Topic outline of literature

Literature is prose, written or oral, including fiction and non-fiction, drama and poetry. See also the list of basic poetry topics.

The following topic outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to literature:

__TOC__

Essence of literature

* Composition
* Writing

Forms of literature

Oral literary genres

: Epic poetry - Legend - Mythology - Ballad - other forms of oral poetry - Folktale - Oral Narrative (Oral History) - Urban legend

Written literary genres

* Children's literature
* Constrained writing
* Erotic literature
* Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of sub-genres and types): Aubade - Clerihew - Epic - Haiku - Lied - Lyric - Ode - Rhapsody - Song - Limerick - Sonnet - Speculative poetry
* Prison literature
* Rhymed prose: "Saj'" ("Maqama") - "Fu (literature)" - "Rayok"

Non-fiction

: Autobiography - Biography - Diaries and Journals - Essay - Frame Narrative - In Medias Res - Literary criticism - Memoir - Outdoor literature - Spiritual autobiography - Travel literature

Fiction genres

*Adventure novel
*Airport novels
*Comedy:Parody - Satire
*Crime fiction:Detective fiction (Hardboiled, Whodunit) - Newgate novel
*Erotica
*Fable
*Fairy tale
*Family Saga
*Frame story
*Gothic:Southern Gothic
*Historical fiction
*Inspirational fiction
*Invasion literature
*Mystery
*Philosophical literature:Inspirational fiction - Religious literature
*Psychological novel
*Psychological thriller
*Romance:Historical romance (Regency romance) - Inspirational romance - Paranormal romance
*Saga
*Speculative fiction:Alternate history - Fantasy (for more details see Fantasy subgenres; fantasy literature) (Epic fantasy, Science fantasy, Steampunk, Urban fantasy, Weird fantasy) - Horror (Lovecraftian horror, Weird menace) - Science fiction (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics) (Cyberpunk, Hard science fiction, Space opera) - Supernatural fiction
*Sensation novel
*Slave narrative
*Thriller:Conspiracy fiction - Legal thriller - Spy fiction/Political thriller - Techno-thriller
*Western

History of literature

:History of the book - History of theater - History of science fiction - History of ideas - Intellectual history -

Basic literature concepts

*literature
*Western canon
*the teaching of writing: composition, rhetoric

*poetry:prosody - meter - scansion - Constrained writing

*poetics:villanelle - sonnet - sestina - ghazal - ballad - blank verse - free verse - epic poetry

*prose:fiction - non-fiction - biography

*prose genres:essay - flash prose - journalism - mini saga - novel - novella - short story

*theater:history of theater

*literary criticism

*rhetoric:metaphor - metonymy - symbol - allegory

*Basic procedural knowledge:poetry analysis - effective reasoning in argument writing

*Techniques and conceits: False document - Frame tale - anecdote - point of view

* Varieties of literary criticism (applications of Literary theory): Marxist literary criticism - Semiotic literary interpretation - Psychoanalytic literary interpretation - Feminist literary interpretation - New historicism - Queer literary interpretation

Literary scholars and literary critics

:"See also "

Literature lists

: List of basic literature topics - List of authors - List of books - List of literary awards - List of literary terms - List of prizes, medals, and awards for literary prizes - List of women writers - List of writers - List of literary genres

See also

*List of literature topics
*Literature
*English studies
*History of literature
*History of modern literature
*World literature

External links

* [http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/ Yahoo! Directory listing for Literature]
* [http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.00.00/ The Internet Public Library listing for Literature]
* [http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/literature/literature.html Nobel Prize in Literature]