Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
Browse Subcategories
Featured content, June 23, 2025
Arabic literature
Arabic literature, the body of written works produced in the Arabic language. The tradition of Arabic literature stretches...
Central Asian arts
Central Asian arts, literary, performing, and visual arts of a large portion of Asia embracing the Turkic republics (Uzbekistan,...
Australian literature
Australian literature, the body of literatures, both oral and written, produced in Australia. Perhaps more so than in other...
Canadian literature
Canadian literature, the body of written works produced by Canadians. Reflecting the country’s dual origin and its official...
Celtic literature
Celtic literature, the body of writings composed in Irish and the languages derived from it, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, and...
romance
Romance, literary form, usually characterized by its treatment of chivalry, that came into being in France in the mid-12th...
Irish literature
Irish literature, the body of written works produced in Ireland or by Irish writers. This article discusses Irish literature...
Latin American literature
Latin American literature, the national literatures of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere. Historically,...
Literature Quizzes
13 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Easiest Science Quizzes
Sometimes we here at Britannica hear that our quizzes are too hard. Not true! Here are 13 true-and-false questions from our...
1960s TV Show Debuts Quiz
How well do you know TV from the 1960s? This quiz will show you a year; pick the TV show that premiered in the United States...
2000s Music Quiz
For many of us, music from 2000 to 2009 is very nostalgic. How well can you match the artist to the popular song? Take this...
2010s Music Quiz
Match the popular song to its artist.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
How much do you know about Mars? How about energy? Think it’ll be easier if you have to pick only true or false? Find out...
36 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Science Quizzes
How well do you know astronomy? How about quantum mechanics? This quiz will take you through 36 of the hardest questions...
39 of the Most Challenging World Capitals Across History
Paris, Bujumbura, Pierre, and Nuuk all have something in common: they are all capital cities. And there are thousands more....
41 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular World History Quizzes
This quiz collects 41 of the toughest questions from Britannica’s most popular quizzes on world history. If you want to ace...
43 Questions About Politics (Mostly in the United States) Compiled from Britannica’s Quizzes
This quiz gathers together questions from Britannica’s quizzes about politics, law, and government. It includes a lot of...
44 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Health and Medicine Quizzes
How much do you know about human anatomy? How about medical conditions? The brain? You’ll need to know a lot to answer 44...
Literature Videos
Literature Subcategories
Folk Literature & Fable
Step into the world of folklore, fables, legends, tall tales, and epics, in which heroes are known to undertake arduous journeys and dragons, fairies, and giants abound. Stories such as these circulated long before systems of writing were developed; ballads, folktales, poems, and the like were transmitted exclusively by word of mouth before written languages took over, and they continue to captivate listeners and readers to this day.
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The Thousand and One Nights
collection of Middle Eastern and Indian stories
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Brothers Grimm
German folklorists and linguists
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Erasmus
Dutch humanist
Fictional Characters
Here you'll find some of your favorite fictional characters from literature, film, television, and the like, whether it's the analytical mastermind Sherlock Holmes and his endearing associate Dr. Watson or the menacing and helmeted Darth Vader, the ill-tempered Donald Duck, or the teenage sleuth Nancy Drew.
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Spider-Man
fictional character
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Sherlock Holmes
fictional character
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Batman
fictional character
Journalism
Extra, extra! Although the content and style of journalism and the medium through which it is delivered have varied significantly over the years, journalism has always given us a way to keep up with current events, so that we always have our fingers on the pulse.
Articles
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Nellie Bly
American journalist
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Katie Couric
American broadcaster
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Joseph Moses Levy
British journalist
Libraries & Reference Works
Looking to impress your friends with your expansive knowledge of historical events, philosophical concepts, obscure words, and more? We may be biased, but it seems fair enough to say that reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks have provided such a service for years (in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of years). You can look for them at your local public library, which likely stores books, manuscripts, journals, CDs, movies, and other sources of information and entertainment.
Articles
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Benjamin Spock
American pediatrician
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Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer
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Albrecht von Haller
Swiss biologist
Literatures of the World
Literature knows no geographical bounds; authors can be found in nearly all corners of the globe. Find out more about regional literary styles and forms.
Articles
Literary Criticism
Everyone's a critic. But not all literary criticism involves judging the quality of a text; it can also focus on interpreting the meaning of a work or evaluating an author's place in literary history.
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Edward Said
American professor and literary critic
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Harold Bloom
American literary critic and author
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Charles Baudelaire
French author
Literary Terms
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
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haiku
Japanese literature
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picaresque novel
literature
- metaphor
Nonfiction
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Or that's the idea, at least. Nonfiction works center on facts and real events. Although there is some debate about which kinds of literature qualify as nonfiction, the genre typically includes books in the categories of biography, memoir, science, history, self-help, cooking, health and fitness, business, and more.
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The Feminine Mystique
work by Friedan
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The Diary of a Young Girl
work by Frank
- nonfictional prose
Novels & Short Stories
novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
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Around the World in Eighty Days
novel by Verne
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Ulysses
novel by Joyce
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The Sound and the Fury
novel by Faulkner
Oratory
speech and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, quoted above, are two iconic examples of successful oratory, as are Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury and Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons.
Articles
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Tacitus
Roman historian
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Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
French bishop
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Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
French politician and orator
Plays
; and the stage is where you'll find performances of works by such famed playwrights as Anton Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, and the Bard himself, among many others.
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The Cherry Orchard
play by Chekhov
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Death of a Salesman
play by Miller
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Faust
play by Goethe
