World Literature, FĂ©L-OLD
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.
World Literature Encyclopedia Articles By Title
FĂ©librige
Félibrige, association organized in the 19th century for the maintenance of the Provençal customs and language......
Gaelic Revival
Gaelic Revival, resurgence of interest in Irish language, literature, history, and folklore that was inspired by......
gaucho literature
gaucho literature, Spanish American poetic genre that imitates the payadas (âballadsâ) traditionally sung to guitar......
Georgian literature
Georgian literature, the body of written works in the Georgian language, kartuli ena. The origins of Georgian literature......
Georgian poetry
Georgian poetry, a variety of lyrical poetry produced in the early 20th century by an assortment of British poets,......
German literature
German literature, German literature comprises the written works of the German-speaking peoples of central Europe.......
ghazal
ghazal, in Islamic literatures, genre of lyric poem, generally short and graceful in form and typically dealing......
Glossary of Jane Austen Terms
âMr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike: he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners.â......
goliard
goliard, any of the wandering students and clerics in medieval England, France, and Germany, remembered for their......
Governor Generalâs Literary Awards
Governor Generalâs Literary Awards, series of Canadian literary awards established in 1936 by the Canadian Authors......
Greek literature
Greek literature, body of writings in the Greek language, with a continuous history extending from the 1st millennium......
Gujarati literature
Gujarati literature, literature of the Gujarati language, a major tongue of India. The oldest examples of Gujarati......
gwersiou
gwersiou, narrative ballad in the Breton language that dramatically describes local events, history, legends, and......
género chico
gĂ©nero chico, (Spanish: âlittle genreâ), Spanish literary genre of light dramatic or operatic one-act playlets,......
haikai
haikai, a comic renga, or Japanese linked-verse form. The haikai was developed as early as the 16th century as......
haiku
haiku, unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively.......
Haka
Haka, Maori posture dance that involves the entire body in vigorous rhythmic movements, which may include swaying,......
Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature, the body of written works produced in the Hebrew language and distinct from Jewish literature,......
Hermeticism
Hermeticism, modernist poetic movement originating in Italy in the early 20th century, whose works were characterized......
heroic play
heroic play, a type of play prevalent in Restoration England during the 1660s and 1670s. Modeled after French Neoclassical......
Hindi literature
Hindi literature, the writings of the western Braj Bhasa and Khari Boli and of the eastern Awadhi and Bundeli dialects......
Hisperic style
Hisperic style, a style of Latin writing that probably originated in the British Isles in the 7th century. It is......
Homeric Hymns
Homeric Hymns, collection of 34 ancient Greek poems in heroic hexameters, all addressed to gods. Though ascribed......
Homerids
Homerids, a historical clan on the Aegean island of Chios, whose members claimed to be descendants of the ancient......
Hong Kong literature
Hong Kong literature, the body of written works, primarily in Chinese but occasionally in English, produced in......
How did Albert Camus die?
In the afternoon on January 4, 1960, French philosopher Albert Camus, author of The Stranger (1942) and The Myth......
huaju
huaju, form of Chinese drama featuring realistic spoken dialogue rather than the sung poetic dialogue of the traditional......
Hungarian literature
Hungarian literature, the body of written works produced in the Hungarian language. No written evidence remains......
I novel
I novel, form or genre of 20th-century Japanese literature that is characterized by self-revealing narration, with......
Icelandersâ sagas
Icelandersâ sagas, the class of heroic prose narratives written during 1200â20 about the great families who lived......
Icelandic literature
Icelandic literature, body of writings in Icelandic, including those from Old Icelandic (also called Old Norse)......
imram
imram, in early Irish literature, a story about an adventurous voyage. This type of story includes tales of Irish......
Indian literature
Indian literature, writings of the Indian subcontinent, produced there in a variety of vernacular languages, including......
Indianista novel
Indianista novel, Brazilian literary genre of the 19th century that idealizes the simple life of the South American......
Indonesian literatures
Indonesian literatures, the poetry and prose writings in Javanese, Malay, Sundanese, and other languages of the......
Iranian literature
Iranian literature, body of writings in the Iranian languages produced in an area encompassing eastern Anatolia,......
Irish literature
Irish literature, the body of written works produced in Ireland or by Irish writers. This article discusses Irish......
Is Sinclair Lewisâs Most Famous Work Any Good?
One critique of Sinclair Lewisâs It Canât Happen Here is its lack of subtlety. Lewisâs novel, published in 1935,......
Italian literature
Italian literature, the body of written works produced in the Italian language that had its beginnings in the 13th......
- Introduction
- Comic Verse, Poetry, Satire
- Petrarch, Poetry, Humanism
- Renaissance, Poetry, Humanism
- Renaissance, Epic, Lyric
- Baroque, Epic, Comedy
- Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, Satire
- Romanticism, Realism, Nationalism
- Risorgimento, Unification, Realism
- Modernism, Futurism, Neorealism
- Hermetic, Renaissance, Poetry
- Renaissance, Humanism, Poetry
- Experimentalism, Avant-Garde, Postmodernism
- Theatre, Comedy, Tragedy
- 21st Century Fiction
- Renaissance, Humanism, Poetry
Jacobean literature
Jacobean literature, body of works written during the reign of James I of England (1603â25). The successor to Elizabethan......
Japanese literature
Japanese literature, the body of written works produced by Japanese authors in Japanese or, in its earliest beginnings,......
jongleur
jongleur, professional storyteller or public entertainer in medieval France, often indistinguishable from the trouvĂšre.......
jueju
jueju, a Chinese verse form that was popular during the Tang dynasty (618â907). An outgrowth of the lĂŒshi, it is......
Kailyard school
Kailyard school, late 19th-century movement in Scottish fiction characterized by a sentimental idealization of......
Kannada literature
Kannada literature, the literature written in Kannada, which, like the other languages of South India, is of the......
kavya
kavya, highly artificial Sanskrit literary style employed in the court epics of India from the early centuries......
Kazakh literature
Kazakh literature, the body of literature, both oral and written, produced in the Kazakh language by the Kazakh......
kenning
kenning, concise compound or figurative phrase replacing a common noun, especially in Old Germanic, Old Norse,......
khamseh
khamseh, in Persian and Turkish literature, a set of five long epic poems composed in rhyming couplet, or masÌnavÄ«,......
Khmer literature
Khmer literature, body of literary works of Khmer peoples of Southeast Asia, mainly Cambodia. The classical literature......
Klephtic ballad
Klephtic ballad, any of the songs and poems extolling the adventures of the Klephts, Greek nationalists living......
Korean literature
Korean literature, the body of works written by Koreans, at first in Classical Chinese, later in various transcription......
Kuruc song
Kuruc song, any of the poems celebrating the adventurous life of the Kurucs, Hungarian partisans who fought against......
Kyrgyz literature
Kyrgyz literature, the written works of the Kyrgyz people of Central Asia, most of whom live in Kyrgyzstan. A smaller......
Lao literature
Lao literature, body of literature written in Lao, one of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia and the official......
Latin American literature
Latin American literature, the national literatures of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere.......
- Introduction
- Chronicles, Discovery, Conquest
- Historians, New World, Colonialism
- Enlightenment, Colonialism, Revolution
- Plays, Theater, Drama
- 19th Century, Realism, Romanticism
- 20th Century, Magic Realism, Boom
- Modern Novel, Magical Realism, Postcolonialism
- Boom Novels, Magic Realism, Postmodernism
- Modern Essay, Magic Realism, Postcolonialism
Latin literature
Latin literature, the body of writings in Latin, primarily produced during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire,......
Latvian literature
Latvian literature, body of writings in the Latvian language. Latviaâs loss of political independence in the 13th......
leprechaun
leprechaun, in Irish folklore, fairy in the form of a tiny old man often with a cocked hat and leather apron. Solitary......
List of Byronic Heroes
A moody and brooding outcast. A haunted heartthrob. A rebel with or without a cause. A man hell-bent on destruction,......
Lithuanian literature
Lithuanian literature, body of writings in the Lithuanian language. In the grand duchy of Lithuania, which stretched......
littérature engagée
littĂ©rature engagĂ©e, (French: âengaged literatureâ), literature of commitment, popularized in the immediate post-World......
lĂŒshi
lĂŒshi, a form of Chinese poetry that flourished in the Tang dynasty (618â907). It consists of eight lines of five......
Macedonian literature
Macedonian literature, literature written in the South Slavic Macedonian language. The earliest Macedonian literature,......
magic realism
magic realism, chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion......
mahakavya
mahakavya, a particular form of the Sanskrit literary style known as kavya. It is a short epic similar to the epyllion......
Malayalam literature
Malayalam literature, body of writing in the Malayalam language of South India. The earliest extant literary work......
manga
manga, individual comic strip, comic book, or graphic novel originating in Japan or, collectively, Japanese comic......
maqÄmah
maqÄmah, Arabic literary genre in which entertaining anecdotes, often about rogues, mountebanks, and beggars, written......
Marathi literature
Marathi literature, body of writing in the Indo-Aryan Marathi language of India. With Bengali literature, Marathi......
Marinism
Marinism, (Italian: â17th centuryâ), style of the 17th-century poet Giambattista Marino (q.v.) as it first appeared......
marwysgafn
marwysgafn, (Welsh: âdeathbed songâ), religious ode in which the poet, sensing the approach of death, confesses......
masÌnavÄ«
masÌnavÄ«, a series of distichs (couplets) in rhymed pairs (aa, bb, cc, and so on) that makes up a characteristic......
Menippean satire
Menippean satire, seriocomic genre, chiefly in ancient Greek literature and Latin literature, in which contemporary......
mester de clerecĂa
mester de clerecĂa, poetic mode in Castilian literature of the mid-13th to 14th centuries known for its scholarship......
mester de juglarĂa
mester de juglarĂa, popular poetic mode in Castilian literature that was developed by Castilian minstrels between......
Middle Comedy
Middle Comedy, style of drama that prevailed in Athens from about 400 bc to about 320 bc. Preoccupied with social......
moderne gennembrud, det
det moderne gennembrud, literary movement, beginning about 1870, dominated by the Danish critic Georg Brandes,......
Mongolian literature
Mongolian literature, the written works produced in any of the Mongolian languages of present-day Mongolia; the......
monogatari
monogatari, Japanese works of fiction, especially those written from the Heian to the Muromachi periods (794â1573).......
moro-moro
moro-moro, the earliest known form of organized theatre in the Philippines; it was created by Spanish priests.......
Muckraker
The muckrakers were a highly influential group of American investigative reporters, novelists, and critics who......
muwashshaáž„
muwashshaáž„, (Arabic: âodeâ), an Arabic poetic genre in strophic form developed in Muslim Spain in the 11th and......
Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the traditional oral and written literatures and mythological......
nanxi
nanxi, one of the first fully developed forms of Chinese drama. Nanxi emerged in the area around Wenzhou in southern......
National Book Awards
National Book Awards, annual awards given to books of the highest quality written by Americans and published by......
Nayanar
Nayanar, any of the Tamil poet-musicians of the 7th and 8th centuries ce who composed devotional hymns of great......
Negritude
Negritude, literary movement of the 1930s, â40s, and â50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean......
Neorealism
Neorealism, Italian literary and cinematic movement, flourishing especially after World War II, seeking to deal......
Nepali literature
Nepali literature, the body of writings in the Nepali language of Nepal. Before the Gurkha (Gorkha) conquest of......
New Comedy
New Comedy, Greek drama from about 320 bc to the mid-3rd century bc that offers a mildly satiric view of contemporary......
New Zealand literature
New Zealand literature, the body of literatures, both oral and written, produced in New Zealand. Like all Polynesian......
Newdigate Prize
Newdigate Prize, poetry prize founded in 1805 by Sir Roger Newdigate and awarded at the University of Oxford. The......
neĆteros
neĆteros, any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry......
Norske Selskab
Norske Selskab, organization founded in 1772 by Norwegian students at the University of Copenhagen to free Norwegian......
Northeastern school
Northeastern school, group of 20th-century Brazilian regional writers whose fiction dealt primarily with the culture......
Norwegian literature
Norwegian literature, the body of writings by the Norwegian people. The roots of Norwegian literature reach back......
Oceanic literature
Oceanic literature, the traditional oral and written literatures of the indigenous people of Oceania, in particular......
Old Comedy
Old Comedy, initial phase of ancient Greek comedy (c. 5th century bc), known through the works of Aristophanes.......
Old English literature
Old English literature, literature written in Old English c. 650âc. 1100. For a description of this period in the......