Literary criticismProse genres Poetry genres Dramatic genresComedyLibrettoMusicalOperaPlayhistoricalmoralSatireScriptTragedyTragicomedyHistoryAncientMedievalEarly medievalEarly modernRenaissance18th19th20thContemporary21st MediaVoiceaudiobookspeechWritingbookdigital electronicsebookmanuscript Lists and outlinesOutlineGlossaryBooksEpicfolk-epicsPoetsWritersMovementspoetry groupsCyclesLiterary awardspoetryShort story collection / CycleLost literary worklacunaTheory and criticismSociologyMagazinesCompositionLanguageNarrativeComparativeCircleSocietyPost-literate SocietyPeerFeudEstateWorkshopCircleA genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
Philosophy of languageBranch of philosophy Philosophy of language is the study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, indexicality, intentionality, reference, the constitution of sentences, concepts, learning, and thought. Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell were pivotal figures in analytic philosophy's "linguistic turn".
Cultural studiesCultural studies or cultural theory is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices relate to wider systems of power associated with, or operating through, social phenomena. These include ideology, class structures, national formations, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and generation.
Text (literary theory)In literary theory, a text is any object that can be read, literally or figuratively, whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothing. It is a set of signs that is available to be reconstructed by a reader (or observer) if sufficient interpretants are available.
LiteratureProse genres Poetry genres Dramatic genresComedyLibrettoPlayhistoricalmoralSatireScriptTragedyTragicomedyHistoryAncientMedievalEarly medievalEarly modernRenaissance18th19th20thContemporary21st MediaVoiceaudiobookspeechWritingbookdigital electronicsebookmanuscript Lists and outlinesOutlineGlossaryBooksEpicfolk-epicsPoetsWritersMovementspoetry groupsCyclesLiterary awardspoetryShort story collection / CycleLost literary worklacunaTheory and criticismSociologyMagazinesCompositionLanguageNarrativeComparativeCircleSocietyPost-literate SocietyPeerFeudEstateWorkshopCircleLiterature is any collection of written work.Continental philosophyPhilosophical traditions from mainland Europe Continental philosophy is a group of Western philosophies first prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantian tradition of focusing on the individual and society.
HumanitiesHumanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of humansociety and culture, including certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature and language, as opposed to the study of religion or the concept of "divinity". The study of the humanities was a key part of the secular curriculum in universities at the time.Post-structuralismPost-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of power. Although different post-structuralists present different critiques of structuralism, common themes include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of structuralism, as well as an interrogation of the binary oppositions that constitute its structures.
SemanticsStudy of meaning in languageA central topic in semantics concerns the relation between language, world, and mental concepts.Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction between sense and reference.
SemioticsStudy of signsSemiotics is the study of signs. It is an interdisciplinary field that examines what signs are, how they form sign systems, and how individuals use signs to produce and communicate meaning. Semiotics is usually divided into syntactics, which addresses how signs are organized and combined; semantics, which addresses the relation between signs and their meanings; and pragmatics, which addresses the relation between signs and their users.
ResearchSystematic study undertaken to increase knowledgeResearch is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to controlling sources of bias and error. These activities are characterized by accounting and controlling for biases. A research project may be an expansion of past work in the field.
Intellectual historyIntellectual history, or the history of ideas, is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.