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| ==References== | | ==References== |
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| * Crystal, David (1997). ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. | | * Crystal, David (1997). ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. |
| * Crystal, David (2001). ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. | | * Crystal, David (2001). ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. |
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− | ===Literature=== is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (from the [[Latin]] ''littera'' meaning "an individual written character ([[letter (alphabet)|letter]])"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of [[writing|text]]s or [[works of art]], which in Western culture are mainly [[prose]], both [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]], [[drama]] and [[poetry]]. In much of, if not all, the world texts can be [[oral literature|oral]] as well and include such [[genre]]s as [[Epic poetry|epic]], [[legend]], [[Mythology|myth]], [[ballad]], plus other forms of oral poetry, and [[folktale]].
| + | ==Literature== is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (from the [[Latin]] ''littera'' meaning "an individual written character ([[letter (alphabet)|letter]])"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of [[writing|text]]s or [[works of art]], which in Western culture are mainly [[prose]], both [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]], [[drama]] and [[poetry]]. In much of, if not all, the world texts can be [[oral literature|oral]] as well and include such [[genre]]s as [[Epic poetry|epic]], [[legend]], [[Mythology|myth]], [[ballad]], plus other forms of oral poetry, and [[folktale]]. |
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− | ==Literature: An Introduction== | + | ===Literature: An Introduction=== |
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| [[Nation]]s can have literatures, as can [[corporation]]s, [[Philosophy|philosophical schools]] or [[Periodization|historical periods]]. Popular belief commonly holds that the literature of a [[nation]], for example, comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The [[Hebrew Bible]], [[Iran|Persian]] ''[[Shahnama]]'', the [[India]]n ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Thirukural]]'', the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', ''[[Beowulf]]'', and the [[Constitution of the United States]], all fall within this definition of a kind of literature. | | [[Nation]]s can have literatures, as can [[corporation]]s, [[Philosophy|philosophical schools]] or [[Periodization|historical periods]]. Popular belief commonly holds that the literature of a [[nation]], for example, comprises the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The [[Hebrew Bible]], [[Iran|Persian]] ''[[Shahnama]]'', the [[India]]n ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Thirukural]]'', the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', ''[[Beowulf]]'', and the [[Constitution of the United States]], all fall within this definition of a kind of literature. |