration depend on words that have similar pronunciation. Some recent poets, such as
E. E. Cummings, made extensive use of words'
visual form.
Poetry perhaps pre-dates other forms of literature: early known examples include the
Sumerian ''
Epic of Gilgamesh'' (dated from around
2700 B.C.), parts of the
Bible, the surviving works of
Homer (the ''
Iliad'' and the ''
Odyssey''), and the
Indian epics ''
Ramayana'' and ''
Mahabharata''. In cultures based primarily on oral traditions the formal characteristics of poetry often have a
mnemonic function, and important texts: legal,
genealogical or moral, for example, may appear first in verse form.
Much poetry uses specific forms: the
haiku, the
limerick, or the
sonnet, for example. A traditional haiku written in Japanese must have something to do with
nature, contain seventeen onji (syllables), distributed over three lines in groups of five, seven, and five, and should also have a kigo, a specific word indicating a season. A limerick has five lines, with a
rhyme scheme of AABBA, and line lengths of 3,3,2,2,3 stressed syllables. It traditionally has a less reverent attitude towards nature.
Language and tradition dictate some poetic norms: Persian poetry always rhymes, Greek poetry rarely rhymes, Italian or French poetry often does, English and German can go either way (although modern non-rhyming poetry often, perhaps unfairly, has a more "serious" aura). Perhaps the most
paradigmatic style of English poetry, blank verse, as exemplified in works by
Shakespeare and by
Milton, consists of unrhymed
iambic pentameters. Some languages prefer longer lines; some shorter ones. Some of these conventions result from the ease of fitting a specific language's vocabulary and grammar into certain structures, rather than into others; for example, some languages contain more rhyming words than others, or typically have longer words. Other structural conventions come about as the result of historical accidents, where many speakers of a language associate good poetry with a verse form preferred by a particular skilled or popular poet.
Works for theatre (see below) traditionally took verse form. This has now become rare outside
opera and
musicals, although many would argue that the language of drama remains intrinsically poetic.
In recent years,
digital poetry has arisen that takes advantage of the artistic, publishing, and synthetic qualities of digital media.
Drama
A
play or
drama offers another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years. It generally comprises chiefly
dialogue between
characters, and usually aims at dramatic / theatrical
performance (see
theatre) rather than at reading. During the
eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries,
opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and
music. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently. Shakespeare could be considered drama. Romeo and Juliet, for example, is a classic romantic drama generally accepted as literature.
-
-
Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial knowledge.
Tragedy, as a dramatic
genre, developed as a performance associated with
religious and civic
festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known
historical or
mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious
Theme.
-
- With the advent of newer technologies, scripts written for non-stage media have been added to this form.
War of the Worlds (radio) in 1938 saw the advent of literature written for radio broadcast, and many works of Drama have been adapted for film or television. Conversely, television, film, and radio literature have been adapted to printed or electronic media.
-'wekipedia literature'-
Essays
An
essay consists of a discussion of a topic from an author's personal point of view, exemplified by works by
Francis Bacon or by
Charles Lamb.
'Essay' in English derives from the French 'essai', meaning 'attempt'. Thus one can find open-ended, provocative and/or inconclusive essays. The term "essays" first applied to the self-reflective musings of
Michel de Montaigne, and even today he has a reputation as the father of this literary form.
Genres related to the essay may include:
★ the
memoir, telling the story of an author's life from the author's personal point of view
★ the
epistle: usually a formal, didactic, or elegant
letter.
Prose fiction
'
Prose' consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple
grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term sometimes appears pejoratively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a
beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course take beautiful form; but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, metre) but rather by style, placement, or inclusion of graphics. But one need not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. Note the classifications:
★ "
prose poetry", which attempts to convey the aesthetic richness typical of poetry using only prose
★ "
free verse", or poetry not adhering to any of the structures of one or another formal poetic style
Narrative
fiction (
narrative prose) generally favours prose for the writing of
novels, short stories, graphic novels, and the like. Singular examples of these exist throughout history, but they did not develop into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recent centuries. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction. Although limits remain somewhat arbitrary, modern
publishing conventions dictate the following:
★ A
Mini Saga is a short story of ''exactly'' 50 words
★ A
Flash fiction is generally defined as a piece of prose under a thousand words.
★ A
short story comprises prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words, but typically more than 500 words, which may or may not have a narrative arc.
★ A story containing between 20,000 and 50,000 words falls into the
novella category.
★ A work of fiction containing more than 50,000 words falls squarely into the realm of the
novel.
A
novel consists simply of a long story written in prose, yet the form developed comparatively recently.
Icelandic prose
sagas dating from about the 11th century bridge the gap between traditional national
verse epics and the modern
psychological novel. In mainland Europe, the
Spaniard Cervantes wrote perhaps the first influential novel: ''
Don Quixote'', the first part of which was published in
1605 and the second in
1615. Earlier collections of
tales, such as
Boccaccio's ''
Decameron'' and
Chaucer's ''
The Canterbury Tales'', have comparable forms and would classify as novels if written today. Earlier works written in Asia resemble even more strongly the novel as we now think of it — for example, works such as the
Chinese ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and the
Japanese ''
Tale of Genji'' by
Lady Murasaki. Compare to
The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.
Early novels in Europe did not, at the time, count as significant literature, perhaps because "mere" prose writing seemed easy and unimportant. It has become clear, however, that prose writing can provide aesthetic pleasure without adhering to poetic forms. Additionally, the freedom authors gain in not having to concern themselves with verse structure translates often into a more complex
plot or into one richer in precise detail than one typically finds even in narrative poetry. This freedom also allows an author to experiment with many different literary and presentation styles — including poetry— in the scope of a single novel.
See
Ian Watt's ''The Rise of the Novel''. [This definition needs expansion]
Other prose literature
Philosophy,
history,
journalism, and legal and scientific writings traditionally ranked as literature. They offer some of the oldest prose writings in existence; novels and prose stories earned the names "
fiction" to distinguish them from factual writing or
nonfiction, which writers historically have crafted in prose.
The "literary" nature of science writing has become less pronounced over the last two centuries, as advances and specialization have made new scientific research inaccessible to most audiences; science now appears mostly in
journals. Scientific works of
Euclid,
Aristotle,
Copernicus, and
Newton still possess great value; but since the science in them has largely become outdated, they no longer serve for scientific instruction, yet they remain too technical to sit well in most programmes of literary study. Outside of "
history of science" programmes students rarely read such works. Many books "popularizing" science might still deserve the title "literature"; history will tell.
Philosophy, too, has become an increasingly academic discipline. More of its practitioners lament this situation than occurs with the sciences; nonetheless most new philosophical work appears in
academic journals. Major philosophers through history—
Plato,
Aristotle,
Augustine,
Descartes,
Nietzsche—have become as canonical as any writers. Some recent philosophy works are argued to merit the title "literature", such as some of the works by
Simon Blackburn; but much of it does not, and some areas, such as
logic, have become extremely technical to a degree similar to that of
mathematics.
A great deal of historical writing can still rank as literature, particularly the genre known as
creative nonfiction. So can a great deal of journalism, such as
literary journalism. However these areas have become extremely large, and often have a primarily utilitarian purpose: to record data or convey immediate information. As a result the writing in these fields often lacks a literary quality, although it often and in its better moments has that quality. Major "literary" historians include
Herodotus,
Thucydides and
Procopius, all of whom count as canonical literary figures.
Law offers a less clear case. Some writings of
Plato and
Aristotle, or even the early parts of the
Bible, might count as legal literature. The law tables of
Hammurabi of
Babylon might count.
Roman civil law as codified in the
Corpus Juris Civilis during the reign of
Justinian I of the
Byzantine Empire has a reputation as significant literature. The founding documents of many countries, including the
United States Constitution, can count as literature; however legal writing now rarely exhibits literary merit.
Game Design Scripts - In essence never seen by the player of a game and only by the developers and/or publishers, the audience for these pieces is usually very small. Still, many game scripts contain immersive stories and detailed worlds making them hidden literary gems.
Most of these fields, then, through specialization or proliferation, no longer generally constitute "literature" in the sense under discussion. They may sometimes count as "literary literature"; more often they produce what one might call "technical literature" or "professional literature".
Related Narrative Forms
★
Graphic novels and
comic books present stories told in a combination of sequential artwork, dialogue and text.
★
Films, videos and broadcast
soap operas have carved out a niche which often parallels the functionality of prose fiction.
★
Interactive fiction, a term for a prose-based genre of computer games, occupies a small literary niche.
★
Electronic literature is a developing literary genre meant to be read on a computer screen, often making use of
hypertext.
Genres of literature
A literary genre refers to the traditional divisions of literature of various kinds according to a particular criterion of writing. See
the list of literary genres.
Literary techniques
Main articles: Literary technique
A 'literary technique' or 'literary device' may be used by works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. Literary technique is distinguished from
literary genre as
military tactics are from
military strategy. Thus, though ''
David Copperfield'' employs satire at certain moments, it belongs to the genre of comic novel, not that of satire. By contrast, ''
Bleak House'' employs satire so consistently as to belong to the genre of satirical novel. In this way, use of a technique can lead to the development of a new genre, as was the case with one of the first modern novels, ''
Pamela'' by
Samuel Richardson, which by using the epistolary technique strengthened the tradition of the
epistolary novel, a genre which had been practiced for some time already but without the same acclaim.
Literary figures
★
Authors
★
Critics
★
Dramatists
★
Essayists
★
Journalists
★
Novelists
★
Poets
★
Short story authors
★
Writers
★
Zinesters
Literature by country, language, or cultural group
see ''
Literature by country, language, or cultural group'' and the category ''.''
Literary criticism
★
Literary criticism
★
Literary history
★
Literary theory
Literary criticism implies a critique and evaluation of a piece of literature and in some cases is used to improve a work in progress or classical piece.
There are many types of literary criticism and each can be used to critique a piece in a different way or critique a different aspect of a piece. The major types of literary criticism are Marxism, Human studies, which umbrellas homosexual studies and feminism, historical, and Traditional, also known as New Criticism.
Themes in literature
Main articles: Theme (literature)
'Theme' is a broad idea in a story, or a message conveyed by a work. This message is usually about
life,
society or
human nature. Themes are usually implied rather than explicitly stated. Deep thematic content is not required in literature; however, some readers would say that all stories inherently project some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the
intent of the author. Analysis of changes in dynamic characters can provide insight into a particular theme.
Other
★
Scientific literature
★
Literature cycle
★
Rabbinic literature
★
Vernacular literature
★
Postcolonial literature
See also
Lists
★
List of basic literature topics
★
List of authors
★
List of books
★
List of literary awards
★
List of literary terms
★
List of prizes, medals, and awards for literary prizes.
★
List of women writers
★
List of writers
Related topics
★
Asemic Writing
★
Children's literature
★
Cultural movement for literary movements.
★
English studies
★
Ergodic literature
★
Hinman Collator
★
History of literature (antiquity — 1800)
★
History of modern literature (1800 —)
★
Literature basic topics
★
Literary criticism
★
Literary magazine
★
Orature
★
World literature
Notes
1. The Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher Imam Jafar Ibn Mohammad As-Sadiq(a.s),Imam Hussain Publication, First Edition, ISBN 964-7371 12-8
External links
★
Open Directory Project:
★
★
Literature
★
★
Online Writing
★
★
Writers Resources
★
★
Libraries, Digital
★
★
Cataloguing, Metadata
★
★
Distance Learning
★
''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'': Classicism in Literature
★
TSAR Publications
★
The Universal Library, by
Carnegie Mellon University
★
Project Gutenberg Online Library
★
★
Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon reviews
★
★
The Online Books Page A search engine for online ebooks.
★
Internet Book List - Similar to
IMDb but for books.
★
The Art of Literature: Essay from
Encyclopædia Britannica by
Kenneth Rexroth.
★
Most Honored Literature, books sorted by awards.
★
A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology (José Ángel García Landa, University of Zaragoza, Spain)
★
★
Univers Litteraire
★
The Arabesques Literature Journal - Poetry and Literary magazine.
★
The Johns Hopkins Guide to literary Theory and Criticism
★
The Reader - Literary magazine publishing poetry, short fiction and articles about literature and reading.
★
Online Literature Discussions
★
American literary realism: definitions, links, bibliographies
★
The history of ideas in literature and the arts in aesthetic theory and literary criticism. In ''The Dictionary of the History of Ideas''.
★
Steve Donoghue reviews all 20th century literature
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