Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work, and is not confined to published sources (although, under some circumstances, unpublished sources can also be exempt). The word literature literally means "acquaintance with letters" and the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." The four major classifications of literature are poetry, prose, fiction, and non-fiction.

Literature may comprise of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres. Literatures can be divided according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has now broadened over the centuries. A genre consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods include the 17th Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, Middle English, Old English, 19th Century Victorian, the Renaissance, the 18th Century Restoration, and 20th Century Modernism. Important political movements that have influenced literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism and Marxism. Literature is also observed in terms of gender, race and nationality, which include Black writing in America, African writing, Indian writing, Dalit writing, women's writing, and so on.

Noun

literature (usually uncountable; plural literatures)

1. The body of all written works.
2. The collected creative writing of a nation, people, group, or culture.
3. All the papers, treatises, etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject.
4. Written fiction of a high standard.

   SF is rarely literature because the characters are so poorly realised. - Adam Cadre

Meronyms

• See also Wikisaurus:literature

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

• A beautiful literature springs from the depth and fullness of intellectual and moral life, from an energy of thought and feeling, to which nothing, as we believe, ministers so largely as enlightened religion.
  • William Ellery Channing, p. 385.

• God be thanked for books! they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levelers. They give to all who will faithfully use them the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race,
  • William Ellery Channing, p. 385.

• From the hour of the invention of printing, books, and not kings, were to rule the world. Weapons forged in the mind, keen-edged, and brighter than a sunbeam, were to supplant the sword and battle-axe. Books! lighthouses built on the sea of time! Books! by whose sorcery the whole pageantry of the world's history moves in solemn procession before our eyes. From their pages great souls look down in all their grandeur, undimmed by the faults and follies of earthly existence, consecrated by time.
  • Edwin Percy Whipple, p. 386.

• Be less concerned about the number of books you read, and more about the good use you make of them. The best of books is the Bible.
  • Christian Scriver, p. 386.

• The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.
  • Hugh Blair, p. 386.

• Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading.
  • Thomas Fuller, p. 386.

• It is right for you, young men, to enrich yourselves with the spoils of all pure literature; but he who would make a favorite of a bad book, simply because it contains a few beautiful passages, might as well caress the hand of an assassin because of the jewelry which sparkles on his fingers.
  • Joseph Parker, p. 386.

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Arts: Literature: World Literature: Filipino
See also: Regional: Asia: Philippines: Arts and Entertainment (178) World: Tagalog: Sining: Panitikan (8) Butch Dalisay - Official site includes the text of "The Body" (from ...

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Arts: Literature: World Literature: Indian:
This is the home location for information about literature--modern and classica--from India. Contains links to homepages devoted to Indian fiction, poetry, drama, in ...

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Arts: Literature: World Literature: Pakistani
See also: Regional: Asia: Pakistan: Arts and Entertainment (29) Alamgir Hashmi - Website about the English-language poet and scholar Alamgir Hashmi, with information on his ...