Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
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Featured content, July 24, 2024
8 Influential Abolitionist Texts
Essays and letters that helped break fetters.
10 Captivating Contemporary Novels Set in the British Isles
These works of fiction will leave you dreaming of the wonderful and diverse lands of the British Isles.
Why Do Languages Die?
How does someone become the last known speaker of a language?
Is Sinclair Lewis’s Most Famous Work Any Good?
It Can’t Happen Here has never received great reviews as literary art. So why is it Sinclair Lewis’s most famous...
Russian literature
Russian literature, the body of written works produced in the Russian language, beginning with the Christianization of Kievan...
Korean literature
Korean literature, the body of works written by Koreans, at first in Classical Chinese, later in various transcription systems...
biography
Biography, form of literature, commonly considered nonfictional, the subject of which is the life of an individual. One of...
Belgian literature
Belgian literature, the body of written works produced by Belgians and written in Flemish, which is equivalent to the Standard...
Literature Quizzes
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
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Step into the world of folklore, fables, legends, tall tales, and epics, in which heroes are known to undertake arduous journeys and dragons, fairies, and giants abound. Stories such as these circulated long before systems of writing were developed; ballads, folktales, poems, and the like were transmitted exclusively by word of mouth before written languages took over, and they continue to captivate listeners and readers to this day.
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- folk literature
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Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson
Norwegian author
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The Thousand and One Nights
collection of Middle Eastern and Indian stories
![Fantastic Four](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/38/182838-050-F71E4278/image-Fantastic-Four.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Here you'll find some of your favorite fictional characters from literature, film, television, and the like, whether it's the analytical mastermind Sherlock Holmes and his endearing associate Dr. Watson or the menacing and helmeted Darth Vader, the ill-tempered Donald Duck, or the teenage sleuth Nancy Drew.
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Green Lantern
comic-book character
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Superman
fictional character
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Black Panther
fictional character
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Extra, extra! Although the content and style of journalism and the medium through which it is delivered have varied significantly over the years, journalism has always given us a way to keep up with current events, so that we always have our fingers on the pulse.
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Hunter S. Thompson
American journalist
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Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Swedish journalists and authors
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Dorothy Thompson
American journalist and writer
![E.O. Wilson](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/75/116775-050-D926A56E/Edward-O-Wilson-2007.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Looking to impress your friends with your expansive knowledge of historical events, philosophical concepts, obscure words, and more? We may be biased, but it seems fair enough to say that reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks have provided such a service for years (in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of years). You can look for them at your local public library, which likely stores books, manuscripts, journals, CDs, movies, and other sources of information and entertainment.
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Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer
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Albrecht von Haller
Swiss biologist
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John James Audubon
American artist
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Literature knows no geographical bounds; authors can be found in nearly all corners of the globe. Find out more about regional literary styles and forms.
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Everyone's a critic. But not all literary criticism involves judging the quality of a text; it can also focus on interpreting the meaning of a work or evaluating an author's place in literary history.
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George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist and critic
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T.S. Eliot
American-English poet, playwright, and literary critic
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Roland Barthes
French critic
![To the Lighthouse](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/20/99420-050-A8C679CA/Dust-jacket-edition-Vanessa-Bell-Virginia-Woolf-1927.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
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The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Or that's the idea, at least. Nonfiction works center on facts and real events. Although there is some debate about which kinds of literature qualify as nonfiction, the genre typically includes books in the categories of biography, memoir, science, history, self-help, cooking, health and fitness, business, and more.
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The Diary of a Young Girl
work by Frank
- nonfictional prose
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blog
Internet
![The War of the Worlds](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/27/178727-050-2AFD7411/Ann-Robinson-Gene-Barry-The-War-of.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
novel by Hugo
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A Farewell to Arms
novel by Hemingway
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Emma
novel by Austen
![Justus of Ghent: Saint Augustine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/07/121107-050-65C4CC92/Saint-Augustine-oil-wood-panel-Joos-Ghent.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
speech and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, quoted above, are two iconic examples of successful oratory, as are Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons.
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Quintilian
Roman rhetorician
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John Donne
English poet
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Tacitus
Roman historian
![Hamlet (1996)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.britannica.com/66/7266-004-50AA9C58/Kenneth-Branagh-Hamlet-Gertrude-film-version-Julie-1996.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
; and the stage is where you'll find performances of works by such famed playwrights as Anton Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, and the Bard himself, among many others.
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Macbeth
work by Shakespeare
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A Doll’s House
play by Ibsen
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
work by Shakespeare
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; sonnets, haikus, nursery rhymes, epics, and more are included.
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
work by Coleridge
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Mahabharata
Hindu literature
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Symbolism
literary and artistic movement