Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose, fiction, drama, poetry,[1] and including both print and digital writing.[2] In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, also known as orature[3] much of which has been transcribed.[4][5] Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.
Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoir, letters, and essays. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other written information on a particular subject.[6][7]
Etymologically, the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar", originally "writing formed with letters", from litera/littera "letter".[8] In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts.[9][10] Literature is often referred to synecdochically as "writing", especially creative writing, and poetically as "the craft of writing" (or simply "the craft"). Syd Field described his discipline, screenwriting, as "a craft that occasionally rises to the level of art."[11]
Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, which now include electronic literature.
Definitions of literature have varied over time.[12] In Western Europe, prior to the 18th century, literature denoted all books and writing. Literature can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions, so that cultural studies, for instance, include, in addition to canonical works, popular and minority genres. The word is also used in reference to non-written works: to "oral literature" and "the literature of preliterate culture".
A value judgment definition of literature considers it as consisting solely of high quality writing that forms part of the belles-lettres ("fine writing") tradition.[13] An example of this is in the 1910–1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which classified literature as "the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing".[14]