Outline of literature

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 the 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).
 * 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.

Essence of literature

 * Composition –
 * World literature –

Oral literary genres
Oral literature
 * Oral poetry –
 * Epic poetry –
 * Legend –
 * Mythology –
 * Ballad –
 * Folktale –
 * Oral Narrative –
 * Oral History –
 * Urban legend –

Written literary genres

 * Cordel Literature
 * Children's literature –
 * Constrained writing –
 * Erotic literature –
 * Electronic literature – Literary fiction and poetry that uses the capabilities of computers and networks
 * Digital poetry –
 * Interactive fiction –
 * Hypertext fiction – literary fiction written with hypertextual links
 * Fan fiction
 * Cell phone novel
 * 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 more than 7,000 of them.
 * Haiku – form of short Japanese poetry consisting of three lines.
 * Instapoetry
 * Tanka – classical Japanese poetry of five lines.
 * Lied –
 * Limerick – 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 –
 * 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
 * Manga –
 * Adventure novel –
 * Airport novels –
 * Comedy –
 * Parody –
 * Satire –
 * Crime fiction –
 * Detective fiction –
 * Hardboiled –
 * Whodunit –
 * Newgate novel –
 * Erotica –
 * Fable –
 * Fairy tale –
 * Family saga –
 * 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 –

Asia

 * East Asian literature
 * Chinese literature
 * Japanese literature
 * Korean literature
 * Mongolian literature
 * Taiwanese literature
 * South Asian literature
 * Bangladeshi literature
 * Bhutanese literature
 * Indian literature
 * Assamese literature
 * Bengali literature
 * Bhojpuri language
 * Indian English literature
 * Gujarati literature
 * Hindi literature
 * Kannada literature
 * Kashmiri literature
 * Konkani literature
 * Malayalam literature
 * Maithili literature
 * Meitei literature
 * Marathi literature
 * Mizo literature
 * Nepali literature
 * Odia literature
 * Punjabi literature
 * Rajasthani literature
 * Sanskrit literature
 * Sindhi literature
 * Tamil literature
 * Telugu literature
 * Urdu literature
 * Maldivian literature
 * Nepalese literature
 * Pakistani literature
 * Sri Lankan literature
 * Southeast Asian literature
 * Brunei literature
 * Burmese literature
 * Cambodian literature
 * Indonesian literature
 * Laotian literature
 * Malaysian literature
 * Philippine literature
 * Singaporean literature
 * Thai literature
 * Timoran literature
 * Vietnamese literature
 * Central Asian literature
 * Kazakh literature
 * Kyrgyz literature
 * Tajik literature
 * Turkmen literature
 * Uzbek literature

Europe

 * Albanian literature
 * Andorran literature
 * Armenian literature
 * Aromanian literature
 * Austrian literature
 * Azerbaijani literature
 * Basque literature
 * Belarusian literature
 * Belgian literature
 * Flemish literature
 * Bosnian literature
 * Bulgarian literature
 * British literature
 * Cornish literature
 * English literature
 * Manx literature
 * Jèrriais literature
 * Scottish literature
 * Scots-language literature
 * Scottish Gaelic literature
 * Ulster literature
 * Welsh literature in English
 * Welsh-language literature
 * Croatian literature
 * Cypriot literature
 * Turkish Cypriot literature
 * Czech literature
 * Danish literature
 * Faroese literature
 * Greenlandic literature
 * Dutch literature
 * Frisian literature
 * Esperanto literature
 * Estonian literature
 * Finnish literature
 * Åland literature
 * French literature - also Francophone literature
 * Breton literature
 * Occitan literature
 * Georgian literature
 * Abkhaz literature
 * Chechen literature
 * Ossetian literature
 * German literature
 * Greek literature
 * Hungarian literature
 * Icelandic literature
 * Irish literature
 * Gaelic literature
 * Literature of Northern Ireland
 * Italian literature
 * Friulian literature
 * Sardinian literature
 * Venetian literature
 * Western Lombard literature
 * Kazakh literature
 * Kosovar literature
 * Latvian literature
 * Liechtensteiner literature
 * Lithuanian literature
 * Luxembourg literature
 * Macedonian literature
 * Maltese literature
 * Moldovan literature
 * Monégasque literature
 * Montenegrin literature
 * Norwegian literature
 * Polish literature
 * Portuguese literature
 * Romanian literature
 * Russian literature
 * Sammarinese literature
 * Serbian literature
 * Slovak literature
 * Slovene literature
 * Spanish literature
 * Aragonese literature
 * Asturian literature
 * Catalan literature
 * Galician-language literature
 * Swedish literature
 * Swiss literature
 * Turkish literature
 * Ukrainian literature
 * Yiddish literature

Middle East and North Africa

 * Afghan literature
 * Algerian literature
 * Arabic literature
 * Bahraini literature
 * Egyptian literature
 * Ethiopian literature
 * Emirati literature
 * Iranian literature
 * Iraqi literature
 * Israeli literature
 * Jordanian literature
 * Kuwaiti literature
 * Kurdish literature
 * Lebanese literature
 * Libyan literature
 * Moroccan literature
 * Oman literature
 * Pakistani literature
 * Palestinian literature
 * Persian literature
 * Qatari literature
 * Saudi literature
 * Syrian literature
 * Tunisian literature
 * Turkish literature
 * Yemeni literature

North and South America

 * North American literature
 * American literature
 * African American literature
 * Native American literature
 * Southern literature
 * Deaf American literature
 * Canadian literature
 * Quebec literature
 * Mexican literature
 * Caribbean literature
 * Cuban literature
 * Dominican Republic literature
 * Guadeloupean Literature
 * Haitian literature
 * Jamaican literature
 * Martinican Literature
 * Puerto Rican literature
 * Barthélemois literature
 * Trinidad and Tobago literature
 * Central American literature
 * Costa Rican literature
 * Salvadoran literature
 * Guatemalan literature
 * Honduran literature
 * Nicaraguan literature
 * Panamanian literature
 * South American literature
 * Argentine literature
 * Bolivian literature
 * Brazilian literature
 * Chilean literature
 * Colombian literature
 * Ecuadorean literature
 * Guyanese literature
 * Paraguayan literature
 * Peruvian literature
 * Uruguayan literature
 * Venezuelan literature

Oceania

 * Oceanian literature
 * Australian literature
 * Fijian literature
 * Kiribati literature
 * Marshall Islands literature
 * Micronesian literature
 * Nauran literature
 * New Zealand literature
 * Papua New Guinean literature
 * Palau literature
 * Samoan literature
 * Solomon Islands literature
 * Tongan literature
 * Tuvalan literature
 * Vanuatu literature

Sub-Saharan Africa

 * East African literature
 * Burundian literature
 * Comorian literature
 * Djibouti literature
 * Eritrean literature
 * Kenyan literature
 * Madagascar literature
 * Malawian literature
 * Mauritian literature
 * Mozambique literature
 * Réunion literature
 * Rwandan literature
 * Seychelles literature
 * Somalian literature
 * Somaliland literature
 * South Sudanese literature
 * Sudanese literature
 * Tanzanian literature
 * Ugandan literature
 * Zambian literature
 * Zimbabwean literature
 * Central African literature
 * Angolan literature
 * Cameroonian literature
 * Literature of Central African Republic
 * Chadian literature
 * Congolese literature
 * Equatorial Guinea literature
 * Gabonese literature
 * São Tomé and Príncipe literature
 * Southern African literature
 * Botswanan literature
 * Swazi literature
 * Lesotho literature
 * Namibian literature
 * South African literature
 * Afrikaans literature
 * West African literature
 * Beninese literature
 * Burkina Faso literature
 * Literature of Cape Verde
 * Gambian literature
 * Ghanaian literature
 * Guinean literature
 * Guinea-Bissau literature
 * Ivory Coast literature
 * Liberian literature
 * Malian literature
 * Mauritanian literature
 * Literature of Niger
 * Nigerian literature
 * Yoruba literature
 * Senegalese literature
 * Sierra Leonean literature
 * Togo literature

History of literature
History of literature
 * History of the book
 * History of theater
 * History of science fiction
 * History of ideas
 * Intellectual history

Literature by written language

 * Bronze Age literature
 * Sumerian
 * Ancient Egyptian
 * Akkadian


 * Classical literature
 * Avestan
 * Chinese
 * Greek
 * Hebrew
 * Latin
 * Pali
 * Prakrit
 * Sanskrit
 * Syriac
 * Sangam literature
 * Middle Persian literature


 * Medieval literature
 * Medieval Dutch literature
 * Medieval French literature
 * Byzantine literature
 * Medieval Bulgarian literature
 * Old English literature
 * Middle English literature
 * Medieval German literature
 * Old Irish literature
 * Old Norse literature
 * Georgian literature
 * Catalan literature
 * Medieval Welsh literature
 * Renaissance literature
 * Early Modern literature
 * Baroque


 * English literature
 * French literature
 * German literature
 * Italian literature
 * Spanish literature


 * Bengali literature
 * Hindi literature
 * Kannada literature
 * Newari literature
 * Telugu literature


 * Chinese literature
 * Japanese literature
 * Korean literature


 * Arabic literature
 * Persian literature
 * Armenian literature
 * Turkish literature

Literature by century

 * Ancient literature - until the 6th century CE
 * Early medieval literature - 6th through 9th centuries
 * 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 –
 * Hypertext fiction –
 * 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