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Literature refers to writing thought of to own inventive advantage, or "published on a specific subject: the literature on environmental epidemiology". Its Latin root literatura/ litteratura (derived itself from littera: letter or handwriting) was accustomed see all written accounts. The conception has modified which means over time to incorporate texts that area unit spoken or sung (oral literature), and non-written verbal art forms. Developments in print technology have allowed Associate in Nursing ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic literature.

Literature is assessed in line with whether or not it's fiction or non-fiction, and whether or not it's poetry or prose. It is more distinguished in line with major forms like the novel, story or drama; and works area unit usually classified in line with historical periods or their adherence to bound aesthetic options or expectations (genre).

The history of literature

The history of literature follows closely the event of civilization. once outlined solely as written work, Ancient Egyptian literature, in conjunction with Sumerian literature, area unit thought of the world's oldest literatures. The first genres of the literature of Ancient Egypt—didactic texts, hymns and prayers, and tales—were written nearly entirely in verse; whereas use of poetic devices is clearly recognizable, the prosody of the verse is unknown. Most Sumerian literature is outwardly poetry, because it is written in left-justified lines, and will contain line-based organization like the couplet or the textual matter. completely different historical periods area unit mirrored in literature. National and social group sagas, accounts of the origin of the planet and of customs, and myths that typically carry ethical or non secular messages predominate within the pre-urban eras. The epics of Homer, chemical analysis from the first to middle Iron age, and therefore the nice Indian epics of a rather later amount, have additional proof of deliberate literary authorship, living just like the older myths through oral tradition for long periods before being written down.

Fiction

A long fictional prose narrative. In English, the term emerged from the Romance languages within the late fifteenth century, with the which means of "news"; it came to point one thing new, while not a distinction between truth or fiction. The romance could be a closely connected long prose narrative. Sir Walter Scott outlined it as "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of that turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", whereas within the novel "the events area unit accommodated to the standard train of human events and therefore the fashionable state of society".Other European languages don't distinguish between romance and novel: "a novel is LE roman, der Roman, il romanzo", indicates the proximity of the forms.

Although there area unit several historical prototypes, supposed "novels before the novel",the fashionable novel type emerges late in cultural history—roughly throughout the eighteenth century. Initially subject to much of criticism, the novel has acquired a dominant position amongst literary forms, each popularly and critically.

Novel

Un purely quantitative terms, the novel exists between the novel and short story; the publisher Melville House classifies it as "too short to be a completely unique, too long to be a brief story". There's no precise definition in terms of word or page count. Literary prizes and publication homes usually have their own arbitrary limits, that vary in line with their specific intentions. Summarizing the variable definitions of the novel, William Giraldi concludes "[it could be a form] whose identity appears destined to be controversial into perpetuity". It's been instructed that the scale restriction of the shape produces numerous rhetorical results, each some that area unit shared with the novel or story, and other unique to the form.

Short story

A quandary in process the "short story" as a literary type is a way to, or whether or not one ought to, distinguish it from any short narrative; therefore it additionally incorporates a oppose origin,[66] variably instructed because the earliest short narratives (e.g. the Bible), early story writers (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe), or the clearly fashionable story writers (e.g. Anton Chekhov). With the exception of its distinct size, numerous theorists have instructed that the story incorporates a characteristic subject material or structure;[68][69] these discussions usually position the shape in some relevancy the novel.

Natural science

As advances and specialization have created new research project inaccessible to most audiences, the "literary" nature of science writing has diminish pronounced over the last 2 centuries. Now, science seems principally in journals. Scientific works of Aristotle, Copernicus, and Newton still exhibit nice worth, however since the science in them has for the most part become obsolete, they not serve for scientific instruction. Yet, they continue to be too technical to sit down well in most programs of arts. Outside of "history of science" programs, students seldom scan such works.

Philosophy

Philosophy has become an increasingly academic discipline. Additional of its practitioners lament this case than happens with the sciences; yet most new philosophical work seems in tutorial journals. Major philosophers through history—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Augustine, Descartes, Soren Aabye Kierkegaard, Nietzsche—have become as canonical as any writers. Some recent philosophy works area unit argued to advantage the title "literature", however a lot of it doesn't, and a few areas, like logic, became very technical to a degree like that of arithmetic.

History

A significant portion of historical writing ranks as literature, notably the genre called artistic nonfictional prose, as will an excellent deal of journalism, like literary journalism. However, these areas became very giant, and infrequently have a primarily utilitarian purpose: to record information or convey immediate info. As a result, the writing in these fields usually lacks a literary quality, though it often (and in its higher moments)has that quality. Major "literary" historians embody historiographer, Thucydides and Procopius, all of whom count as canonical literary figures.

Law

Law offers additional ambiguity. Some writings of Plato and Aristotle, the law tables of king of Babylon, or perhaps the first components of the Biblecould be seen as legal literature. Roman civil law as statute within the Corpus Juris Civilis throughout the reign of Justinian I of the Byzantine Empirehas a name as vital literature. The creation documents of the many countries, together with Constitutions and Law Codes, will count as literature.

Drama

Drama is literature meant for performance. The shape is usually combined with music and dance, as in opera and musical comedy. A play could be a set of this type, relating the written piece of writing of an author that's meant for performance during a theater; it contains in the main dialogue between characters, and typically aims at dramatic or theatrical instead of at reading. A drama, against this, refers to a play written to be scan instead of to be performed; therefore, it's meant that the which means of such a piece is completed absolutely on the page. Nearly all drama took literary composition till relatively recently.