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outline Outline or outlining may refer to: * Outline (list), a document summary, in hierarchical list format * Code folding, a method of hiding or collapsing code or text to see content in outline form * Outline drawing, a sketch depicting the outer edge ...
is provided as an overview of and topical guide to
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
(
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
, written or
oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or oral ...
, including
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
and
non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
,
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
, and
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
). See also the
Outline of poetry The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to poetry: Poetry – a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities, in addition to, or instead of, its apparent meaning. What ''type'' of thing ...
.


What ''type'' of thing is literature?

Literature can be described as all of the following: *
Communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
– activity of conveying information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. **
Written communication Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
(writing) – representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system). * Subdivision of
culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
– shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group. ** One of
the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
– imaginative, creative, or nonscientific branch of knowledge, especially as studied academically.


Essence of literature

*
Composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
– *
World literature World literature is used to refer to the total of the world's national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European lit ...
–


Forms of literature


Oral literary genres

Oral literature Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used vary ...
*
Oral poetry Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain. Background Oral poetry is ...
– **
Epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
– ***
Legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
– ***
Mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
– ***
Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
– *
Folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...
– * Oral Narrative – **
Oral History Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
– **
Urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
–


Written literary genres

*
Cordel Literature Cordel literature (from the Portuguese term, ''literatura de cordel'', literally “string literature”, ) are popular and inexpensively printed booklets or pamphlets containing folk novels, poems and songs. They are produced and sold in street ...
*
Children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
– *
Constrained writing Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern. Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. D ...
– *
Erotic literature Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelin ...
– *
Electronic literature Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature encompassing works created exclusively on and for digital devices, such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. A work of electronic literature can be defined as "a constr ...
– Literary fiction and poetry that uses the capabilities of computers and networks **
Digital poetry Digital poetry is a form of electronic literature, displaying a wide range of approaches to poetry, with a prominent and crucial use of computers. Digital poetry can be available in form of CD-ROM, DVD, as installations in art galleries, in cert ...
– **
Interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
– **
Hypertext fiction Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text t ...
– literary fiction written with hypertextual links **
Fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...
**
Cell phone novel A cell phone novel, or , were literary works originally written on a cellular phone via text messaging. This type of literature originated in Japan, where it became a popular literary genre. However, its popularity also spread to other countries ...
*
Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
(see that article for an extensive list of subgenres and types) **
Aubade An aubade is a morning love song (as opposed to a serenade, intended for performance in the evening), or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn. It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or ev ...
– **
Clerihew A clerihew () is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person, and the remainder puts the subject in an absurd light or reveals som ...
– **
Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
– ** Grook – form of short
aphoristic An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
poem invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein, who wrote over 7,000 of them. **
Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
– form of short Japanese poetry consisting of three lines. **
Instapoetry Instapoetry is a style of written poetry that emerged after the advent of social media. Instapoetry is a term that can be used to describe poems written specifically for being shared online, most commonly on Instagram (but also other platforms in ...
**
Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...
– classical Japanese poetry of five lines. **
Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
– **
Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
– a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem,Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved fro

 especially one in five-line Anapaest, or
meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
with a strict
rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...
(aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. ** Lyric – **
Ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...
– **
Rhapsody Rhapsody may refer to: * A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time ** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry Computer software * Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
– **
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
– **
Sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
– **
Speculative poetry Speculative poetry is a genre of poetry that focusses on fantastic, science fictional and mythological themes. It is also known as science fiction poetry or fantastic poetry. It is distinguished from other poetic genres by being categorized by it ...
– *
Prison literature Prison literature is a literary genre characterized by literature that is written while the author is confined in a location against his will, such as a prison, jail or house arrest.Tony Perrottet. "Serving the Sentence", ''New York Times Book Revi ...
– *
Rhymed prose Rhymed prose is a literary form and literary genre, written in unmetrical rhymes. This form has been known in many different cultures. In some cases the rhymed prose is a distinctive, well-defined style of writing. In modern literary traditions th ...
– **
Saj' Saj‘ ( ar, سجع) is a form of rhymed prose in Arabic literature. It is named so because of its evenness or monotony, or from a fancied resemblance between its rhythm and the cooing of a dove. It is a highly artificial style of prose, character ...
***
Maqama ''Maqāmah'' (مقامة, pl. ''maqāmāt'', مقامات, literally "assemblies") are an (originally) Arabic prosimetric literary genre which alternates the Arabic rhymed prose known as '' Saj‘'' with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical ...
**
Fu (literature) ''Fu'' (), often translated "rhapsody" or "poetic exposition", is a form of Chinese rhymed prose that was the dominant literary form during the Han dynasty (206AD220). ''Fu'' are intermediary pieces between poetry and prose in which a place, o ...
**
Rayok A rayok ( rus, раёк, p=rɐˈjɵk, "small paradise") was a Russian fairground peep show. Performed using a box with pictures viewed through magnifying lenses, these were accompanied by lewd rhymed jokes. ''The Fall of Adam and Eve'' was one of ...


Non-fiction

Non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
*
Autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
– *
Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
– * Diaries and Journals – *
Essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
– *
Literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
– *
Memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
– *
Outdoor literature Outdoor literature is a literature genre about or involving the outdoors. Outdoor literature encompasses several different literature, subgenres including exploration literature, adventure literature, mountain literature and nature writing. Anothe ...
– *
Self-Help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...
– *
Spiritual autobiography Spiritual autobiography is a genre of non-fiction prose that dominated Protestant writing during the seventeenth century, particularly in England, particularly that of Dissenters. The narrative follows the believer from a state of damnation to a s ...
– *
Travel literature The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...
–


Fiction genres

Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
*
Manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
– *
Adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...
– *
Airport novel The airport novel represents a literary genre that is defined not so much by its plot or cast of stock characters, as by the social function it serves. Designed to meet the demands of a very specific market, airport novels are superficially engag ...
s – *
Comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
– *
Parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
– *
Satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
– *
Crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
– **
Detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
– ***
Hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...
– ***
Whodunit A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the cl ...
– **
Newgate novel The Newgate novels (or Old Bailey novels) were novels published in England from the late 1820s until the 1840s that glamorised the lives of the criminals they portrayed. Most drew their inspiration from the ''Newgate Calendar'', a biography of famou ...
– *
Erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...
– *
Fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...
– *
Fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
– *
Family saga The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...
– *
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
– **
Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing or ...
– *
Historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
– *
Inspirational fiction Inspirational fiction is a sub-category within the broader categories of "inspirational literature" or "inspirational writing." It has become more common for booksellers and libraries to consider inspirational fiction to be a separate genre, class ...
– *
Invasion literature Invasion literature (also the invasion novel) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the First World War (1914–1918). The invasion novel first was recognized as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella '' The B ...
– *
Mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...
– *
Philosophical literature Philosophy and literature involves the literary treatment of philosophers and philosophical themes (the literature of philosophy), and the philosophical treatment of issues raised by literature (the philosophy of literature). The philosophy ...
– :
Inspirational fiction Inspirational fiction is a sub-category within the broader categories of "inspirational literature" or "inspirational writing." It has become more common for booksellers and libraries to consider inspirational fiction to be a separate genre, class ...
(religious literature) – *
Psychological fiction In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters. The mode of narration examin ...
– *
Psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...
– *
Romance (heroic literature) As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
– *
Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
– **
Historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...
– ***
Regency romance Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency (1811–1820) or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency rom ...
– ** Inspirational romance – **
Paranormal romance Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the speculative fiction ...
– *
Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
– *
Speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...
– **
Alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
– **
Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
– (for more details see
Fantasy subgenres Writing genres (more commonly known as literary genres) are categories that distinguish literature (including works of prose, poetry, drama, hybrid forms, etc.) based on some set of stylistic criteria. Sharing literary conventions, they typica ...
,
fantasy literature Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...
) ***
Epic fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...
– ***
Science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...
– ***
Steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...
– ***
Urban fantasy Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which places imaginary and unreal elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with quixotic plot-drivers, unusual character traits, and a platform for cl ...
– ***
Weird fantasy ''Weird Fantasy'' is an American dark fantasy and science fiction anthology comic that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The companion comic for ''Weird Fantasy'' was '' Weird Science''. Over a four-year span, ''Weird Fantasy'' ra ...
– ** Horror – ***
Lovecraftian horror Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...
– ***
Weird menace Weird menace is a subgenre of horror fiction and detective fiction that was popular in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and early 1940s. The weird menace pulps, also known as shudder pulps, generally featured stories in which the hero was pitted a ...
– **
Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
– (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics ***
Cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
– ***
Hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's '' Islands of Space'' in the Novem ...
– ***
Space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...
– **
Supernatural fiction Supernatural fiction or supernaturalist fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that exploits or is centered on supernatural themes, often contradicting naturalist assumptions of the real world. Description In its broadest definition, supe ...
– *
Sensation novel The sensation novel, also sensation fiction, was a literary genre of fiction that achieved peak popularity in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s.I. Ousby ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 844 Its literary forebears i ...
– *
Slave narrative The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved Africans, particularly in the Americas. Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist; about 150 narratives were published as ...
– * Thriller – **
Conspiracy fiction The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of thriller fiction. The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unr ...
– **
Legal thriller The legal thriller genre is a type of crime fiction genre that focuses on the proceedings of the investigation, with particular reference to the impacts on courtroom proceedings and the lives of characters. The courtroom proceedings and legal a ...
– ** Spy fiction/Political thriller – **
Techno-thriller A techno-thriller or technothriller is a hybrid genre drawing from science fiction, Thriller (genre), thrillers, spy fiction, action (fiction), action, and War novel, war novels. They include a disproportionate amount (relative to other genres) o ...
– *
Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...
–


Literature by region and country


Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

* East Asian literature ** Chinese literature **
Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...
**
Korean literature Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...
**
Mongolian literature Mongolian literature has been greatly influenced by its nomadic oral traditions. The "three peaks" of Mongol literature, ''The Secret History of the Mongols'', ''Epic of King Gesar'' and '' Epic of Jangar'', all reflect the age-long tradition of h ...
** Taiwanese literature *
South Asian literature South Asian literature is the literature that is composed by authors in the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. South Asian literature has an extensive history with some of the earliest known pieces of literature. South Asia has many different la ...
**
Bangladeshi literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
** Bhutanese literature **
Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...
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Assamese literature Assamese literature ( as, অসমীয়া সাহিত্য, translit=ɔxɔmiya xaɦitjɔ}) is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the liter ...
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Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
*** Bhojpuri language#Bhojpuri literature ***
Indian English literature Indian English literature (IEL), also referred to as Indian Writing in English (IWE), is the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language but whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. ...
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Gujarati literature The history of Gujarati literature ( gu, ગુજરાતી સાહિત્ય) may be traced to 1000 AD, and this literature has flourished since then to the present. It is unique in having almost no patronage from a ruling dynasty, othe ...
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Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃ ...
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Kannada literature Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian language, Dravidian Language family, family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script. A ...
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Kashmiri literature Literature of Kashmir has a long history, the oldest texts having been composed in the Sanskrit language. Early names include Patanjali, the author of the '' Mahābhāṣya'' commentary on Pāṇini's grammar, suggested by some to have been the sa ...
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Konkani literature Konkani literature is literature in the Konkani language, mostly produced in three scripts: Roman, Devanagari and Kannada. Konkani literature is eligible for the Sahitya Akademi Award History While the earliest inscriptions in Konkani date fr ...
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Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a Sou ...
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Maithili literature Maithili literature is the entire collection of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the Maithili language. The most famous literary figure in Maithili is the poet Vidyapati (1350–1450), who wrote his poems in the ...
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Meitei literature , image = Numit Kappa.jpg , imagesize = , caption = The Numit Kappa, a Classical Meitei epic text written during the 1st century, based on ancient Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) , alt ...
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Marathi literature Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari and Modi script. History Ancient Era Maharashtri Prakrit was the southern Prakrit tha ...
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Mizo literature Mizo literature is the literature written in Mizo ṭawng, the principal language of the Mizo peoples, which has both written and oral traditions. It has undergone a considerable change in the 20th century. The language developed mainly from th ...
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Nepali literature Nepali literature ( ne, नेपाली साहित्य) refers to literature written in the Nepali language. The Nepali language has been the national language of Nepal since 1958.Himalayan Voices: An Introduction to Modern Nepali Lite ...
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Odia literature Odia literature is literature written in the Odia language, mostly from the Indian state of Odisha. The modern Odia language is mostly formed from Tadbhava words with significant Sanskrit (Tatsama) influences, along with loanwoards from Desaj ...
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Punjabi literature Punjabi literature, specifically literary works written in the Punjabi language, is characteristic of the historical Punjab region of India and Pakistan and the Punjabi diaspora. The Punjabi language is written in several scripts, of which the Sha ...
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Rajasthani literature Rajasthani literature written in various genres starting from 1000 AD. But, it is generally agreed that modern Rajasthani literature began with the works of Suryamal Misran. His most important works are the Vansa Bhaskara and the Vir Satsai. T ...
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Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
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Sindhi literature Sindhi literature ( sd, سنڌي ادب), is the composition of oral and written scripts and texts in the Sindhi language in the form of prose: (romantic tales, and epic stores) and poetry: (Ghazal, Wai and Nazm). The Sindhi language of the provin ...
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Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...
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Telugu literature Telugu literature is the body of works written in the Telugu language. It consists of poems, short stories, novels, plays, and song lyrics, among others. There is some indication that Telugu literature dates at least to the middle of the first ...
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Urdu literature Urdu literature ( ur, , ) is literature in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal '' غزل and ''nazm '' نظم, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of t ...
** Maldivian literature **
Nepalese literature Nepalese literature ( ne, नेपाली साहित्य) is the literature of Nepal. This is distinct from Nepali literature, which is the literature in only Nepali language (Khas kura). The major literary languages of Nepal are: Engl ...
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Pakistani literature Pakistani literature ( ur, ) is a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of literary traditions of the South Asia. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English l ...
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Sri Lankan literature Sri Lankan literature is the literary tradition of Sri Lanka. The largest part of Sri Lankan literature was written in the Sinhala language, but there is a considerable number of works in other languages used in Sri Lanka over the millennia (inc ...
*Southeast Asian literature ** Brunei literature **
Burmese literature The literature of Burma (or Myanmar) spans over a millennium. Burmese literature was historically influenced by Indian and Thai cultures, as seen in many works, such as the ''Ramayana''. The Burmese language, unlike other Southeast Asian langu ...
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Cambodian literature Cambodian literature ( km, អក្សរសាស្ត្រខ្មែរ, ), also Khmer literature, has a very ancient origin. Like most Southeast Asian national literatures its traditional corpus has two distinct aspects or levels: *The ...
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Indonesian literature Indonesian literature is a term grouping various genres of South-East Asian literature. Indonesian literature can refer to literature produced in the Indonesian archipelago. It is also used to refer more broadly to literature produced in areas ...
** Laotian literature **
Malaysian literature Malaysian literature is the collection of literary works produced in the Malay peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay, English, Chinese a ...
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Philippine literature Philippine literature is literature associated with the Philippines from prehistory, through its colonial legacies, and on to the present. Pre-Hispanic Philippine literature was actually epics passed on from generation to generation, o ...
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Singaporean literature The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans. It is written chiefly in the country's four official languages: English, Malay, Standard Mandarin and Tamil. While Singaporean literary works may be considered ...
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Thai literature 300px, ''Samut Thai'', a traditional medium for recordation and transmission of Thai and other literature in mainland Southeast Asia Thai literature is the literature of the Thai people, almost exclusively written in the Thai language (althoug ...
** Timoran literature **
Vietnamese literature Vietnamese literature ( vi, Văn học Việt Nam; chữ Nôm: 文學越南) is the literature, both oral and written, created largely by the Vietnamese. Early Vietnamese literature has been greatly influenced by Chinese literature. As Literary Chin ...
* Central Asian literature **
Kazakh literature Kazakh literature is defined as 'the body of literature, both oral and written, produced in the Kazakh language by the Kazakh people of Central Asia'. Kazakh literature expands from the current territory of Kazakhstan, also including the era of Ka ...
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Kyrgyz literature The history of Kyrgyz literature dates to the early 19th century, from the poems of Moldo Nïyaz to stories written in "Old Kyrgyz". It is an important facet of the culture of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz literature is not only written, but also spoken, and ...
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Tajik literature Tajik literature and its history is bound up with the standardisation of the Tajik language. Tajik literary centres include the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, currently in present-day Uzbekistan but with a majority Tajik population and Balkh and ...
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Turkmen literature Turkmen literature ( tk, Türkmen edebiýaty) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Old Oghuz languages, Oghuz Turkic and Turkmen languages. The Turkmen people, Turkmens are direct descendants of the Oghuz Turks, who were a western ...
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Uzbek literature Uzbek literature refers to the literature produced and developed in the Republic of Uzbekistan with additional literary works contributed by the other parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan people of Central Asia. Influenced by the Russia ...


Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

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Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Alba ...
** Andorran literature **
Armenian literature Armenian literature begins around AD 400 with the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots. History Early literature Only a handful of fragments have survived from the most ancient Armenian literary tradition preceding the Christia ...
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Austrian literature Austrian literature () is mostly written in German, and is closely connected with German literature. Origin and background From the 19th century onward, Austria was the home of novelists and short-story writers, including Adalbert Stifter, ...
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Azerbaijani literature Azerbaijani literature ( az, Azərbaycan ədəbiyyatı) is written in Azerbaijani, a Turkic language, which is the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan, where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken. It is also natively spoken ...
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Basque literature Although the first instances of coherent Basque phrases and sentences go as far back as the San Millán glosses of around 950, the large-scale damage done by periods of great instability and warfare, such as the clan wars of the Middle Ages, the ...
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Belarusian literature Belarusian literature ( be, Беларуская лiтаратура, Biełaruskaja litaratura) is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers (not necessarily native speakers) of the Belarusian language. History Pre-17th century ...
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Belgian literature Because modern Belgium is a multilingual country,Dutch, French and German are legally the three official languages in Belgium, seeBelgium, European Union/ref> Belgian literature is often treated as a branch of French literature or Dutch literature ...
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Flemish literature Flemish literature is literature from Flanders, historically a region comprising parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Until the early 19th century, this literature was regarded as an integral part of Dutch literature. After Bel ...
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Bosnian literature The culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina encompasses the country's ancient heritage, architecture, literature, visual arts, music, cinema, sports and cuisine. Ancient cultural heritage The rock-carving by an artist found in Badanj Cave near the ci ...
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Bulgarian literature Bulgarian literature is literature written by Bulgarians or residents of Bulgaria, or written in the Bulgarian language; usually the latter is the defining feature. Bulgarian literature can be said to be one of the oldest among the Slavic peopl ...
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British literature British literature is literature from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature is inc ...
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Cornish literature Cornish literature refers to written works in the Cornish language. The earliest surviving texts are in verse and date from the 14th century. There are virtually none from the 18th and 19th centuries but writing in revived forms of Cornish began ...
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English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
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Manx literature Literature in the Manx language is known from the 16th century. Early works were often religious in theme, including translations of the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible and Milton's ''Paradise Lost''. Edward Faragher (; 1831–1908), who publis ...
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Jèrriais literature Jèrriais literature is literature in Jèrriais, the Norman dialect of Jersey in the Channel Islands. The literary tradition in Jersey is traced back to Wace, the 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in ...
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Scottish literature Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by List of Scottish writers, Scottish writers. It includes works in Scottish English, English, Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots, Brythonic languages, Bryth ...
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Scots-language literature Scots-language literature is literature, including poetry, prose and drama, written in the Scots language in its many forms and derivatives. Middle Scots became the dominant language of Scotland in the late Middle Ages. The first surviving major te ...
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Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literature composed in the Scottish Gaelic language and in the Gàidhealtachd communities where it is and has been spoken. Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, along with Irish ...
*** Ulster literature ***
Welsh literature in English Welsh writing in English (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Llenyddiaeth Gymreig yn Saesneg''), (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh people, Welsh writers. The term ‘Anglo-Welsh ...
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Welsh-language literature Welsh-language literature ( cy, Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg) has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. Huws Daniel National Library of Wales and Centre for Advanced W ...
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Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography was standardized in the late 19th century, it also covers t ...
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Cypriot literature Cypriot literature covers literature from Cyprus found mainly in Greek, Turkish, English and/or other languages, including French. The modern Cypriot Greek dialect belongs to the Southeastern group of Modern Greek dialects. Ancient / Medieval L ...
*** Turkish Cypriot literature **
Czech literature Czech literature can refer to literature written in Czech, in the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia, earlier the Lands of the Bohemian Crown), or by Czech people. Most literature in the Czech Republic is now written in Czech, but histor ...
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Danish literature Danish literature () a subset of Scandinavian literature, stretches back to the Middle Ages. The earliest preserved texts from Denmark are runic inscriptions on memorial stones and other objects, some of which contain short poems in alliterative ...
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Faroese literature Faroese literature, in the traditional sense of the word, has only really developed in the past two hundred years. This is mainly because of the islands' isolation, and also because the Faroese language was not written down in a standardised form ...
*** Greenlandic literature **
Dutch literature Dutch language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, Be ...
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Frisian literature Frisian literature is works written in the Frisian languages, including that of West Frisian spoken in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, from which most texts were produced or have survived. The first texts written in Frisian emerge a ...
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Esperanto literature Literature in the Esperanto language began before the first official publication in Esperanto in 1887: the language's creator, L. L. Zamenhof, translated poetry and prose into the language as he was developing it as a test of its completeness an ...
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Estonian literature Estonian literature ( et, eesti kirjandus) is literature written in the Estonian language (c. 1,100,000 speakers) The domination of Estonia after the Northern Crusades, from the 13th century to 1918 by Germany, Sweden, and Russia resulted in few ...
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Finnish literature Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. During the European early Middle Ages, the earliest text in a Finnic language is the unique thirteenth-century Birch bark letter no. 292 from Novgorod. The text was written in Cyrilli ...
*** Åland literature **
French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
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Francophone literature Francophone literature is literature written in the French language. The existence of a plurality of literatures in the French language has been recognised, although the autonomy of these literatures is less defined than the plurality of literat ...
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Breton literature Breton literature may refer to literature in the Breton language (''Brezhoneg'') or the broader literary tradition of Brittany in the three other main languages of the area, namely, Latin, Gallo and French – all of which have had strong mutual ...
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Occitan literature Occitan literature (referred to in older texts as Provençal literature) is a body of texts written in Occitan, mostly in the south of France. It was the first literature in a Romance language and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throug ...
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Georgian literature The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a unique national identity and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This strong sense of national identity has helped to pr ...
*** Abkhaz literature *** Chechen literature ***
Ossetian literature Ossetian (or Ossetic) literature is expressed in the Ossetian language, an Iranian language of the Caucasus. The Ossetian literature is comparatively young, with its first specimen published in the 1890s. Its golden age was in the years after the ...
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German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
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Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving writte ...
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Hungarian literature Hungarian literature is the body of written works primarily produced in Hungarian,
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Icelandic literature Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic wor ...
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Irish literature Irish literature comprises writings in the Irish, Latin, English and Scots ( Ulster Scots) languages on the island of Ireland. The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from the 7th century and was produced by monks writing in both Latin an ...
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Gaelic literature Gaelic literature ( ga, Litríocht na Gaeilge; gd, Litreachas na Gàidhlig) is literature in the vernacular Gaelic languages of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Gaelic literature is recognised as the third oldest literature tradition of Eu ...
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Literature of Northern Ireland That part of the United Kingdom called Northern Ireland was created in 1922, with the partition of the island of Ireland. The majority of the population of Northern Ireland wanted to remain within the United Kingdom (see unionism and loyalism). ...
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Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italian people, Italians or in Languages of Italy, other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely re ...
*** Friulian literature ***
Sardinian literature The literature of Sardinia is the literary production of Sardinian authors, as well as the literary production generally referring to Sardinia as argument, written in various languages. The beginnings The existence and understanding of direc ...
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Venetian literature Venetian literature is the corpus of literature in Venetian language, Venetian, the vernacular language of the region roughly corresponding to Venice, from the 12th century. Venetian literature, after an initial period of splendour in the sixteenth ...
*** Western Lombard literature **
Kazakh literature Kazakh literature is defined as 'the body of literature, both oral and written, produced in the Kazakh language by the Kazakh people of Central Asia'. Kazakh literature expands from the current territory of Kazakhstan, also including the era of Ka ...
** Kosovar literature **
Latvian literature Latvian literature began in a significant way in the 19th century. Overview Early Latvian literature Before there was a written Latvian language, traditions were passed along in folk songs that are still preserved. Before the 19th century, a ...
** Liechtensteiner literature **
Lithuanian literature Lithuanian literature ( lt, lietuvių literatūra) concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in ...
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Luxembourg literature The literature of Luxembourg is little known beyond the country's borders, partly because Luxembourg authors write in one or more of the three official languages (French, German and Luxembourgish), partly because many works are specifically directed ...
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Macedonian literature Macedonian literature ( mk, македонска книжевност) begins with the Ohrid Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire (nowadays North Macedonia) in 886. These first written works in the dialects of the Old Church Slavonic w ...
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Maltese literature Maltese literature is any literature originating from Malta or by Maltese writers or literature written in the Maltese language. This article will give an overview of the history of Maltese-language literature. History Written Maltese As Ma ...
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Moldovan literature Literature of Moldova comprises the literature of the principality of Moldavia, the later trans-Prut Moldavia, Bessarabia, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the modern Republic of Mol ...
** Monégasque literature **
Montenegrin literature Montenegrin literature may refer to: * Literature of Montenegro, the entire (historical and modern) corpus of literature created on the territory covered by modern Montenegro, written in various languages of the region (Medieval Latin, Italian, Ro ...
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Norwegian literature Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Sk ...
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Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...
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Portuguese literature Portuguese literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the Portuguese language, particularly by citizens of Portugal; it may also refer to literature written by people living in Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique, and other P ...
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Romanian literature Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language. History The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with that ...
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Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...
** Sammarinese literature **
Serbian literature Serbian literature ( sr-Cyrl, Српска књижевност), refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia and all other lands where Serbs reside. The history of Serbian literature begins with the independent works from the Nema ...
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Slovak literature Slovak literature is the literature of Slovakia. History Middle Ages The first monuments of literature from territory now included in present-day Slovakia are from the time of Great Moravia (from 863 to the early 10th century). Authors from this ...
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Slovene literature Slovene literature is the literature written in Slovene. It spans across all literary genres with historically the Slovene historical fiction as the most widespread Slovene fiction genre. The Romantic 19th-century epic poetry written by the le ...
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Spanish literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects wit ...
*** Aragonese literature *** Asturian literature ***
Catalan literature Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...
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Galician-language literature Galician-language literature is the literature written in Galician. The earliest works in Galician language are from the early 13th-century ''trovadorismo'' tradition. In the Middle Ages, ''Galego-português'' (Galician-Portuguese) was a language ...
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Swedish literature Swedish literature () refers to literature written in the Swedish language or by writers from Sweden. The first literary text from Sweden is the Rök runestone, carved during the Viking Age circa 800 AD. With the conversion of the land to Chris ...
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Swiss literature As there is no dominant national language, the four main languages of French, Italian, German and Romansch form the four branches which make up a literature of Switzerland. The original Swiss Confederation, from its foundation in 1291 up to 1 ...
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Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...
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Ukrainian literature Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...
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Yiddish literature Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish language, Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus ...


Middle East and North Africa

** Afghan literature **
Algerian literature Algerian literature has been influenced by many cultures, including the ancient Romans, Arabs, French, Spanish, and Berbers. The dominant languages in Algerian literature are French and Arabic. A few of the more notable Algerian writers are: K ...
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Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...
** Bahraini literature **
Egyptian literature Egyptian literature traces its beginnings to ancient Egypt and is some of the earliest known literature. Ancient Egyptians were the first to develop written literature, as inscriptions or in collections of papyrus, precursors to the modern boo ...
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Ethiopian literature Ethiopian literature dates from Ancient Ethiopian literature (around 300 AD) up until modern Ethiopian literature. Ancient Ethiopian literature starts with Axumite texts written in the Geʽez language using the Geʽez script, indigenous to both Eth ...
** Emirati literature **
Iranian literature Iranian literature, or Iranic literature, refers to the literary traditions of the Iranian languages, developed predominantly in Iran and other regions in the Middle East and the Caucasus, eastern Asia Minor, and parts of western Central Asia an ...
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Iraqi literature Iraqi literature or Mesopotamian literature dates back to Sumerian times, which constitutes the earliest known corpus of recorded literature, including the religious writings and other traditional stories maintained by the Sumerian civilization an ...
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Israeli literature Israeli literature is literature written in the State of Israel by Israelis. Most works classed as Israeli literature are written in the Hebrew language, although some Israeli authors write in Yiddish, English, Arabic and Russian. History Hebr ...
** Jordanian literature ** Kuwaiti literature **
Kurdish literature Kurdish literature (, ) is literature written in the Kurdish languages. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the four main languages: Zaza, Gorani, Kurmanji and Sorani. Ali Hariri (1009–1079) is one of the first well-known poets ...
** Lebanese literature **
Libyan literature Libyan literature has its roots in Antiquity, but contemporary Libyan writing draws on a variety of influences. The Arab Renaissance (''Al-Nahda'') of the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not reach Libya as early as other Arab lands, and Li ...
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Moroccan literature Moroccan literature is the literature produced by people who lived in or were culturally connected to Morocco and the historical states that have existed partially or entirely within the geographical area that is now Morocco. Apart from the vario ...
** Oman literature **
Pakistani literature Pakistani literature ( ur, ) is a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of literary traditions of the South Asia. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English l ...
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Palestinian literature Palestinian literature refers to the Arabic language novels, short stories and poems produced by Palestinians. Forming part of the broader genre of Arabic literature, contemporary Palestinian literature is often characterized by its heightened se ...
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Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
** Qatari literature ** Saudi literature **
Syrian literature Syrian literature is literature originating from present-day Syria (officially the "Syrian Arabic Republic"), and which may be written in any of the languages of Syria. Syrian literature has been influenced by the country's political history and ...
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Tunisian literature Tunisian literature exists primarily in Arabic and in French. Arabic literature in Tunisia dates to the 7th century, with the arrival of Arab civilization in the region. Arabic literature is more important than francophone literature—which followe ...
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Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...
** Yemeni literature


North and South America

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North American literature The culture of North America refers to the arts and other manifestations of human activities and achievements from the continent of North America. Cultures of North America reflect not only that of the continent's indigenous peoples but those cult ...
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American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...
*** African American literature ***
Native American literature Native American literature is literature, both oral and written, produced by Native Americans in what is now the United States (as distinct from First Nations writers in Canada), from pre-Columbian times through to today. Famous authors include N ...
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Southern literature Southern United States literature consists of American literature written about the Southern United States or by writers from the region. Literature written about the American South first began during the colonial era, and developed significan ...
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Deaf American literature American Sign Language literature (or ASL literature) is one of the most important shared cultural experiences in the American Deaf community. Literary genres initially developed in residential Deaf institutes, such as American School for the Deaf ...
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Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both ge ...
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Quebec literature This is an article about literature in Quebec. 16th and 17th centuries During this period, the society of New France was being built with great difficulty. The French merchants contracted to transport colonists did not respect their end of t ...
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Mexican literature Mexican literature is one of the most prolific and influential of Spanish-language literatures along with those of Spain and Argentina. Found among the names of its most important and internationally recognized literary figures are authors Oc ...
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Caribbean literature Caribbean literature is the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, as West Indian literature. Most o ...
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Cuban literature Cuban literature is the literature written in Cuba or outside the island by Cubans in Spanish language. It began to find its voice in the early 19th century. The major works published in Cuba during that time were of an abolitionist character. Nota ...
** Dominican Republic literature ** Guadeloupean Literature **
Haitian literature Haitian literature has been closely intertwined with the political life of Haiti. Haitian intellectuals turned successively or simultaneously to African traditions, France, Latin America, the UK, and the United States. At the same time, Haitian h ...
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Jamaican literature Jamaican literature is internationally renowned, with the island of Jamaica being the home or birthplace of many important authors. One of the most distinctive aspects of Jamaican literature is its use of the local dialect — a variation of Englis ...
** Martinican Literature **
Puerto Rican literature Puerto Rican literature is the body of literature produced by writers of Puerto Rican descent. It evolved from the art of Oral literature, oral storytelling. Written works by the indigenous inhabitants of Puerto Rico were originally prohibited an ...
** Barthélemois literature **
Trinidad and Tobago literature Trinidad and Tobago literature has its roots in oral storytelling among African slaves, the European literary roots of the French creoles and in the religious and folk tales of the Indian indentured immigrants. It blossomed in the 20th centur ...
* Central American literature **
Costa Rican literature Costa Rican literature has roots in colonization and is marked by European influences. Because Costa Rica is a young country, its literary tradition is also young. The history of Costa Rican literature dates to the end of the 19th century. Chronol ...
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Salvadoran literature Salvadoran literature is primary literature written in El Salvador. Salvadoran literature is primary written in Spanish and in other languages like English (mainly written by its diaspora). Origins of Salvadorean literature Colonial literature ...
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Guatemalan literature Guatemalan literature is literature written by Guatemalan authors, whether in the indigenous languages present in the country or in Spanish. Though there was likely literature in Guatemala before the arrival of the Spanish, all the texts that exis ...
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Honduran literature Honduran literature describes the literature birthed out of Honduras. The literary history of Honduras is intersects with aspects of political and socioeconomic atmosphere that has long been prevalent in Honduran history. In the ''Handbook of La ...
** Nicaraguan literature ** Panamanian literature *
South American literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the ...
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Argentine literature Argentine literature, i.e. the set of literary works produced by writers who originated from Argentina, is one of the most prolific, relevant and influential in the whole Spanish speaking world, with renowned writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Ju ...
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Bolivian literature The constant political turmoil that Bolivia has experienced throughout its history has slowed the development of Bolivian literature. Many talents have had to emigrate or were silenced by the internal conflict. In recent years the literature of Bo ...
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Brazilian literature Brazilian literature is the literature written in the Portuguese language by Brazilians or in Brazil, including works written prior to the country's independence in 1822. Throughout its early years, literature from Brazil followed the literary t ...
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Chilean literature Chilean literature refers to all written or literary work produced in Chile or by Chilean writers. The literature of Chile is usually written in Spanish. Chile has a rich literary tradition and has been home to two Nobel prize winners, the poets ...
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Colombian literature Colombian literature, as an expression of the culture of Colombia, is heterogeneous due to the coexistence of Spanish, African and Native American heritages in an extremely diverse geography. Five distinct historical and cultural traditions can ...
** Ecuadorean literature **
Guyanese literature Guyanese literature covers works including novels, poetry, plays and others written by people born or strongly-affiliated with Guyana. Formerly British Guiana, British language and style has an enduring impact on the writings from Guyana, which ...
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Paraguayan literature Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
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Peruvian literature The term Peruvian literature not only refers to literature produced in the independent Republic of Peru, but also to literature produced in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the country's colonial period, and to oral artistic forms created by diverse ...
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Uruguayan literature Uruguayan literature has a long and eventful history. Beginnings Literature properly speaking starts in Uruguay with the country-flavoured poetry of Bartolomé Hidalgo, 1788-1822. The two leading figures of the Romantic period are Adolfo Berr ...
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Venezuelan literature Venezuelan literature can be traced to pre-Hispanic times with the myths and oral literature that formed the cosmogonic view of the world that indigenous people had. Some of these stories are still known in Venezuela. Like many Latin American count ...


Oceania

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Oceanian literature Oceanian (Australasian, Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian) literature developed in isolation from the rest of the world and in a unique geographical environment. This allowed the development of a unique literature to thrive. Oceanian liter ...
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Australian literature Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, ...
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Fijian literature Among the first published works of Fijian literature, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were Vivekanand Sharma (in Hindi), Raymond Pillai's and Subramani's short stories (in English language, English) and Pio Manoa's poetry (in English and in Fiji ...
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Kiribati literature Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The ...
** Marshall Islands literature ** Micronesian literature ** Nauran literature **
New Zealand literature New Zealand literature is literature, both oral and written, produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes, people or places, is written predominantly in New Zealand English, and features Māori culture and the u ...
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Papua New Guinean literature Papua New Guinean literature is diverse. The emergence of written literature (as distinct from oral literature) is comparatively recent in Papua New Guinea. It was given its first major stimulus with the setting up of creative writing courses by Ull ...
** Palau literature **
Samoan literature Samoan literature can be divided into oral (pre-colonial and post-colonial) and written literatures, in the Samoan language and in English or English translation, and is from the Samoa Islands of independent Samoa and American Samoa, and Samoan writ ...
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Solomon Islands literature Solomon Islands literature began in the 1960s. History The emergence of Solomon Islands written literature (as distinct from oral literature) took place in the context of the development of indigenous Pacific Islander literature in the Pacific ...
** Tongan literature ** Tuvalan literature ** Vanuatu literature


Sub-saharan Africa

* East African literature ** Burundian literature ** Comorian literature ** Djibouti literature **
Eritrean literature Eritrean literature in the Tigrinya language dates, as far as is known, from the late 19th century but Ge'ez writings have been found in the 4th century BC. It was initially encouraged by European missionaries, but suffered from the general repre ...
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Kenyan literature Kenyan literature describes literature which comes from Kenya. Kenya has a long oral and written literary tradition, primarily in English and Swahili, the two official languages of the country. __NOTOC__ History Kenya has a strong tradition of o ...
** Madagascar literature ** Malawian literature **
Mauritian literature The island of Mauritius is home to many languages, and Mauritian literature exists in French, English, Creole and Indian languages. Major themes in Mauritian literature include exoticism, multiracialism and miscegenation, racial and social confli ...
** Mozambique literature ** Réunion literature ** Rwandan literature ** Seychelles literature ** Somalian literature ** Somaliland literature ** South Sudanese literature **
Sudanese literature Sudanese literature consists of both oral as well as written works of fiction and nonfiction that were created during the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the territory of what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the ...
** Tanzanian literature ** Ugandan literature ** Zambian literature ** Zimbabwean literature * Central African literature **
Angolan literature Angolan literature has its origins in the mid-19th century. The diversity of Angola's culture is reflected in the diversity of its literature, which traditionally has been combative and satirical. As Angola was a colony of Portugal, it is a Lu ...
** Cameroon literature ** Literature of Central African Republic ** Chadian literature ** Congolese literature ** Equatorial Guinea literature ** Gabon literature ** São Tomé and Príncipe literature * Southern African literature ** Botswanan literature ** Swazi literature ** Lesotho literature ** Namibian literature **
South African literature South African literature is the literature of South Africa, which has 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Tsonga and Ndebele. Overview Elleke Boehmer (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 79) writes, "Nat ...
***Afrikaans literature *West African literature **Beninese literature **Burkina Faso literature **Literature of Cape Verde **Gambian literature **Abron literature, Ghanan literature **Guinean literature **Guinea-Bissau literature **Ivory Coast literature **Liberian literature **Malian literature **Mauritanian literature **Literature of Niger **Nigerian literature ***Yoruba literature **Senegalese literature **Sierra Leone literature **Togo literature


History of literature

History of literature * History of the book * History of theater * History of science fiction * History of ideas * Intellectual history


Literature by written language

* Bronze Age literature ** Sumerian literature, Sumerian ** Ancient Egyptian literature, Ancient Egyptian ** Akkadian literature, Akkadian * Classical language, Classical literature ** Avestan ** Chinese classics, Chinese ** Ancient Greek literature, Greek ** Hebrew literature, Hebrew ** Latin literature, Latin ** Pali literature, Pali ** Prakrit literature, Prakrit ** Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit ** Syriac literature, Syriac ** Sangam literature ** Middle Persian literature * Medieval literature ** Medieval Dutch literature ** Medieval French literature ** Byzantine literature ** Medieval Bulgarian literature ** Old English literature ** Middle English literature ** Medieval German literature ** Old Irish literature ** Old Norse literature **
Georgian literature The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a unique national identity and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This strong sense of national identity has helped to pr ...
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Catalan literature Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...
** Medieval Welsh literature ** Renaissance literature ** Early Modern literature ** Baroque literature, Baroque **
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
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French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
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German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
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Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italian people, Italians or in Languages of Italy, other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely re ...
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Spanish literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects wit ...
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Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
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Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃ ...
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Kannada literature Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian language, Dravidian Language family, family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script. A ...
** Newari literature **
Telugu literature Telugu literature is the body of works written in the Telugu language. It consists of poems, short stories, novels, plays, and song lyrics, among others. There is some indication that Telugu literature dates at least to the middle of the first ...
** Chinese literature **
Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...
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Korean literature Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...
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Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...
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Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
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Armenian literature Armenian literature begins around AD 400 with the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots. History Early literature Only a handful of fragments have survived from the most ancient Armenian literary tradition preceding the Christia ...
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Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...


Literature by century

* Ancient literature - until the 6th century CE * Early medieval literature - 6th through 9th centuries * 10th century in literature * 11th century in literature * 12th century in literature * 13th century in literature * 14th century in literature * 15th century in literature * 16th century in literature * 17th century in literature * 18th century in literature * 19th century in literature * 20th century in literature * 21st century in literature


Literature by year

* List of years in literature * Table of years in literature


General literature concepts

*Book *Western canon – * Teaching of writing: ** composition studies, Composition – ** Rhetoric – *
Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
– ** prosody (poetry), Prosody – ** Meter (poetry), Meter – ** Scansion – **
Constrained writing Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern. Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. D ...
– *Poetics – **Villanelle – **
Sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
– **Sestina – **Ghazal – **
Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
– **Blank verse – **Free verse – **
Epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
– * Prose – **
Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
– **
Non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
– **
Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
– * Prose genres – **
Essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
– ** Flash prose – **
Hypertext fiction Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text t ...
– ** Journalism – ** Novel – ** Novella – ** Short story – *Theater – ** History of theater – *Rhetoric – ** Metaphor – ** Metonymy – ** Symbol – ** Allegory – * Basic procedural knowledge ** Poetry analysis – ** effective reasoning in argument writing * Narratology ** False document – ** Frame tale – ** Anecdote – ** In Medias Res – ** point of view (literature), Point of view – *
Literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
– an application of literary theory ** Marxist literary criticism – ** Semiotic literary interpretation – ** Psychoanalytic literary interpretation – ** Feminist literary interpretation – ** New historicism – ** Queer literary interpretation –


Literary awards

* List of literary awards * List of poetry awards


Persons influential in the field of literature

* List of authors * :Literary critics * List of writers ** List of women writers


Literature creation

* Author * Publishing, Publisher * Editing, Editor * Copy editing, Copy editor


Literature distribution

* Publishing * Library * Bookselling * Magazine


See also

* Index of literature articles * Lists of books * English studies * List of poems *List of poetry collections


References


External links


The Internet Public Library listing for Literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Literature Wikipedia missing topics Outlines of culture and arts, Literature Wikipedia outlines, Literature Literature,