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.

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]

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,^[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 –

Non-fiction

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 –

North and South America

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

Literature by written language

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

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 –

[1]
Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3
[2]
the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
[3]
Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from .

[1] [1]
Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3

[2] [2]
the arts. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved October 25, 2012.

[3] [3]
Oxford English Dictionary (2d edition, 1989), s.v. Limerick.
Vaughn, Stanton. Limerick Lyrics. 1900. Retrieved from .

[1]

[2]

[3]

Oral literary genres

Written literary genres

Non-fiction

Fiction genres

Asia

Europe

Middle East and North Africa

North and South America

Oceania

Sub-Saharan Africa

Literature by written language

Literature by century

Literature by year

Oral literary genres

Written literary genres

Non-fiction

Fiction genres

Asia

Europe

Middle East and North Africa

North and South America

Oceania

Sub-Saharan Africa

Literature by written language

Literature by century

Literature by year

What type of thing is literature?

Essence of literature

Forms of literature

Literature by region and country

History of literature

General literature concepts

Literary awards

Persons influential in the field of literature

Literature creation

Literature distribution

See also

References

External links