The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature:
Literature â€" 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 â€" 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) â€" representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system).
- Subdivision of culture â€" shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.
- One of the arts â€" imaginative, creative, or nonscientific branch of knowledge, especially as studied academically.
Essence of literature
- Composition â€"
- World literature â€"
Forms of literature
Oral literary genres
- Oral poetry â€"
- Epic poetry â€"
- Legend â€"
- Mythology â€"
- Ballad â€"
- Epic poetry â€"
- Folktale â€"
- Oral Narrative â€"
- Oral History â€"
- Urban legend â€"
Written literary genres
- Children's literature â€"
- Constrained writing â€"
- Erotic literature â€"
- Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of sub-genres and types)
- Aubade â€"
- Clerihew â€"
- Epic â€"
- Grook â€" form of short aphoristic poem invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein, who wrote over 7,000 of them.
- Haiku â€"
- Lied â€"
- Limerick â€" a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line anapestic or amphibrachic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
- Lyric â€"
- Ode â€"
- Rhapsody â€"
- Song â€"
- Sonnet â€"
- Speculative poetry â€"
- Prison literature â€"
- Rhymed prose â€"
- Saj'
- Maqama
- Fu (literature)
- Rayok
- Saj'
Non-fiction
Non-fiction
- Autobiography â€"
- Biography â€"
- Diaries and Journals â€"
- Essay â€"
- Literary criticism â€"
- Memoir â€"
- Outdoor literature â€"
- Spiritual autobiography â€"
- Travel literature â€"
Fiction genres
Fiction
- Adventure novel â€"
- Airport novels â€"
- Comedy â€"
- Parody â€"
- Satire â€"
- Crime fiction â€"
- Detective fiction â€"
- Hardboiled â€"
- Whodunit â€"
- Newgate novel â€"
- Detective fiction â€"
- Erotica â€"
- Fable â€"
- Fairy tale â€"
- Family Saga â€"
- Frame story â€"
- Gothic â€"
- Southern Gothic â€"
- Historical fiction â€"
- Inspirational fiction â€"
- Invasion literature â€"
- Mystery â€"
- Philosophical literature â€"
- Inspirational fiction (religious literature) â€"
- Psychological novel â€"
- Psychological thriller â€"
- Romance (heroic literature) â€"
- Romance â€"
- Historical romance â€"
- Regency romance â€"
- Inspirational romance â€"
- Paranormal romance â€"
- Historical romance â€"
- Saga â€"
- Speculative fiction â€"
- Alternate history â€"
- Fantasy â€" (for more details see Fantasy subgenres, fantasy literature)
- Epic fantasy â€"
- Science fantasy â€"
- Steampunk â€"
- Urban fantasy â€"
- Weird fantasy â€"
- Horror â€"
- Lovecraftian horror â€"
- Weird menace â€"
- Science fiction â€" (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics
- Cyberpunk â€"
- Hard science fiction â€"
- Space opera â€"
- Supernatural fiction â€"
- Sensation novel â€"
- Slave narrative â€"
- Thriller â€"
- Conspiracy fiction â€"
- Legal thriller â€"
- Spy fiction/Political thriller â€"
- Techno-thriller â€"
- Western fiction â€"
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
General literature concepts
- Literature â€"
- Western canon â€"
- Teaching of writing:
- Composition â€"
- Rhetoric â€"
- Poetry â€"
- Prosody â€"
- Meter â€"
- Scansion â€"
- Constrained writing â€"
- Poetics â€"
- Villanelle â€"
- Sonnet â€"
- Sestina â€"
- Ghazal â€"
- Ballad â€"
- Blank verse â€"
- Free verse â€"
- Epic poetry â€"
- Prose â€"
- Fiction â€"
- Non-fiction â€"
- Biography â€"
- Prose genres â€"
- Essay â€"
- Flash prose â€"
- Journalism â€"
- Novel â€"
- Novella â€"
- Short story â€"
- Theater â€"
- History of theater â€"
- Literary criticism â€"
- Rhetoric â€"
- Metaphor â€"
- Metonymy â€"
- Symbol â€"
- Allegory â€"
- Basic procedural knowledge
- Poetry analysis â€"
- effective reasoning in argument writing
- Narratology
- False document â€"
- Frame tale â€"
- Anecdote â€"
- In Medias Res â€"
- Point of view â€"
- Literary criticism â€" an application of literary theory
- Marxist literary criticism â€"
- Semiotic literary interpretation â€"
- Psychoanalytic literary interpretation â€"
- Feminist literary interpretation â€"
- New historicism â€"
- Queer literary interpretation â€"
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
See also
- Lists of books
- English studies
References
External links
- This outline displayed as a mindmap, at wikimindmap.com
- Yahoo! Directory listing for Literature
- The Internet Public Library listing for Literature
- Nobel Prize in Literature