Literature

Sculpture in Berlin depicting a stack of books on which are inscribed the names of great German writers.

Old book bindings at a library

Literature is a group of works of art that are made of words. Most are written, but some are shared by word of mouth. Literature usually means a work of poetry, theatre or narrative. There are many different kinds of literature, such as poetry, plays, or novels. They can also be put into groups by their language, historical time, place of origin, genre, and subject. The word "literature" comes from the Latin word "literatura," which means "writing formed with letters."

Most of the earliest works were epic poems. Epic poems are long stories or myths about adventures, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia. Ramayana and Mahabharta, two Indian epics, are still read today. The Iliad and Odyssey are two famous Greek poems by Homer. They were shared over time through speaking and memory and were written down around the 9th or 8th century BCE.

Literature can also mean imaginative or creative writing, which is read for its artistic value. Literature is also related to people and community. According to Sangidu (2004) as quoted by Arfani et.al (2023), "literature is aprtt of society, a fact that inspires authors to involve themselves in the life order of the community where they are and try to fight for the position of the social structure and the problems face in society".

Related pages

• English literature
• French literature
• Italian literature
• German literature
• Japanese literature
• American literature
• Spanish literature
• Modernist literature