Concept in Definition ABC

Literature is the discipline that is dedicated to aesthetic use of the written word. The corpus of texts written for this aesthetic or expressive purpose can also be called "literature".

The three great genres into which literature is divided are: genre dramatic, which refers to text used to represent oneself by acting; the lyrical genre, which is oriented to the text subject to cadence and rhythm; and the narrative genre, whose main purpose is to capture a fictitious story without resorting to the use of verses.

In turn, these genera can host subdivisions. Thus, the dramatic genre can be divided into tragedy, comedy and drama; the lyrical genre, in ode, elegy and satire; and finally, the narrative genre, in novel and short story. Beyond the arbitrariness of which these classifications can sin, they usually give a generic panorama sufficiently complete to delve into the details of this branch of art.

It is probable that today the classification becomes insufficient, taking into account that literary studies have repeatedly realized that the question, what is considered literature? has not yet been definitively answered. For example, we currently have other types of texts that may (or may not) be included in any of the three great genres previously described, but that even if they were, do not belong at all to any of the they. Take for example biographies and autobiographies, self-help books, or historical / journalistic research by some writers.

The beginnings of literature must be sought in the transfer to writing of pre-existing oral traditions.

Indeed, ancient communities were mainly oral, that is, they maintained a culture that integrated them, but this was transmitted orally. With the invention of writing, many of these traditions were recorded, giving rise to literate cultures. For example, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" (both written by Homer), works considered as landmarks in the development of culture Western literate, they constitute the passage to the writing of a story that was told through songs and that was closely related to with each myth present in the peoples that inhabited Greece.

It should be noted that this preeminence of the tradition oral on writing lasted well into the middle Ages, an understandable situation if we consider the enormous portion of society that was illiterate; It is for this reason that also in this period we can observe the transfer to the writing of oral narratives, as for example, in the case of the epic songs. In the Middle Ages, great authors, today recognized as "classics", overturn everyday life situations in their texts, with a key use of the dramatic genre, for example "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri, or any of the books by English William Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", "Othello", among many others).

With the advent of mainly literate societies, literature ceased to have an origin in orality and reached its period of splendor. This phenomenon can be accounted for by the establishment of discourses that are not specifically literary but have expressive and aesthetic use as a central theme; literary criticism is a clear example of this situation.
The invention of the movable type printing press, in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg, allowed the written word, and literature, to spread, progressively, more and more massively. The rules of the market and the premises of the capitalism, made, like many others, literature begin to be part of the so-called "industries cultural ": books are mass-produced, in the same way that refrigerators, T-shirts or glasses.

The category of "best sellers" allows to measure how successful some works can be, when they cross the sales barrier, even if there is no reliable one. scale measurement for this. In general, the consecration of a book as a "best seller" is also influenced (in addition to the number of volumes sold) the library loans and reviews from world-renowned newspapers such as The New York Times, The Huffington Posto or The Daily Sun.

At present, with the emergence of the audiovisual media, the situation of literary practice is uncertain. There are opinions that relegate it to a gradual regression, although it is most likely that it will introduce changes, accompanying the ups and downs of the social sphere. One of these changes, in the era of the computer boom, is the online purchase of books not only on paper, but also in digital version, which can be downloaded and read online. computers, cell phones or Kindles, devices specially designed by the virtual e-shop Amazon.com to be used in reading books or newspapers (for subscription). In addition, the price between a paper book and a digital book greatly favors the massiveness of the latter.

Topics in Literature