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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature:

Literature – prose, written or oral, including fiction and non-fiction, drama, and poetry. See also: outline of poetry.

What type of thing is literature?

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

• 
  Composition –


• 
  World literature –

Forms of literature

Oral literary genres

Oral literature

• 
  Oral poetry –
  
  • 
    Epic poetry –
    
    • 
      Legend –
    
    
    • 
      Mythology –
    
    
    • 
      Ballad –
    
    


• 
  Folktale –


• 
  Oral Narrative –
  
  • 
    Oral History –
  
  
  • 
    Urban legend –
  
  

Written literary genres

• 
  Children's literature –


• 
  Constrained writing –


• 
  Erotic literature –


• 
  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 –
  
  
  • 
    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 –
  
  • 
    Saj'
    
    • Maqama
  
  
  • Fu (literature)
  
  
  • Rayok
  
  

Non-fiction

Non-fiction

• 
  Autobiography –


• 
  Biography –


• 
  Diaries and Journals –


• 
  Essay –


• 
  Literary criticism –


• 
  Memoir –


• 
  Outdoor literature –


• 
  Self-Help –


• 
  Spiritual autobiography –


• 
  Travel literature –

Fiction genres

Fiction

• 
  Adventure novel –


• 
  Airport novels –


• 
  Comedy –


• 
  Parody –


• 
  Satire –


• 
  Crime fiction –
  
  • 
    Detective fiction –
    
    • 
      Hardboiled –
    
    
    • 
      Whodunit –
    
    
  
  
  • 
    Newgate novel –
  
  


• 
  Erotica –


• 
  Fable –


• 
  Fairy tale –


• 
  Family saga –


• 
  Frame story –


• 
  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

• African literature


• Asian literature


• European literature


• Latin American literature


• North American literature


• Oceanic literature

History of literature

History of literature

• History of the book


• History of theater


• History of modern literature


• History of science fiction


• History of ideas


• Intellectual history

Literature by period

Literature by era

• 
  Ancient literature
  
  • 
    Bronze Age literature
    
    • Sumerian
    
    
    • Ancient Egyptian
    
    
    • Akkadian
    
    
  
  
  • 
    Classical era literature
    
    • Avestan
    
    
    • Chinese
    
    
    • Greek
    
    
    • Hebrew
    
    
    • Latin
    
    
    • Pali
    
    
    • Prakrit
    
    
    • Sanskrit
    
    
    • Syriac
    
    
    • Tamil
    
    
    • Japanese
    
    
  
  


• 
  Early medieval literature
  
  • Matter of Rome
  
  
  • Matter of France
  
  
  • Matter of Britain
  
  
  • Armenian literature
  
  
  • Byzantine literature
  
  
  • Georgian literature
  
  
  • Kannada literature
  
  
  • Middle Persian literature
  
  
  • Old Turkic
  
  


• 
  Medieval literature
  
  • Medieval Bulgarian literature
  
  
  • Old English literature
  
  
  • Middle English literature
  
  
  • Arabic literature
  
  
  • Persian literature
  
  
  • Armenian literature
  
  
  • Byzantine literature
  
  
  • Medieval Catalan literature
  
  
  • Medieval Dutch literature
  
  
  • Medieval French literature
  
  
  • Georgian literature
  
  
  • Medieval German literature
  
  
  • Bengali literature
  
  
  • Indian literature
  
  
  • Old Irish literature
  
  
  • High medieval literature
  
  
  • Korean literature
  
  
  • Kamakura-Muromachi literature
  
  
  • Nepal Bhasa literature
  
  
  • Old Norse literature
  
  
  • Bylina
  
  
  • Telugu literature
  
  
  • Turkish literature
  
  
  • Medieval Welsh literature
  
  


• Renaissance literature


• 
  Early Modern literature
  
  • Renaissance
  
  
  • Baroque
  
  


• Modern literature

Literature by century

• 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

• List of years in literature


• Table of years in literature

General literature concepts

• 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 –
  
  
  • 
    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

• List of literary awards


• List of poetry awards

Persons influential in the field of literature

• List of authors


• Category:Literary critics


• 
  List of writers
  
  • List of women writers

Literature creation

• Author


• Publisher


• Editor


• Copy editor

Literature distribution

• Publishing


• Library


• Bookselling


• Magazine

See also

• Lists of books


• English studies

References

External links

• The Internet Public Library listing for Literature


• Nobel Prize in Literature