An overview of Literature by WAJID ALI Part 2.

English Literature

English Literature deals with the English language, and English is the language that I’m using right now. It is the language of England as well as many other countries of the world such as America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, etc. The English language spread throughout the world with the development of British Colonies between 16^th to 18^th centuries. Nowadays, English has become “Lingua Franca”.

English literature refers to the study of written as well as spoken material in English language. English literature is the body of written works published in English language from 7^th century to the present day. English literature not just only refers to the literature of England, but it also includes American literature, Australian literature, Canadian literature and New Zealand’s literature.

Types of Literature

Literature can be divided into two types: Written literature and Oral literature.

Ø Oral Literature includes ballads, myth, folktales, fables etc.

Ø Written Literature has fiction such as drama, novel and poetry, and nonfiction includes essays, biographies, memories, historical, scientific, or technical writings.

Now we will briefly discuss written literature and its types.

Written Literature

Written Literature can be divided into two main types: Fiction and Nonfiction.

Fiction

Fiction deals with imagination. The subject matter of fiction can be some fantasy idea of everyday life. Some examples of fictions are folktales, fairy tales, short stories, dramas and novels. The most important thing to remember about fictional literature is that fictional literature is created from imagination. It does not present as a fact.

Nonfiction

Nonfiction is defined at Dictionary.com as “the branch of literature comprising works of narrative prose dealing with or offering opinions or conjectures upon facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay (opposed to fiction and distinguished from poetry and drama). Nonfiction usually includes real life situations and facts based information. Nonfictions writing must include real people, events, and places. So the key-line about nonfiction writing is that it must contain facts, reasoning based and true information.

   So, that's all about English Literature and some information about its types. In the next part I’ll further explain about Fiction and Nonfiction literature and about their types as well.

Thanks!