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)"). The term has generally come to identify a collection of texts, which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, drama and poetry. In much, if not all of the world, texts can be oral as well, and include such genres as epic, legend, myth, ballad, other forms of oral poetry, and the folktale.

Introduction

---

Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or 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, Persian Shahnama, Thirukural, Beowulf, the Iliad and the Odyssey and the Constitution of the United States, all fall within this definition of a kind of literature.

More on [ Literature ]

NPR Topics: Politics & Society

Shopping For Armed Forces In Hemet
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0400
For many young people in tiny Hemet, Calif., the first stop after graduation is that town's Armed Forces Career Center. More than five years into the Iraq war, the center provides one-stop-shopping for potential Army, Navy and Marine recruits.
Why Rural U.S. Towns See More Casualties
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0400
Residents of Hemet, Calif. know all too well about military casualties. They're not alone — that town's story has been repeated in rural communities across the country. We examine why soldiers from rural areas are more likely to die in combat and how voters in those areas see the Iraq war.
Is Obama Sliding To The Center?
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0400
Some of the Democratic candidate's supporters are expressing frustration with what they see as a slide toward the center. Markos Moulitsas, founder of The DailyKos political blog, discusses how Obama is trying to appeal to moderates.

The Talk of the Town

The Chill
Nick Paumgarten Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
If you had stumbled into Banjo Jim’s, in the East Village, on a recent Wednesday night and encountered a sixty-something guy leading a band through a fervent rendition of “Wild Thing,” for an audience of two dozen or so, you might have concluded, “This is lame,” and slipped back . . .
Oily Speculations
James Surowiecki Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When bad things happen, it’s always nice to have a scapegoat. So, with Americans furious about soaring oil prices, Congress has gone in search of someone to blame. There are a number of usual suspects to choose from, depending on your politics--OPEC, greedy oil companies, lily-livered environmentalists opposed . . .
Obama’s Iraq Problem
George Packer Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In February, 2007, when Barack Obama declared that he was running for President, violence in Iraq had reached apocalyptic levels, and he based his candidacy, in part, on a bold promise to begin a rapid withdrawal of American forces upon taking office. At the time, this pledge represented conventional thinking . . .

Subscribe to Society RSS feed