History in literature

History of literature

EditWatch this pageFor a more in-depth table of the history of literature, see List of years in literature.The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose orpoetry which attempts to provideentertainment, enlightenment, orinstruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in thecommunication of these pieces. Not all writings constitute literature. Some recorded materials, such as compilations of data (e.g., a check register) are not considered literature, and this article relates only to the evolution of the works defined above.

The beginnings of literatureEdit

Main article: Early literatureSee also: Sangam literature, Sumerian literature, Ancient Egyptian literature andBabylonian literatureLiterature and writing, though connected, are not synonymous. The very first writings from ancient Sumerby any reasonable definition do not constitute literature—the same is true of some of the early Egyptian hieroglyphics or the thousands of logs from ancient Chinese regimes. Scholars have often disagreed concerning when written record-keeping became more like "literature" than anything else; the definition is largely subjective.Moreover, given the significance of distance as a cultural isolator in earlier centuries, the historical development of literature did not occur at an even pace across the world. The problems of creating a uniform global history of literature are compounded by the fact that many texts have been lost over the millennia, either deliberately, by accident, or by the total disappearance of the originating culture. Much has been written, for example, about the destruction of the Library of Alexandriain the 1st century BC, and the innumerable key texts which are believed to have been lost forever to the flames. The deliberate suppression of texts (and often their authors) by organisations of either a spiritual or a temporal nature further shrouds the subject.A stone tablet containing part of theEpic of GilgameshCertain primary texts, however, may be isolated which have a qualifying role as literature's first stirrings. Very early examples include Epic of Gilgamesh, in its Sumerian version predating 2000 BC, and the Egyptian Book of the Deadwritten down in the Papyrus of Ani in approximately 1250 BC but probably dates from about the 18th century BC. Ancient Egyptian literature was not included in early studies of the history of literature because the writings ofAncient Egypt were not translated into European languages until the 19th century when the Rosetta stone was deciphered.Many texts handed down by oral tradition over several centuries before they were fixed in written form are difficult or impossible to date. The core of the Rigveda may date to the mid 2nd millennium BC. The Pentateuch is traditionally dated to the 15th century, although modern scholarship estimates its oldest part to date to the 10th century BC at the earliest.Homer's Iliad and Odyssey date to the 8th century BC and mark the beginning of Classical Antiquity. They also stand in an oral tradition that stretches back to the late Bronze Age.Indian śruti texts post-dating the Rigveda (such as the Yajurveda, theAtharvaveda and the Brahmanas), as well as the Hebrew Tanakh and the mystical collection of poems attributed to Lao Tze, the Tao te Ching, date to theIron Age, but their dating is difficult and controversial. The great Hindu epicswere also transmitted orally, likely predating the Maurya period.Other oral traditions were fixed in writing much later, such as the Elder Edda, written down in the 12th or 13th century.There are various candidates for the first novel ever written.