literatures
Bodies of writing
Literatures is the plural of literature, used when distinguishing between separate literary traditions or bodies of work: the literatures of Africa, comparing the literatures of England and France.
Academic contexts often require the plural when treating national, regional, or linguistic traditions as distinct entities rather than a unified whole.
Imagined narrative work
- poetryMetrical literary composition
- dramaTheatrical art or turmoil
- proseUnversified language
- novelNew and unusual
epic · lyric · tragedy · comedy · satire · romance · essay · short story
Inherited cultural narratives
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
- epicImpressively grand in scope
- traditionCustom passed through generations
recitation · griot · bard · saga · legend · ballad · chant · performance
Very old indeed
- GreekOf Athenian origin
- RomanOf ancient Italy's capital
- LatinAncient Roman language
- SanskritAncient Indo-Aryan language
Homer · Virgil · Ovid · Sophocles · Euripides · Plato · Aristotle · Cicero
Accepted authoritative works
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- criticismJudgment of faults
- theoryExplanatory set of principles
- comparativeInvolving measured contrast
analysis · curriculum · anthology · dissertation · pedagogy · syllabus · interpretation · close reading
Critical written assessment
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- clinical trialsControlled health research experiments
- studiesLearns through examination
- publicationsWorks issued to readers
journals · meta-analysis · evidence · abstracts · citations · database · findings · peer-reviewed
fiction
Imagined narrative work
novel · epic · lyric · tragedy · comedy · satire · romance · essay · short story · novella
folklore
Inherited cultural narratives
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
- epicImpressively grand in scope
tradition · recitation · griot · bard · saga · legend · ballad · chant · performance · transmission
ancient
Very old indeed
Sanskrit · Homer · Virgil · Ovid · Sophocles · Euripides · Plato · Aristotle · Cicero · Horace
canon
Accepted authoritative works
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- criticismJudgment of faults
- theoryExplanatory set of principles
comparative · analysis · curriculum · anthology · dissertation · pedagogy · syllabus · interpretation · close reading · textual analysis
review
Critical written assessment
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- clinical trialsControlled health research experiments
- studiesLearns through examination
publications · journals · meta-analysis · evidence · abstracts · citations · database · findings · peer-reviewed · methodology
literaturesoral traditions
Culture transmitted through speech
folklore · oral histories · folk tales · storytelling traditions · oral poetry
literaturestechnical writing
Clear explanation of complexity
documentation · manuals · reports · legal documents · scientific papers
- children's literatureBooks aimed at youth
- classic literatureEnduring fictional works
- European literatureWritten works from Europe
- German literatureBooks from Deutschland
- Irish literatureWriting from Ireland
- Japanese literatureWriting from Nippon