WHAT IS LITERATURE?

Literature is a term used to describe written and sometimes spoken material. Derived from the
Latin word literature meaning "writing formed with letters," literature most commonly refers to
works of the creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and in some
instances, journalism, and song.

IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE
For the breadth of knowledge is gives, the moral values it carries, and the enjoyment it
provides, literature is important. An exposure to good literary works is essential at every
phase of life as it enriches us in more ways than one.

Studying literature requires more than reading literature. ... Literature allows us to interpret
our own life and emotions and find ways to relate to the story so we in turn can reflect. It is also
a form of entertainment and allows people to use their imagination to visualize the story within
their own mind.

HISTORY OF LITERATURE
literature may be figments of the imagination or events devoid of truth that have been written
down, while history is made up of events that really happened. Literature is present during the
era of the ancient world. ... Literature explains human values

As with the wheel, cities and law codes, the earliest examples of written literature appear to
have originated in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerian civilization first developed writing
around 3400 B.C., when they began making markings on clay tablets in a script known as
cuneiform

The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that
attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer,
as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these
pieces.

Literature (from the Latin Littera meaning 'letters’ and referring to an acquaintance with the
written word) is the written work of a specific culture, sub-culture, religion, philosophy or the
study of such written work which may appear in poetry or in prose. Literature, in the west,
originated in the southern Mesopotamia region of Sumer (c. 3200) in the city of Uruk and
flourished in Egypt, later in Greece (the written word having been imported there from the
Phoenicians) and from there, to Rome. Writing seems to have originated independently in China
from divination practices and also independently in Mesoamerica and elsewhere.

The first author of literature in the world, known by name, was the high-priestess of Ur,
Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE) who wrote hymns in praise of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.
Much of the early literature from Mesopotamia concerns the activities of the gods but, in time,
humans came to be featured as the main characters in such poems as Enmerkar and the Lord
of Aratta and Lugalbanda and Mount Hurrum (c.2600-2000 BCE). For the purposes of study,
Literature is divided into the categories of fiction or non-fiction today but these are often arbitrary
decisions as ancient literature, as understood by those who wrote the tales down, as well as
those who heard them spoken or sung pre-literacy, was not understood in the same way as it is
in the modern-day.

The Truth in Literature

Homer’s soaring odes to the grandeur of the Grecian fleet sailing for Troy or Odysseus’s journey
across the wine-dark sea were as real to listeners as his descriptions of the sorceress Circe, the
cyclops Polyphemus or the Sirens. Those tales which today are regarded as myth were then
considered as true and sacred as any of the writings contained in the Judeo-Christian Bible or
the Muslim Quran are to believers. Designations such as fiction and non-fiction are fairly recent
labels applied to written works. The ancient mind understood that, quite often, truth may be
apprehended through a fable about a fox and some unattainable grapes. The modern concern
with the truth of a story would not have concerned anyone listening to one of Aesop’s tales;
what mattered was what the story was trying to convey.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN LITERARY WORKS IS THE SUMERIAN/BABYLONIAN

EPIC OF GILGAMESH FROM C. 2150 BCE.

Even so, there was a value placed on accuracy in recording actual events (as ancient criticism
of the historian Herodotus’ accounts of events shows). Early literary works were usually didactic
in approach and had an underlying (or often overt) religious purpose such as in the Sumerian
Enuma Elish of 1120 BCE or the Theogony of the Greek writer Hesiod of the 8th century BCE.

One of the earliest known literary works is the Sumerian/Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh from c.
2150 BCE which deals with themes of heroism, pride, nationality, friendship, disappointment,
death, and the quest for eternal life. Whether what happened in the tale of Gilgamesh 'actually
happened’ was immaterial to the writer and to the listener. What mattered was what the
audience was able to take away from the tale.

The best example of this is a genre known as Mesopotamian Naru Literature in which historical
figures feature in fictional plots. The best-known works from this genre include The Curse of
Agade and The Legend of Cutha, both featuring the great Akkadian king Naram-Sin (r. 2261-
2224 BCE), grandson of Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BCE, father of Enheduanna). Both of
these works have Naram-Sin behaving in ways which are contradicted by physical evidence and
other, more factual, writings. The purpose of Naru Literature, however, was not to relate what
`really' happened but to emphasize a moral, cultural, and religious point.

Examples of Ancient Literature

The Pyramid Texts of Egypt, also considered literature, tell of the journey of the soul to the
afterlife in the Field of Reeds and these works, unlike Mesopotamian Naru Literature, presented
the subject as truth. Egyptian religious culture was based on the reality of an afterlife and the
role the gods played in one's eternal journey, of which one's life on earth was only one part.
Homer’s Iliad recounts the famous ten-year war between the Greeks and the Trojans while his
Odyssey tells of the great hero Odysseus’s journey back home after the war to his beloved wife
Penelope of Ithaca and this, like the other works mentioned, reinforced cultural values without a
concern for what may or may not have happened concerning the war with Troy.

The story told in the biblical Book of Exodus (1446 BCE) is considered historical truth by many
today, but originally could have been meant to be interpreted as liberation from bondage in a
spiritual sense as it was written to empower the worshipers of Yahweh, encouraged them to
resist the temptations of the indigenous peoples of Canaan, and elevated the audience's
perception of themselves as a chosen people of an all-powerful god.

The Song of Songs (c. 950 BCE) from the Hebrew scripture of the Tanakh, immortalizes the
passionate love between a man and a woman (interpreted by Christians, much later, as the
relationship between Christ and the church, though no such interpretation is supported by the
original text) and the sacred aspect of such a relationship. The Indian epic Mahabharata (c.800-
400 BCE) relates the birth of a nation while the Ramayana (c. 200 BCE) tells the tale of the
great Rama's rescue of his abducted wife Sita from the evil Ravna. The works found in the
Assyrian King Asurbanipal’s library (647-627 BCE) record the heroic deeds of the gods,
goddesses and the struggles and triumphs of heroic kings of ancient Mesopotamia such as
Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, and Gilgamesh. Scholar Samuel Noah Kramer points out that the early
Sumerian works - and, indeed, Sumerian culture as a whole - resonates in the modern day on
many levels and is especially apparent in literature. Kramer writes:

It is still apparent in a Mosaic law and a Solomonic proverb, in the tears of Job and a Jerusalem
lament, in the sad tale of the dying man-god, in a Hesiodic cosmogony and a Hindu myth, in an
Aesopic fable and a Euclidean theorem, in a zodiacal sign and a heraldic design. (5)

Originality in Ancient Literature

Most early works were written in the poetical metre which the writer had heard repeated over
time and, therefore, the dating of such pieces as the Enuma Elish or the Odyssey is difficult in
that they were finally recorded in writing many years after their oral composition. The great
value which modern-day readers and critics place on 'originality’ in literature was unknown to
ancient people. The very idea of according a work of the imagination of an individual with any
degree of respect would never have occurred to anyone of the ancient world. Stories were re-
tellings of the feats of great heroes, of the gods, the goddesses, or of creation, as in Hesiod and
Homer.

So great was the respect for what today would be called 'non-fiction’, that Geoffrey of
Monmouth (1100-1155 CE) claimed his famous History of the Kings of Briton (which he largely
made up) was actually a translation from an earlier text he had 'discovered’ and Sir Thomas
Malory (1405-1471 CE) famed as the author of the Morte D’Arthur, denied any original
contributions to the work he compiled from earlier authors, even though today it is clear that he
added much to the source material he drew from.

This literary tradition of ascribing an original work to earlier, seemingly-authoritative, sources is

famously exemplified in the gospels of the Christian New Testament in that the gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, understood by many believers to be eye-witness accounts of
the ministry of Jesus, were written much later by unknown authors who chose names
associated with the early church.

Literature encompasses forms such as poetry, drama, prose, folklore, epic tale, personal
narrative, poetry, history, biography, satire, philosophical dialogues, essays, legends and myths,
among others. Plato’s Dialogues, while not the first to combine philosophical themes with
dramatic form, were the first to make drama work in the cause of philosophical inquiry. Later
writers drew on these earlier works for inspiration (as Virgil did in composing his Aeneid, based
on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, between 30-18 BCE) and this tradition of borrowing lasted until
the time of Shakespeare (1564-1616 CE) and continues in the present day.

Genres of Literature
Genres of literature are important to learn about. The two main categories separating the
different genres of literature are fiction and nonfiction. There are several genres of literature that
fall under the nonfiction category. Nonfiction sits in direct opposition to fiction. Examples from
both the fiction and nonfiction genres of literature are explained in detail below. This detailed
genres of literature list is a great resource to share with any scholars.

Types of Nonfiction:
Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact that is presented in a format which tells a
story.

Essays are a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. A short literary
composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative,
or interpretative.

A Biography is a written account of another person’s life.

An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person. Often
written in Narrative form of their person’s life.

Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one’s
thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds, and gesture. Generally delivered in the form of an
address or discourse.

Finally there is the general genre of Nonfiction. This is Informational text dealing with an actual,
real-life subject. This genre of literature offers opinions or conjectures on facts and reality. This
includes biographies, history, essays, speech, and narrative non fiction. Nonfiction opposes
fiction and is distinguished from those fiction genres of literature like poetry and drama which is
the next section we will discuss.

Genres of Fiction:

Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is dramatic art in the way it is
represented. This genre is stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance,
where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.

Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the
reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical in composition, written or spoken. This genre of literature
is for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
Fantasy is the forming of mental images with strange or other worldly settings or characters;
fiction which invites suspension of reality.

Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical. Fiction full of fun, fancy, and
excitement which meant to entertain. This genre of literature can actually be seen and contained
within all genres.

A Fable is a story about supernatural or extraordinary people Usually in the form of narration
that demonstrates a useful truth. In Fables, animals often speak as humans that are legendary and
supernatural tales.

Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable. Sometimes the stories are about
fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.

Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential science, either actual or imagined.
Science fiction is one of the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other planets.

Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not able to support any subplots.

Realistic Fiction is a story that can actually happen and is true to real life.

Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was handed down by
word of mouth. Folklore is a genre of literature that is widely held, but false and based on
unsubstantiated beliefs.

Historical Fiction is a story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.

Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by literature that is frightfully shocking,
terrifying, or revolting. Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters
and the reader.

A Tall Tale is a humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the
impossible with an here of nonchalance.
Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend is based on fact but also
includes imaginative material.

Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.
Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown.

Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often based in part on historical
events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to
the actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a
particular person.

Fiction in Verse is full-length novels with plot, subplots, themes, with major and minor
characters. Fiction of verse is one of the genres of literature in which the narrative is usually
presented in blank verse form.

The genre of Fiction can be defined as narrative literary works whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. In fiction something is feigned, invented, or
imagined; a made-up story.

The Oxford English Dictionary is a great place to consult for any further definitions of the
different genres of literature explained here.

BASIC CONCEPT OF LITERATURE

DEFINITIONS OF LITERATURE

 “a performance in words” (Robert Frost, American Poet)

 “a faithful reproduction of life executed in an artistic form (Dr. Samuel Fernandez, Professor of
Philippine Literature, PUP Manila)
 “…the news that stays news…” (Ezra Pound, American Poet)
 is a kind of communication that is original and sincere, of the best thoughts and feelings of
man, by means of beautiful or artistic form, structure or organization, such that an illusion of
reality is created (Dr. Leo Baens Ramos, Professor of English Language, PUP Manila)
 “the total creative, imaginative, durable writings belonging to a given language or people of the
past and present and faithfully expresses and reproduces life in an artistic manner by focusing
on the significant human experience (Racidon Bernarte, Professor of Humanities, PUP Manila)
  “Both the oral or the written record of man’s best thoughts, feelings, ideals and aspirations;
presented in an artistic form; touched by writer’s personality, and written in an enduring and
beautiful language (Cruzette Dela Cruz, Professor of Creative Writing, PUP Manila)
 “It is an artistic execution of man’s best thoughts, feelings and aspirations through
beautiful and enduring language; existing in oral and written form and a produce of the
writer’s attempt to mirror life through his own perspective, bias, personality and
experience (John Albert Dupaya Gurtiza, English Teacher)

ETYMOLOGIES OF THE TERM LITERATURE

Etymology is the study of the origins of words or parts of words and how they have arrived at their
current form and meaning. Etymology often shows the different forms the word has taken in passing
from one language to another, and sometimes shows related words in other languages.
Here are the etymologies of the term literature

1. littera (Latin) which means alphabet or letter

2. litera (Greek) which means letter
3. litteratura (French) which means literate

AIMS OF LITERATURE

1. To give pleasure
2. To record man’s ideas and ideals
3. To fire our imagination
4. To arouse our noble, unselfish emotions, moral aspirations and values
5. To mirror life

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE HISTORY