Outline of literature

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to 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?[edit | edit source]

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.
- One of the arts – imaginative, creative, or nonscientific branch of knowledge, especially as studied academically.^[2]

Essence of literature[edit | edit source]

Composition –
World literature –

Forms of literature[edit | edit source]

Oral literary genres[edit | edit source]

Oral literature

Oral poetry –
- Epic poetry –
  - Legend –
  - Mythology –
  - Ballad –
Folktale –
Oral Narrative –
- Oral History –
- Urban legend –

Written literary genres[edit | edit source]

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
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 over 7,000 of them.
- Haiku – form of short Japanese poetry consisting of three lines.
- 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[edit | edit source]

Non-fiction

Fiction genres[edit | edit source]

Fiction

Manga –
Adventure novel –
Airport novels –
Comedy –
Parody –
Satire –
Crime fiction –
- Detective fiction –
  - Hardboiled –
  - Whodunit –
- Newgate novel –
Erotica –
Fable –
Fairy tale –
Family saga –
Gothic –
- Southern Gothic –
Historical fiction –
Inspirational fiction –
Invasion literature –
Mystery –
Philosophical literature –

Inspirational fiction (religious literature) –

Psychological fiction –
Psychological thriller –
Romance (heroic literature) –
Romance –
- Historical romance –
  - Regency 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 –
  - Lovecraftian horror –
  - Weird menace –
- Science fiction – (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics
  - Cyberpunk –
  - Hard science fiction –
  - Space opera –
- Supernatural fiction –
Sensation novel –
Slave narrative –
Thriller –
- Conspiracy fiction –
- Legal thriller –
- Spy fiction/Political thriller –
- Techno-thriller –
Western fiction –

Literature by region and country[edit | edit source]

Asia[edit | edit source]

Europe[edit | edit source]

Middle East and North Africa[edit | edit source]

North and South America[edit | edit source]

Oceania[edit | edit source]

Oceanian literature

Sub-saharan Africa[edit | edit source]

West African literature

History of literature[edit | edit source]

History of literature

Literature by written language[edit | edit source]

Bronze Age literature

Classical literature
- Avestan
- Chinese
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Latin
- Pali
- Prakrit
- Sanskrit
- Syriac
- Sangam literature
- Middle Persian literature

Medieval literature

Literature by century[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

General literature concepts[edit | edit source]

Book
Western canon –
Teaching of writing:
- Composition –
- Rhetoric –
Poetry –
- Prosody –
- Meter –
- Scansion –
- Constrained writing –
Poetics –
- Villanelle –
- Sonnet –
- Sestina –
- Ghazal –
- Ballad –
- Blank verse –
- Free verse –
- Epic poetry –
Prose –
- Fiction –
- Non-fiction –
- Biography –
Prose genres –
- Essay –
- Flash prose –
- Hypertext fiction –
- 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 –
Literary criticism – an application of literary theory
- Marxist literary criticism –
- Semiotic literary interpretation –
- Psychoanalytic literary interpretation –
- Feminist literary interpretation –
- New historicism –
- Queer literary interpretation –

Literary awards[edit | edit source]

Persons influential in the field of literature[edit | edit source]

Literature creation[edit | edit source]

Literature distribution[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

^ Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3
^ the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
^ Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from [1].

External links[edit | edit source]

[1] Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3

[2] the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.

[3] Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from [1].

[1]

[2]

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