Compiled by: Belachew Weldegebriel

Jimma University
College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Department of English Language and Literature
Literature
What?
Can you comment on the following
definitions of Literature?
written works, especially those considered of superior or
lasting artistic merit. "a great work of literature"

books and writings published on a particular subject.

"the literature on environmental epidemiology

written works (such as poems, plays, and novels) that are

considered to be very good and to have lasting importance.

Literature is defined as books and other written works,

especially those considered to have creative or artistic merit
or lasting value.
 Definitions of Literature
The word literature is derived from the Latin term
litera which means letter. Literature, in its broadest
sense refers to any written material including
advertisements, newspapers and catalogues.
Literature can be defined as pieces of writing that are
valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and
poems. (Oxford Advanced learners English Dictionary)
Literature is the total of preserved writings belonging
to a given language or people.
Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken
material.
Definition of Literature
According to Webster, literature is anything that is
printed as long as it is related to the ideas and feelings
of people, whether it is true, or just a product of ones
imagination.
But the term is normally used to describe written
works of artistic merit which have some value
through their style or emotional content.
Language artistically used to achieve identifiable
literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages
Literary is characterized by beauty of expression, form
and by universality, intellectual and emotional appeal.
Definitions of Literature
Literature is used to describe anything from
creative writing to more technical or scientific work
but the term is most commonly used to refer to works
of the creative imagination, poetry, drama, fiction and
non fiction.
the body of written works produced in a particular
language, country, or age, or the body of writings on a
particular subject (scientific, art, etc.)
Literature: Literature is usually defined as
Imaginative writing in the sense of fiction-writing
which is not literally true.

Actually, the distinction between fact and fiction

seems unlikely to get us very far

Novels and news reports were neither clearly factual

nor clearly fictional.
 Literature
Literature is not definable according to
whether it is fictional or imaginative but
because it uses language in particular ways.
Literature is a kind of writing which
represents an organized violence committed
on ordinary speech Raman Jocobson
Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary
language, deviates systematically from
everyday speech.
 Some useful remarks and questions
If literature includes much factual writing,
it also excludes quite a lot of fiction.
If literature is creative or imaginative
writing, does this imply that history,
philosophy and natural science are uncreative
and unimaginative?
What is Literature?
The literary work was neither a vehicle for
ideas, a reflection of social reality nor the
incarnation of some transcendental truth:
It is a material fact, whose functioning could
be analyzed rather as one could examine a
machine.
It was made of words not of objects or
feelings, and it was a mistake to see it as the
expression of the authors mind.
Formalists view of literature
The formalists started out by seeing the literary work
as a more or less arbitrary assemblage of devices, and
only later come to see these devices as interrelated
elements of functions within a total textual system.

Devices included sound, imagery, rhythm, syntax,

meter, rhyme, narrative techniques , in fact the whole
stock of formal literary elements; and what all of these
elements had in common was their estranging or
defamiliarizing effect.
Non-fiction
This can also be called informational" material.

These types of books provide information that is factual.

Nothing is make-believe in these types of materials.
More specific examples of this type of genre would be .
. . Biographies
Autobiographies
Non-fiction
Biographies: A true account of a person's life
written, composed, or produced by another.

Autobiographies: The biography of a person written

by that person him/herself.
Fiction
In this type of work, the author can make up the
whole/entire story. Authors can also choose to
include factual information in a made-up story.
The author can have wizards creating magic spells
or it can be about a 12 year old girl who has a secret
crush.
Types of Literature and their
meaning
(a) Poetry- is the expression of ideas or a story in a
form which has a metre (rhythm) and sometimes
rhyme. Poetry is appreciated for the beauty of the
language used as well as for the ideas or stories that it
contains.
The earliest poems were epics: long stories of the
heroic deeds of gods or men. The Iliad of Homer is the
best known examples of this type of poem and tells of
the siege and fall of Troy.
Prose
(b) Prose- uses the spoken language but prose literature
has to communicate stories or ideas clearly and in a form
that is enjoyable to read.
The best-known prose is the novel, a story of fictitious
characters and events which relate to a real life. It is
normally long and may have a complex plot.
The first long narratives were written by Ancient
Greek and Roman authors and were often humorous.
But for a long time poetry was regarded as the proper
medium of expression for serious or noble stories and
prose was only used to write about mundane matters.
The Novel
The novel in its modern form came into being in the
late 1700s although satirical books such as Cervantes
Don Quixote and Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel
were written in the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the 19th century British novels attained status
when authors like Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, and
Bront sisters and William Thackeray were writing.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in
performance.

Drama is the most concrete

form in which art can
recreate human situation.

a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue

or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of
character, especially one intended to be acted on the
stage; a play (Dictionary.com)
Drama
The word drama comes from the Greek word dran
which means to do.
The ancient Greek is considered the birthplace of
classic western theatre.
Greek theatre began as a part of religious celebration
of the god Dionysus.
Imitation the fact that drama presents
something closer to the reality, but not
reality itself, is one of the universal
elements of drama.
Questions
Questions
Art is not a mirror to reflect reality; but a
hammer to shape it. Bertolt Brecht
Thank you