From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Literature is prose, written or oral, including fiction and non-fiction, drama and poetry. See also: outline of poetry.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to literature:

Essence of literature

• Composition
• World literature
• Writing

Forms of literature

Oral literary genres

Epic poetry - Legend - Mythology - Ballad - other forms of oral poetry - Folktale - Oral Narrative (Oral History) - Urban legend

Written literary genres

• Children's literature
• Constrained writing
• Erotic literature
• Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of sub-genres and types)

Aubade - Clerihew - Epic - Haiku - Lied - Lyric - Ode - |Rhapsody - Song - Limerick - Sonnet - Speculative poetry

• Prison literature
• Rhymed prose

Saj' (Maqama) - Fu (literature) - Rayok

Non-fiction

Autobiography - Biography - Diaries and Journals - Essay - Frame Narrative - In Medias Res - Literary criticism - Memoir - Outdoor literature - Spiritual autobiography - Travel literature

Fiction genres

• Adventure novel
• Airport novels
• Comedy

Parody - Satire

• Crime fiction

Detective fiction (Hardboiled, Whodunit) - Newgate novel

• Erotica
• Fable
• Fairy tale
• Family Saga
• Frame story
• Gothic

Southern Gothic

• Historical fiction
• Inspirational fiction
• Invasion literature
• Mystery
• Philosophical literature

Inspirational fiction - Religious literature

• Psychological novel
• Psychological thriller
• 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

History of literature

• History of the book
• History of theater
• History of modern literature
• History of science fiction
• History of ideas
• Intellectual history

General literature concepts

• Literature
• 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 - Journalism - Novel - Novella - Short story

• Theater

History of theater

• Literary criticism

• Rhetoric

Metaphor - Metonymy - Symbol - Allegory

• Basic procedural knowledge

Poetry analysis - effective reasoning in argument writing

• Techniques and conceits

False document - Frame tale - Anecdote - Point of view

• Varieties of literary criticism (applications of Literary theory)

Marxist literary criticism - Semiotic literary interpretation - Psychoanalytic literary interpretation - Feminist literary interpretation - New historicism - Queer literary interpretation

Literary awards

• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards

Persons influential in the field of literature

• List of authors
• Category:Literary critics
• List of writers
  • List of women writers

See also

Literature portal

• Lists of books
• English studies

External links

• Yahoo! Directory listing for Literature
• The Internet Public Library listing for Literature
• Nobel Prize in Literature