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, May 16, 2024
9 American Countercultural Books
Documents from a revolutionary era: the 1960s and ’70s.
Why Is There an R in Mrs.?
There’s no r in missus, so what’s it doing in the abbreviation?
11 Banned Books Through Time
Some books have been banned for reasons that may surprise you.
How did Albert Camus die?
How did Albert Camus die?
dramatic literature
Dramatic literature, the texts of plays that can be read, as distinct from being seen and heard in performance. The term...
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...
Literature Quizzes
Russian Literature
Do you think you know about Russian literature? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
Punctuation
How do you use the Oxford comma? What’s the difference between an en dash and an em dash? How do you use ellipses? Test your...
Jane Austen
Test your knowledge about Jane Austen and her works with this quiz!
English Romantic Poets
Are you well versed in English Romantic poetry? Do you know about the lives of the poets? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
Latin American Authors
How much do you know about the magical realists, poets, and novelists from Latin America? Test your knowledge with this quiz!
Literature of Italy Quiz
The peninsula now known as Italy has been a home to great writers for millennia. Take this short quiz to learn how much you...
Who Wrote That? (Part 1) Quiz
Who wrote Utopia? How about Cry, the Beloved Country? Use this quiz to test how much you know about who...
Who Wrote That? (Part 2) Quiz
Who wrote Moll Flanders? How about Song of Solomon? Use this quiz to test how much you know about who wrote...
Who Wrote That? (Part 3) Quiz
Who wrote Anatomy of Melancholy? How about Man and Superman? Use this quiz to test how much you know about...
Literary Terms (Part One) Quiz
Do you know what a tercet is? How about the term for a passage spoken directly to the audience by a character in a play?...
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
Folk Literature & Fable
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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fable
literature
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The Little Prince
fable by Saint-Exupéry
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Zora Neale Hurston
American author
Fictional Characters
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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Spider-Man
fictional character
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Sherlock Holmes
fictional character
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Batman
fictional character
Journalism
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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Amy Goodman
American journalist, columnist, and author
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Barbara Walters
American journalist
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Walter Cronkite
American journalist
Libraries & Reference Works
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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Claude Bernard
French scientist
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Noah Webster
American lexicographer
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John Ray
English naturalist
Literatures of the World
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.
Articles
Literary Criticism
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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- literary criticism
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Samuel Johnson
English author
- textual criticism
Literary Terms
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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sonnet
poetic form
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haiku
Japanese literature
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picaresque novel
literature
Nonfiction
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 Feminine Mystique
work by Friedan
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The Diary of a Young Girl
work by Frank
- nonfictional prose
Novels & Short Stories
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 War of the Worlds
novel by Wells
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The Fall of the House of Usher
story by Poe
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The Catcher in the Rye
novel by Salinger
Oratory
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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Meister Eckhart
German theologian and mystic
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Winston Churchill
prime minister of United Kingdom
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Demosthenes
Greek statesman and orator
Plays
; 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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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
play by Albee
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Henry IV, Part 1
work by Shakespeare
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Pygmalion
play by Shaw
Poetry
; sonnets, haikus, nursery rhymes, epics, and more are included.
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Beowulf
Old English poem
- heroic poetry
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epic
literary genre