The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature:
Literature – prose, written or oral, including fiction and non-fiction, drama, and poetry.
- See also the Outline of poetry.
What type of thing is literature?
Literature can be described as all of the following:
- Communication – 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) – representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system).[1]
- Subdivision of culture – shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.
Essence of literature
Forms of literature
Oral literary genres
Written literary genres
- Cordel Literature
- Children's literature –
- Constrained writing –
- Erotic literature –
- Electronic literature – Literary fiction and poetry that uses the capabilities of computers and networks
- Digital poetry –
- Interactive fiction –
- Hypertext fiction – literary fiction written with hypertextual links
- Fan fiction
- Cell phone novel
- Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of subgenres and types)
- Aubade –
- Clerihew –
- Epic –
- Grook – form of short aphoristic poem invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein, who wrote more than 7,000 of them.
- Haiku – form of short Japanese poetry consisting of three lines.
- Instapoetry
- Tanka – classical Japanese poetry of five lines.
- Lied –
- Limerick – a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem,[3] especially one in five-line anapestic or amphibrachic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
- Lyric –
- Ode –
- Rhapsody –
- Song –
- Sonnet –
- Speculative poetry –
- Prison literature –
- Rhymed prose –
Non-fiction
- Autobiography –
- Biography –
- Diaries and Journals –
- Essay –
- Literary criticism –
- Memoir –
- Outdoor literature –
- Self-Help –
- Spiritual autobiography –
- Travel literature –
Fiction genres
- Manga –
- Adventure novel –
- Airport novels –
- Comedy –
- Parody –
- Satire –
- Crime fiction –
- Erotica –
- Fable –
- Fairy tale –
- Family saga –
- Gothic –
- Historical fiction –
- Inspirational fiction –
- Invasion literature –
- Mystery –
- Philosophical literature –
- Inspirational fiction (religious literature) –
- Psychological fiction –
- Psychological thriller –
- Romance (heroic literature) –
- Romance –
- Historical romance –
- Inspirational romance –
- Paranormal romance –
- Saga –
- Speculative fiction –
- Alternate history –
- Fantasy – (for more details see Fantasy subgenres, fantasy literature)
- Epic fantasy –
- Science fantasy –
- Steampunk –
- Urban fantasy –
- Weird fantasy –
- Horror –
- Science fiction – (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics
- Supernatural fiction –
- Sensation novel –
- Slave narrative –
- Thriller –
- Western fiction –
Literature by region and country
- East Asian literature
- South Asian literature
- Bangladeshi literature
- Bhutanese literature
- Indian literature
- Assamese literature
- Bengali literature
- Bhojpuri language#Bhojpuri literature
- Indian English literature
- Gujarati literature
- Hindi literature
- Kannada literature
- Kashmiri literature
- Konkani literature
- Malayalam literature
- Maithili literature
- Meitei literature
- Marathi literature
- Mizo literature
- Nepali literature
- Odia literature
- Punjabi literature
- Rajasthani literature
- Sanskrit literature
- Sindhi literature
- Tamil literature
- Telugu literature
- Urdu literature
- Maldivian literature
- Nepalese literature
- Pakistani literature
- Sri Lankan literature
- Southeast Asian literature
- Central Asian literature
- Albanian literature
- Andorran literature
- Armenian literature
- Aromanian literature
- Austrian literature
- Azerbaijani literature
- Basque literature
- Belarusian literature
- Belgian literature
- Bosnian literature
- Bulgarian literature
- British literature
- Croatian literature
- Cypriot literature
- Czech literature
- Danish literature
- Faroese literature
- Greenlandic literature
- Dutch literature
- Esperanto literature
- Estonian literature
- Finnish literature
- French literature - also Francophone literature
- Georgian literature
- Abkhaz literature
- Chechen literature
- Ossetian literature
- German literature
- Greek literature
- Hungarian literature
- Icelandic literature
- Irish literature
- Italian literature
- Kazakh literature
- Kosovar literature
- Latvian literature
- Liechtensteiner literature
- Lithuanian literature
- Luxembourg literature
- Macedonian literature
- Maltese literature
- Moldovan literature
- Monégasque literature
- Montenegrin literature
- Norwegian literature
- Polish literature
- Portuguese literature
- Romanian literature
- Russian literature
- Sammarinese literature
- Serbian literature
- Slovak literature
- Slovene literature
- Spanish literature
- Swedish literature
- Swiss literature
- Turkish literature
- Ukrainian literature
- Yiddish literature
Middle East and North Africa
- Afghan literature
- Algerian literature
- Arabic literature
- Bahraini literature
- Egyptian literature
- Ethiopian literature
- Emirati literature
- Iranian literature
- Iraqi literature
- Israeli literature
- Jordanian literature
- Kuwaiti literature
- Kurdish literature
- Lebanese literature
- Libyan literature
- Moroccan literature
- Oman literature
- Pakistani literature
- Palestinian literature
- Persian literature
- Qatari literature
- Saudi literature
- Syrian literature
- Tunisian literature
- Turkish literature
- Yemeni literature
North and South America
Oceania
- Oceanian literature
- Australian literature
- Fijian literature
- Kiribati literature
- Marshall Islands literature
- Micronesian literature
- Nauran literature
- New Zealand literature
- Papua New Guinean literature
- Palau literature
- Samoan literature
- Solomon Islands literature
- Tongan literature
- Tuvalan literature
- Vanuatu literature
Sub-Saharan Africa
- East African literature
- Burundian literature
- Comorian literature
- Djibouti literature
- Eritrean literature
- Kenyan literature
- Madagascar literature
- Malawian literature
- Mauritian literature
- Mozambique literature
- Réunion literature
- Rwandan literature
- Seychelles literature
- Somalian literature
- Somaliland literature
- South Sudanese literature
- Sudanese literature
- Tanzanian literature
- Ugandan literature
- Zambian literature
- Zimbabwean literature
- Central African literature
- Angolan literature
- Cameroonian literature
- Literature of Central African Republic
- Chadian literature
- Congolese literature
- Equatorial Guinea literature
- Gabonese literature
- São Tomé and Príncipe literature
- Southern African literature
- West African literature
- Beninese literature
- Burkina Faso literature
- Literature of Cape Verde
- Gambian literature
- Ghanaian literature
- Guinean literature
- Guinea-Bissau literature
- Ivory Coast literature
- Liberian literature
- Malian literature
- Mauritanian literature
- Literature of Niger
- Nigerian literature
- Senegalese literature
- Sierra Leonean literature
- Togo literature
History of literature
Literature by written language
- 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
- Catalan literature
- Medieval Welsh literature
- Renaissance literature
- Early Modern literature
- Baroque
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
General literature concepts
- Book
- Western canon –
- Teaching of writing:
- Poetry –
- Poetics –
- Prose –
- Prose genres –
- Theater –
- Rhetoric –
- Basic procedural knowledge
- Poetry analysis –
- effective reasoning in argument writing
- Narratology
- Literary criticism – an application of literary theory
Literary awards
Persons influential in the field of literature
Literature creation
Literature distribution
See also
References
External links
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