Literature
Articles in this category
Literary theory
Literary theory systematically studies the nature of literature and its analysis methods, evolving since the 19th century into an interdisciplinary field influenced by philosophy, semiotics, and cultural studies. While formally established as a profession in the 20th century, its roots span back to ancient Greece with Aristotle...
Gnomic poetry
Gnomic poetry consists of concise, meaningful sayings put into verse to aid memory, forming a key part of wisdom literature that expresses general truths about the world. Flourishing in ancient Greece around the 6th century BC, poets like Theognis, Solon, and Hesiod (w...
Literary genre
A literary genre categorizes literature based on aspects like technique, tone, content, or length, with distinctions that are flexible and evolve over time. The foundational concept originated with Aristotle in ancient Greece, who classified "species" such as epic, tragedy, and comedy in his treatises Rhetoric...
Japanese poetry
Japanese poetry broadly includes works written in various forms of the Japanese language, poetry in Chinese by Japanese poets (kanshi), and ryūka from the Okinawa Islands. Its literary record began significantly during the Tang dynasty when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry, le...
Literary devices in The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien, a philologist and author, masterfully employed a range of sophisticated literary devices in his iconic high fantasy work, The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954–55. This monumental epic quickly garnered immense popularity from the 1960s, consistently ranking as one of the most beloved books in numerous glob...
Essays of Elia
Here is a comprehensive summary of the article about Charles Lamb's Essays of Elia:
Charles Lamb's Essays of Elia, a highly celebrated collection, was first published in book form in 1823, following initial appearances in The London Magazine from 1820 to 1825. Lamb wro...
Semiotic literary criticism
Semiotic literary criticism, also known as literary semiotics, analyzes literature through the theory of signs (semiotics), heavily influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure's structuralism. Emerging from Russian formalism and structuralist linguistics, early figures like Vladimir Propp, Algirdas Julius Greimas, and Viktor Shklovsky aimed to...
Stanhope essay prize
The Stanhope essay prize was a prestigious undergraduate history award established in 1855 at Balliol College, Oxford, by Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope. This annual prize quickly gained recognition for attracting exceptional academic talent, with its list of winners featuring many individuals who later achie...
Eight-legged essay
The eight-legged essay (bāgǔwén) was a highly structured and rigid essay format central to the imperial civil service examinations during China's Ming and Qing dynasties. Designed to test candidates' deep knowledge of Confucian classics and governmental ideals, it required coherent wri...
Psychoanalytic literary criticism
Psychoanalytic literary criticism, profoundly influenced by Sigmund Freud's work, interprets literature by asserting that texts are deeply entwined with the human psyche. This approach often involves analyzing fictional characters as psychological case studies, applying Freudian concepts like the Oedipus complex, Id, ego, and superego,...
Akkadian literature
Akkadian literature comprises the ancient textual traditions written in the East Semitic Akkadian language—encompassing Assyrian and Babylonian dialects—across Mesopotamia from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age (roughly 25th to 4th centuries BC). Drawing extensively from Sumerian literature, the Akkadians developed a rich body of m...
Georgian literature
Georgian Literature: A Rich and Enduring Legacy
Early Origins and Christian Influence:
Georgian literature has a long and distinguished history, with the earliest surviving texts dating back to the 5th century. The Martyrdom of the Holy Shushanik, composed in the late 5th century, is an e...