Literature came from the word

CHAPTER – I
INTRODUCTION
The word literature comes from the Latin word „litteratura? which means writing formed with
letters. It refers to the works with imagination and creative writing skills. It connects individual
with real truths and ideas in the society. The history of Literature started long before, man
learned to write. Art is the reflection of truth and beauty. Literature preserves the ideas, love,
faith, duty, friendship and freedom of human beings life. Literature is the written record of man?s
spirit, emotions and inspiration; it is the history and only history of human soul. Literature
provides a way for writer to express their thoughts and experience.
It is in written form and these words are alive forever. Literature teaches the reader about the
values of life with their stories. Literature mirrors the society and its behaviorism. It helped the
civilization to overcome from the darker side of life. It is a storehouse of knowledge and
wisdom. Literature allows the individual to gain new ideas and helps them to present themselves
in the society. Literature is a form of art; it brings different emotions and sense of „spiritual?
things, it helps to know the different cultures and traditions. Literature records the expression of
the inner self of human beings and message to the universe. It is not an imitation of life but a
copy of the real world.
“The history of literature is the history of the human mind.” (William Hicking)
“Literature: The art of putting old words into new places.” (Edward Blanchard)
“The very essence of literature is the war between emotions and intellect, between life and death.
When literature becomes too intellectual-when it to ignore the passions, the emotions- it become
sterile, silly and actually without substance.” (Isaac Bashevis singer).
Literature is an instrument of self-discovery. Literature is nothing but the experience of a writer
which expresses, represent and communicates their feelings through writings. Literature is a
group of works made up of words, it also describe sometimes spoken material. Literature is a
development of writings that enhance to give entertainment, enlighten and instruction to the
reader, listener, observer as well as development of the literary techniques used to communicate.
Literature is important in everyday life as it connects individual with huge truths. It gives way

for people to share or record their ideas, experience and knowledge through written and oral
form. “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary
competences that daily requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our
lives have already become.” (C.S. Lewis)
“Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience
and opens new opportunities to readers.” (Carlos Fuentes)
Indian English Literature explains the body of works written by Indian writers in the English
language and whose native language could be one of the languages of India. The earliest works
of Indian Literature were orally transmitted. Indian writing has been turned out to be a new form
of Indian culture. English has been adopted in India as a second language of education and
literary expression besides being an important medium of communication. The beginning of
Indian literature in English is traced to the end of 18th c and the beginning of the 19th c by the
time English education was more or less established in three major centers- Calcutta, Madras and
Bombay.
The first book written by an Indian in English was Travel of Dean Mahomet, a travel narrative by
Sake Dean Mahomet published in England in 1793. In early 1900s, Rabindranath Tagore began
translating his works from Bengali to English. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for
his book Gitanjali. Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) was great poetess. Her Golden Threshold (1905)
and The Broken Wings (1917) are the works of great literary merit. Mulk Raj Anand, R. K.
Narayanan and Raja Rao were the earliest Indian novelist writing in English, who began to write
in the early thirties. Mulk Raj Anand (1905) is known for his short story, The Last Child.
His novels Coolie (1993), Untouchable (1935) reveal his concern for the downtrodden and under
privileged in India. R. K. Narayan is another well-known figure in Indian English writings. His
first novel is Swami and Friends (1935) and the next one is the Guide (1959). The last sign of
Indian English literature is Raja Rao whose novel Kanthapura was published in 1958. Latest
writers like kamala Das, Manohar Malgonkar , Anita Desai and Nayanthara Sehgal captured the
spirit of an independent India, struggle to break away from the British. They support traditional
Indian culture and establish a distinct identity.

In the 1980?s and 90?s India emerged as a major literary nation. Salman Rushdie?s Midnight
Children won the Booker Prize. The worldwide success of Vikram Seth?s The Golden Gate
made him first writer of the Indian diaspora. Bhabani Bhattacharya, Arun Joshi, Khushwant
Singh, Amitav Ghosh are the predominant Indian writers. The latest Indian writer who took the
world with a trouble was Arundhathi Roy.
Her novel The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize in 1997. Rohinton Mistry, Kiran Desai
and Jhumpa Lahiri are the some distinguished writers of Indian origin. The mid-20th c saw the
emergence of poets such as Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das and R. Parthasarthy who heavily
influenced by literary movements. Many Indian writers have chosen English as medium of
expression and left away a great impact on different forms of literature. They have been used
English to reproduce the Indian culture and spirit. Raja Rao said in the preface of his novel
Kanthapura:
“One has to convey in a language that is not one?s own, the spirit that is one?s own”. Indian
writing in English shared tradition, cultural experiences and Indian heritage. The new generation
of Indian writers in English has handled the wide range of themes and the subject matters.
The novel is defined as a long narrative in prose detailing the action of unreal people. Meredith
calls it “summing of actual life”. Fielding calls it an epic in prose. It is a form of art, and gives a
fuller and more varied representation of real life. The novel combines narration, description,
history, philosophy, poetry, fantasy, social critics and popular view of life. The novel has various
elements. The plot in a novel is the organization of incidents. There are two types of plot- the
organic and the episodic.
The novel is an extended prose fiction dealing with the interaction of characters in real or
imagined settings. The word novel originates from the Latin word Novella which means new.
The term Novella was introduced by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio to the short anecdotal
prose narrative Decameron. A novel may have simple or a compound plot. Unity in structure and
plot is to be observed. Characterization it is art of presenting alive and real to our imagination.
The novelist allows the characters to reveal themselves through speech and actions. There are
two types of characterization the direct and the indirect. Next one is dialogue reveals passion and
emotions of the characters and advances the movement of the plot. It should be natural,

appropriate and dramatic. It gives vividness and actuality to the plot and the characters. Time and
place it refers to whole settings of the story and material. There are various novels based on sea
life, military life etc. the novelist should master its details and then present a lively picture of it.
The theme of a story is the moral. The theme can be extracted from actions, characters and
settings. The main aim of theme is to reveal the truth behind the story.
Point of view it means that someone is narrating the story from his or her own point of view.
There are three types of objectives points of view, third person point of view and first person
point of view. Then the last element is climax it is the turning point in the story that comes when
characters try to solve the problems at the end of the story. It shows the way how the story gets
end happy or sad. The novel is concerned with life and it should reveal itself through
interpretations, character and temper of the work as whole.
There are various types of novels like sociological, historical, regional, non- fictional, picaresque
and trilogy. A sociological novel deals with socio and economic conditions which are depend on
characters and events. The historical novels are based on the settings and events happened in the
past. This type of novel are fairly elaborated from the history events and giving importance to the
narration part. The regional novel is based on the setting, speech and customs of a particular
locality.
The word Anglo-Indian has a racial connotation and they are happy to merge their names with
Indians and Pakistan. The Indian literature comprises with various languages like Bengali, Hindi,
Guajarati, Kanada, Tamil, Telgue, Urdu etc. Indo-Anglian literature is not only different from
Indian literature but it gives artistic expression to the relationships between man and society.
The appearance of the novel in India as a literary form in 19th c. England synchronized with the
raise of individualism and with all consequent political and social reorientations which followed.
The rise of the novel in India between 1818 and 1850 began with the emergence of prose.
Feminism as a literary movement took shape in the Indian literature niggardly or elsewhere
feminism as a movement was mobilized by both male and female writers in India.
The novelist such as Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Shashi
Deshpande, Mulk Raj Anand, Bharathi Mukherjee they have dealt with the issues which concern
about women with grist insight and clarity. Feminism is a serious subject to analyze, comprehend

and why feminity or the feminine sensibility different from masculinity or the masculine
experience. Indian poses the gift of storytelling from the time of Riga- Veda and Upanishad.
Kailash Chander Dutt?s A Journey of 48 Hours of the Year appeared in the Calcutta which an
imaginary but successful revolt against the Britishers was projected. It is assumed that Indian
novel in English has its roots in nineteenth century, realistic tradition of English novel. Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee (1838-94) was the founder of the modern school of Indian fiction. He was
the first Indian to write a novel I in English. He began with Raj Mohan?s Wife. Bankim
Chandra?s work in Bengaliar Vishbrikasha (1873), Krishna Kantar Uil (1878), Kapal Kundala
(1866) were translated into English. Ravindranath Tagore?s Chokarballi, which was written in
Bengali, later translated into English. R.C. Dutt and Tagore influenced the early Indian English
novelist. The period between 1930 and 1965 was a flowering period of the novel, through three
pillars of Indian novelist in English Mulkraj Anand, R. K. Narayanan and Raja Rao.
It was the period of Indian fiction in English discovered the most important themes such as
struggle for freedom, east -west encounter, untouchables, plight of women and landless poor etc.
Indian fiction has expressed the joyous and sorrow of Indian people realism was brought out by
Anand?s writing. His major characters are real and close to reality. Mulk Raj Anand introduced
Humanism in Indian English fiction by the method of storytelling. His novels Untouchable
(1935), coolie (1936), Village (1939) have dealt with the problems of poverty, untouchability,
caste and class discrimination. R.K. Narayanan is known as eminent novelist of Indian writer
born in middle class family, who exposed the comic view of life. His first novel Swami and
Friend (1935), Narayan has used casual settings and created small imaginary world of Malgudi.
Raja Rao brought out fiction with philosophical bearings. His first novel Kanthapura appeared in
1983. He has written and published number of short stories. The well-known novelist in Indian
English fiction after this trio are Arun joshi, Kushwant singh, Bharathi Mukerjee, Chetan Bhagat,
Arundathi Roy and many others. They have preferred to express the real situation of Indian
poverty, agriculture, religion and caste system. Before independence Indian writers were forced
to write about their nationalistic zeal. The major ideas of their writings depend upon wrestle for
freedom and inhumanity of Britishers. However when India got its independent, the writers were
free from limitation and they started to highlight the issues. Female ideas are seen in the famous
women writers Rama Mehta, Nayanthara Sahegal and Shoba De are the best examplres. Women
writers in Indian English bounce with Indian culture and its traditional values. From the ancient

times India is male dominant and cultural oriented country. Indian women are covered with
ignorance, doll like object, patient and gentle. But in western culture and education women are
reborn again with the power of fighting against the society.
Issues like political events, partition of India and its difficult consequences. The new trend is
came out after independence when the subject of changes raised like lower classes,
meaninglessness of existence, identity crisis etc. The novel before independence was purely
based on social, political and historical concerns; whereas the novel in post independent seems to
be interested in contemporary issues. The psychological novel describes the human personality
and inner conflicts. The number of novelist are Anita Desai, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni have
explore the psychological and sociological problems in the individual life. The 19th century
intellectuals started to question orthodox prejudices ethics and superstitions that present in India.
The impact of western learning gave a new form to Indian society which underwent a metaphor
uses. The rebirth of Indian classical learning, the introduction of European arts and science gave
rise to an unpredictable awakening in India.
In India middle class intellectuals began to emerge with the feudal society, giving rise to intense
nationalism during the Indian struggled to articulate their feelings and passionate thoughts
through their writings. Salman Rushdie fascinated the Indian intellectual with remarkable
understanding of Indian history through languages this further paved the way to the Indian with
tradition, realities and myth and heritage in the most eloquent way. Amitav Gosh is known as
post-colonial Indian writer who turn the realities to visualize a new Indian with an air of
Victorian aristocracy. Sir Aurobindo the novelist was salute as a receipt and his novels were
translated into many languages. Indian English novels were developed as subaltern awareness as
a response to break away from the colonial literature.
The post-colonial writers started to apply the techniques of mixed languages. From the post-
colonial era Indian English literature developed into the contemporary and the postmodern era.In
the initial days the stories and concepts were stepped in myths. History of English literature is
the recent origin. It has been growing slowly and steadily in the 20th century. In the last three
decade of 20th century there was awakening of creative writers in India; rightly encouraged by
national and international awards. Early Indian writers used simple words to convey their
experiences. Unlike 1930?s and 1950?s they have marked the significant growth of Indian novel

in English during third period, some promising Indian novelist has emerged on a literary scene.
The novels of this period delineated private tension self-alienation and loneliness.
Anita Desai describes the disturbed life of middle class people. Sashi Desh Pandey described the
persona domestic life of women. Arun Joshi focused on different faces of displacement in his
novels like the Foreigner (1968), The Strange Case of Billi Biswas (1971). Hatter is considered
as a first Indian English novel, a Stream of Consciousness technique is used. It contained the
sheets of magical realism and portrait the hybridity between human the experiences. To most
important and remarkable events which happened at the dawn of 21st century are Jhumpa Lahiri
was awarded by Pulitzar Prize for her work Interpreter of Melodies in 2000 and V. S. Naipaul
was honored with Noble Prize in 2001. Indian novelists has used the language which not their
own but they have used the English language to spread message. The English language has
provided them an opportunity to reach all over the world and to make sure that they do not
remain in their own region, people and country.
The progress of nation is measured on the basis of women?s status. The condition of women of
any nation is a mirror to its civilization. If a woman of nation enjoys all rights without any
domination then it is symbol which shows the development of nation has reached the level of
maturity and a sense of responsibility. India is bounded with patriarchal society where woman
doesn?t have their own individuality but they are related to man. Women never get their freedom
but they are able subordinate to man.
The condition of woman has been inferior as compare to male society. The truth is ignored that
she has contributed for the betterment of family, society and country. Women are always
compared to the slaves but in modern times women are achieved a lot in every sector compared
to men infarct they are better than men.
Women are not away from writing section and they have contributed a lot to Indian English
writings. Indian women novelist too shines luminous along with their male parallel. Women are
very good in story narration. The stories told by mother and grandmother were transformed into
prose, poetry, drama and novel. The last few decades shown tremendous development in Indian
women writing in English. Indian women writer have their own group and they prefer to write
about the child marriage, protest against polygamy system and widowhood in the earliest day.

A woman has been the focus of many literary works down the centuries. Indian writing in
English has also started to acknowledge the status of women in male dominant society. The
concept of Indian womanhood has changed and undergone drastic and dramatic view from era to
era. Indian English fiction divided into two broad categories – the pre- and post- independence
group of writers.
Before independence the Indian novel in English was in hand of male dominant society. The
women novelist in first generation is showed as traditional and claim women. Toru Dutt (1856 to
1877) has dealt with different problems of women like Sita Savitri and Draupathy. Raj Lakshmi
Debi has described the condition of women in her two novels the Hindu Wife and The Enchanted
Fruit (1876). P.D. Ram Bhai Saraswati (1858 to 1922). She has written a book Caste Indian
(Hindu women). She described her views about the marriage system and commented on how
women remain satisfied in their relationship with husband and how they were happy to be in the
bondage. Rabindranath Tagore?s the elder sister Swarna Kumara Goshal (1856 to 1932) was a
poet, novelist, playwright, story writer and a journalist. The Fatal Garland (1910), The
Unfinished Song (1913) and Indian Love Story (1910) are the major works of her. Most of the
works of her proved to be torch bearer in the tradition of women writing in Bengal and highlight
the quality of women?s writing. In early novels women are showed as typical traditional Indian
women. These women hold their concern with the feminine qualities of faithfulness, sincerity
and love. Mostly all the women writers wrote about the contemporary social situation.
They have written what they have suffered and their real aim was to explode the real status of
women in Indian society. Krupabai Sathinanadan wrote during 1862 to1894, she was one of the
few Indian women writers to write in English language. She began to write when she came to
know that she had few days to live. A story of Hindu Wife was first published in the Madras
Christian College magazine in 1894. The next prominent figure is Swarna Kumara Debi, the
elder sister of Tagore who was married at the age of 13. She writes poetry and fiction. Her first
novel was published on 1876. She has written 25 books in Bengali, which contains plays, short
stories and novels.
China Mukul (1879) and Fular-Mala were translated into in English in1910. She was awarded
the by Gold Medal by university of Calcutta. Sorabji was well known first women blister from
India. Her famous works Love and Life Behind the Parda (1902). This work is about the quarrels

of women in the domestic quarters. During the period 1915 to 1950 remarkable women writers
appeared on Indian English literature. Some of the significant writers in the post-independence
are Anita Desai, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Shashi Desh Pandey, Shoba De,Arundathi Roy and
others. Kamala Markandya showed women in a traditional outlook. Santha Ramarao has
believed in the superiority of Indian culture. Nayanthara Sahgal highlighted the problems of
women in marriages. Raji Narasiman presented liberated women characters in her works. In her
works women characters are educated and lead a life with full of freedom.
Sarojini Naidu is considered to be one of the first women writers in India. Anita Desai to
Arundhati Roy extends the frontiers of feminine creativity. Anita Desai is a great novelist and
different from others. she has presented psychological exploitation of women characters. Her
protagonists are mainly suffers from loneliness and sensitive. Shashi Desh Pandey focused on the
problems and issues of contemporary middle class women. Her protagonists are intelligent,
carrier oriented. Bharathi Mukerjee and Indian American emigrant writer she wrote about her
experiences in India as well as in America. Her protagonists are victims of racism, sexism and
other forms of social evil. Geeta Hariharan novels like The Thousand Faces of Night (1992) won
the prestigious common wealth award. She also published collections of short stories. Her works
are mostly shows the battle between women in their relationship with man and society. Uma
Vasudev and Nayanthara Sahegal they dealt with middle class married women?s identity crisis in
the contemporary male dominated society.
Nayanthar Sahegal is one of the few Indian brighter who immediately caught the attention of the
world. She belongs to prominent political families of India. Hence, most of her character belongs
to the wealthy and upper class Indian society. The day in shadow 1971 is the outstanding novel
by Sehgal. Sehgal has expressed deep nationalistic feeling in her works. Anita Desai is a notable
literary figure in Indian women writing in English. According to Anita writing is a process of
exploration of language. She has published her first novel Cry the Peacock in 1963. Followed by
this she has published various novels like Fasting Feasting (1999), Journey to Ithaca (1995),the
Zig-Zag Way(2004). Fire on a Mountain is about three women and their complex experiences in
life. Desai examined the nature of pilgrimage to India. Fasting Feasting shows the opposite of
American and Indian culture as well as behavior of male and female. She is a remarkable for
sensitive portrayal of inner life of female character.

Her fictions moves the around the themes like women operation, quotes for identity, family
relationships, the breakdown of traditions and social biases. Bharathi Mukerjee focused on
migration, status of new immigrants, feeling of alienation. She herself experienced has an
immigrant and struggled for identity in America which leads her to write about issues of
immigrants. Mukerjee?s own experiences racism in Canada where she ill-treated by a professor.
The tenant reflexes her views on Indian immigrant women studying in America and her
experiences. The middle man and stories 1988 is a collection of short stories which expose the
east and west immigrant experiences in America. Shashi Desh Pandey?s novels are women
oriented she represented real India, women deprived of love, understanding are the center of
works. She explained how the traditional Indian biased against women. A liberated woman is a
novel which describes about caste system and its restrictions.
Her fifth novel, That Long Silence 1998 reveals the hollowness of modern Indian life. The God
of Small Things (1992) is the best novel written by Arundathi Roy. This novel won the Booker
prize. The novel mainly captures the themes of life such as caste system, color discrimination,
gender domination. Jumpa Lahiri is an American author and her novels are based on Indian
immigrants to America who are taunt between two worlds, two cultural values. She has preferred
to write about the struggles, immigrants and portrayal of women. Majority of Indian women
writers describe the trauma and troubles of life of Indian women. The women portraits by them
are real flush and blood. The Indian women do not talk about cultural past, tradition and custom
whereas male writers have written about the problems of individual, social and political.
Whereas women writers preferred to write about women oppression, issues of power and
injustice done to them. Indian women novelist focused on the issues of women and attempts to
project the realistic picture of life. They have projected the dilemma which modern Indian
women faces in their everyday life. The concepts of immigration are particularly emerged in
second half of 20th century. There are various reasons for migration.
The effects of immigration are harsh upon the immigrants then the society. Immigration is the
important literature feminism is an approach economy, social, political and cultural rights for
women in the society. It believes that women should be treated equally and they should enjoy
their rights without any discrimination. Focused on men and women should be treated equal in
terms like job, education, right to vote, freedom and identity. Feminism pointed out various

obstacles faced by women in the society like domestic violence, inequality in gender and aimed
to abolish the patriarchy system from its root. Through literature feminism core ideas are
expressed and throw lights on the suffering of women.
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate the
generation.”(Brigham Young).
The term “feminism” originated from the French word “feminisme” coined by the utopian
socialist Charles Fourier, and it was used in English in the 1890s for women?s freedom. It has
many varieties, feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. They
changed the aspects of western society. Feminism involves in many issues like social freedom,
economic independent, work place rights, education, gender stereo type, discrimination and
sexism etc. feminists divided the feminism in to three waves they are first wave feminism,
second way feminism and third wave feminism. They started in mid-19th century, which begun
from male European colonist.
Who spoke against the social evils of Sathi, to allow widow remarriage, to forbid child
marriage, to reduce illiteracy, property rights through the legal path. In the late 19th century, a
nationalist movement started in India.
First wave feminism started in 19th too early 20th century which focused on equal rights for
women based on property, opposition to unwanted marriage for women. At the end of 19th
century the first wave feminism more active on gaining political power, women?s sexual
reproductive and economic rights. In 1918 the representation of the people act was passed, to
gain to right to vote all over the world. Finally women get the power of right to vote by the
constitution at the end of 1999. Feminist like Voltaraine De Cleyere and Margaret Sanger were
actively started camping for women?s rights and freedom.
The second wave feminism was started in early 1960s and lasting through the late 1980s. It was
continuation of first wave feminism. This movement encouraged the women to understand the
importance of their individuality and fight against gender-biased structure. It points out the issues
of inequality and wanted to put full stop towards the gender discrimination in society. Education
should be given to women equally.

The third wave feminism was started in the mid-1990s. It was response to the failure of the
second wave feminism. It focused on upper class white women and lower class women
sufferings in the society. It also focused on micro politics and it challenges the second wave
feminism. It differentiates wave is good for women and what is not.
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism it aims to understand the gender inequality and its
role in the society; it empowered a women importance through their rights and power. Themes
explored in the feminism like discrimination, oppression and patriarch. It also point out the
women?s role and their life experience. Feminist theory analyzed the condition of women and
their sufferings through writings. Feminist expressed their anger and pain as they faced in the
society. Feminism has many forms like liberal, radical, black, social, Marxist, ecofeminism,
post-modern and post- structural and post-colonial feminism. Key terms in feminism are
patriarchy, objectification, discrimination, lack of education, violence against women.
Freedom means a lot for Indian women for centuries of male-domination society. Indian woman
have faced lots of problem like domination, lack of identity, and loneliness. Patriarchy based
society has forced the Indian women to be suppressed in every corner of life. Chitra Banerjee„s
novels are totally based on women?s issues and their obstacles. She has beautifully portrayed the
modern women, educated and career- oriented middle class married women who are sensitive to
the changing times and situation. Indian English novels are a major source for a systematic study
of culture and their effects on women?s life.
Feminism in English literature explores the history of women?s sufferings and pain. Literary
context provides lots of information about the domination of women. Many writers first men
started to write and then slowly feminist emerged to write their own life story to express their
feelings. Writings provide a great peace for feminist writers to express their anger towards the
society. Many writers emerged as the development of feminism in all over the world. Feminism
occupied a wide place in literature. Feminism started in India 1850-1915 as first phase feminism.
It aims to abolish sati practice. The second phase started in (1915-1947) they wanted to involve
women in the independent movement. Gandhi encouraged women to participate. The third phase
stared in 1947, post-independence focused on fair treatment of women after marriage. Indian
feminist emerged in India writing in English. They fight for individuality, political rights, social
freedom, end to domestic violence?s, discrimination. Many feminist, Medha Patkar, Madhu

Kishwar and Brindha Karat, struggle for women rights. Indian feminist writers totally against the
patriarchal system practiced in the society.
Kamini Roy was the first woman feminist she is a Bengali writer known for her work Nirmala.
Ishmat Chugaitan an Urdu writer in India is known for her work Lihaaf. Kamala das, known as
famous Indian female writer. Her poems and fiction reveal the sorrows of women. Chitra
Banerjee Divakaruni a feminist writer is known for her work palace of illusions. Lalitambika
Anthrajanam a Malayalam writer wrote Angnisakshi.
We all fight over what the label „feminism? means but for me about empowerment. It?s not about
being more powerful than men- it?s about having equal rights with protection, support, justice.
It?s about very basic things. It?s not a badge like a fashion item. (Annie Lennox). Many writers
all over the world expressed their views on feminism theory. Mary Wollstonecraft has written
her work vindication of the rights of women in 1742. She fights against the traditional roles of
women and society fail to educate them. The Feminie Mystique published in 1963 by Betty
Friedan points out women is meant for childbearing and homemade. Katha Pollitt the author of
reasonable creatures shows women are separate sex and they should enjoy their individuality.
Simon de Beauvoir, a great French writer who published the second sex in 1949, analyses the
oppression of women and social construction. Virginia Woolf in her work A Room of One’s own
1929 examined.
It is a modern movement expressing protest against the dominance of men and the
marginalization of women. It demands the promotion of women?s rights and their interest to ask
question on sexual harassment, financial and political sectors of life. Male writers started the
movement and later on women joined with it. Many great writers have reflected the immigrant
experience through their literary. Writers have contributed to the feminist movement through
their writings Margaret at wood contributed to the movement and have been internationally
acclaimed novelist. The prominent Indian feminist are occupied a prestigious position in Indian
English fiction. Female writers protested against the cruelty faced by women in male dominant
society.
The revolt against between the mechanical life, mismatched marriages and problems in the
society. The protagonist of their novels is troubled and suppressed women of typical Indian

society. Many postmodern Indian writers have dealt with the theme of immigrant feminine
experience from its different perspectives. A group of female writers of Indian origin involves
themselves in to issues like and they tried to explore the troubled lives of immigrant women in
different parts of the world. In 1970s the writers were expressed the cruel injustice done to the
women in male dominant society. In 21st century women?s writers came out and fight for
inequality. The migrated people have given worth to hybrid culture.
This type of culture is known as biological home and that their newly accepted home. The
writers who by birth are Indian but living out of the India are called as immigrant writers. They
have taken the theme of immigration in their writings and have a standpoint. They themselves
have the experience of being immigrant. The Indian writers know the both culture that is Indian
and newly adopted one, along with that they have highlighted the pathetic condition of women in
both the culture. Immigrant writers tried to express their feelings and sufferings what they have
faced as immigrants.
Indian immigrants writers like Anita Desai, Bharathi Mukherjee, Arundhati Roy, Chitra
Banerjee and many other who continuously dealt with the theme of immigration. Bharathi
Mukherjee has expressed the status of immigrants in America. The works like jasmine and
darkness which encounter with Canadian racism. The Indian writers like Jumpha Lahiri„s short
stories presented the picture of harsh journey of becoming American. She told that America as a
land of illusion. Her famous work interpreter of maladies 1999 the characters in the novel which
points out the problem of dual identity, American in clothing, and body language but Indian by
heart.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, a Bengali woman writer, as she belongs to post- independence
group of Indian writers who have been writing in English. She proved herself as a distinct,
talented and extraordinary south Asian woman writer. She is the one of the writer who spent
much of time of life in outside the India. Some parts of her writing autobiographical dealt with
her personal experiences in India and America. chitra?s writing mostly explores the themes of
immigrant women from the feminine point of view.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was born in Calcutta on 29th July 1956. She brought up in new
Alipore in Calcutta, and spent the nineteen years of her life in India. Chitra?s father Rajenra

kumar Banerjee was an accountant by profession and her mother Tahini Banerjee was a
schoolteacher. Chitra was one of the girl children among four children. She was second girl child
and other are brothers were partha, dhruva and surya. She studied at Loreto house, a convent
school run by Irish nuns. She got her bachelor?s degree in English from Presidency College,
university of Calcutta in 1976 and in the same year she moved to America. She earned her
master degree in English from the wright state university in Dayton Ohio in the year1978, she
moved at the age of nineteen to pursue her higher education. She lived in Chiacgo and Ohio
before she settled in Sunnydale, California in 1979. She received Ph.D in English from the
University of California. In 1984 Divakaruni tried different jobs to pay for her education.
Divakaruni is interested in the issues involving women?s problem faced by them through society.
she works with Afghani women refugees and she became the founder member and president of
the organization. This organization helps south Asian women facing domestic violence,
emotional abuse and cultural alienation. When she left the India she started to write about female
sufferings. Her writings blend together myth, mystry and to present the reality of life. She was a
well-known port before became a novelist. She has written a lot of poem based on variety of
themes. She has four volumes of poetry. Leaving Yuba City 1997, Dark Like River 1987, The
Reason for Nasturtiums 1990 and Black Candle 1991. The main area of interest remains the
immigrant women. Chitra has published more 50 magazines which include Atlantic monthly and
New Yorker. Divakaruni was a great port before a novelist and she has won many awards for her
writings national and international level.
Her writing has been containing several Asian American anthologies they are best American
short stories and the push chart price anthology. Divakarni?s works have been translated in to 11
languages. Her collection of short stories, arranged marriage won American book award 1996,
bay area book reviewer?s award and the PEN Josephine miles award for fiction. The mysterious
of spices was on several best book lists, it also included in 100 best book of 20th century. The
conch bearer was included in best book 2003 by publisher weekly. The life of strangers was
included in O?HENRY prize stories. The wine of desire was included in best books of 2012 by
Los angle times and San Francisco chronicle. Mrs. Dutta writes a letter was included in best
American short stories in 1999. Black candle she received honorable mention, Patterson poetry
prize 1992. She also received California arts council award in 1998, C.Y. Lee creative writing

award (1995), Helen Ginsberg Poetry Prize 1994. Santa Claire arts Council Award California
1994, Enters Editor?s Choice Award by cream city review 1990.
Cultural jewel award by Indian culture center Houston 2009, Gerbode foundation award
California 1992, international hose alumina of the year award by university of California 2008,
south Asian literary association distinguished author award 2007. Divakarni has judged many
prestigious awards such as national book award and the PEN Faulkner award. The mistress of
spices and sister of my art these two books of her adopted in to movies. Divakarni has been
described as an award winning author who has dealt with the troubled lives of immigrant
women.
She has projected in her work about hollowness of immigrant dream, the pain, the suffering and
the horror lives faced by the immigrant women. Divakaruni?s fiction or poetry, reader
continuously moves between socio cultural environments and to know several aspects of the
lives of immigrant women. Divakaruni?s pictures the restricted existence of women in the
society. She always shows that there is always a ray of hope in life. Living Yuba City appeared
in 1997 it includes new poem as well as old one from dark like river. The poems are about
women?s from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These poems theme are based on women
problem, family life, exile, alienation, ethnicity, domesticity of love and romance. Living Yuba
City covers the idea of author?s adventure of going to convent school in India by iris nuns and
history of Indian immigrants in America.
Through her writings shows how boundaries could destroy and how different art forms are not
dependent entities but they can influence and inspire each other. Divakaruni?s poems collections
are dealt with the experiences of immigrant women and their struggle for identity. Divakaruni?s
first collection of short stories arranged marriage 1995 focused on Indian immigrant women and
how they caught between two worlds. The characters are liberated and trapped by the cultural
changes as well as struggled to find their identities. These stories explore the crossed cultural
identities of women. The parents in India generally arrange marriages for their children. It also
elaborated migration has broadened the physique Indian immigrants women. The second
generation of Indian immigrant easily accepts the free and easy American culture where as their
parents who have migrated as adults they find difficult to accept the American culture.

Indian institution of arranged marriage various aspects analyzed by Divakaruni. The stories
capture the experience of Indian immigrant women mostly from professional classes and
working classes. Divakaruni says that it is outcome of her imagination and experience which
deals with domestic violence, crime, racism, economic, disparity, abortion and divorce. Devkarni
has created contradictory as well as connected fictional worlds. In Cloths narrator Susmitha
husband dies and she has to take a decision whether to stay in America or to go back to India.
The common theme runs through the stories in India immigrant women struggling to adjust and
to fight to find their identity in society. Divakaruni?s first novel the mistress of species 1997 is
written with mixture of mystery and reality. The protagonist Tilo (thilothama) is the important
female character the mistress of species.
Tilo got the super natural power through which she helps people to overcome their difficulties.
Tilo reaches the island of species which she calls her destiny. In that island she meets first-
mother who teaches her about the power of species and rules for mistress. Then Tilo become
heads for Oakland, then she went to California where she setup a short to sell the species she was
well knowledge about the elements used for curries and kurumas. She helps her customer to
overcome all their difficulties of life. The chapters of the novel are titled on the species name
such as turmeric, fenugreek etc. these are the ingredients used by Indian cooking commonly.
Ingredients have special powers and Tilo practices her magical power using them. The visitors of
her shop are local ingredient community and that include abused wife, inexperienced taxi driver,
old man, young women etc.
Tilo gives wisdom to each of them and the correct spices to clear the evil. Her life takes a turn
one day when a man on motor cycle crushes the outside her store. When Tilo saw his injuries as
well as tries to ignore the mutual attraction. That young man touches her one day her life changes
and they began to fall in love. This man belongs to American architect. Tilo has to choose either
to serve her own people by magical power or to choose the way of her own happiness. She hangs
between social responsibilities and personnel happiness, which is the dominant theme of the
novel.
Then Sister of My Heart (1999), it is written in realistic mode. This novel explains the lives of
two girls Sudha and Anju, whose lives have been changed after her marriage. They apart from
each other Anju goes to California with her husband while Sudha stays in India. Sudha and Anju

is good friends and cousins father of both the girls died mysteriously on the same day when the
girls are born. These two girls belong to Chatterjee family and grow in to womanhood. Anju and
sudha are bonded closely together. Both the sisters are trained to be good daughter and wives.
Marriages of both the girls are arranged due to some reasons. Sudha?s marriage is arranged in
hurry as she was so beautiful and her mother does not want to take any risk. In Anju?s case
illness of her mother forced her to marry. The novel focuses on dominance of male in Indian
society where women are always treated inferior.
The novel is set in Calcutta and projects the marginalized status In Indian society. The unknown
errors of our lives 2001 are a one of the short stories which are set up in India and America. It
contains nine stories and nine female characters, they all caught between the tradition and beliefs
of biological and adopted home. It is about lack of communication, unarticulated love and
recalled memories. This is an extraordinary collection of short stories that draw the pain, loss and
alienation of the immigrant experience.
The novel the vine of desire published in the year 2002. It is the second part of the novel sister of
my heart. In the vine of desire novel two closed cousin, Anju and Sudha they came together in
America to face new culture which is totally opposite to the Indian culture where women are
always restricted, deprived and marginalized. Both the girls have a deep-rooted love between
them which provides them a strong support. That confidence makes them survive specially
Sudha to make her life for herself and for her daughter. These two women have different
relationships with men and women within and outside the immigrant Indian community. The
bond between these women is really disturbed when they came to know the deep passionate
feelings Anju?s husband has for Sudha. Sudha always tries to find her identity and loneliness. At
last she admits herself to Sunil?s ill desires, but flees from their apartment to avoid more disaster.
Anju also faces the problem of loneliness but she tries to engage herself in creative work.
Neela victory song 2002 is first children book written by Divakaruni. This book surrounded by
the main character Neela twelve year old girl and she has the interest in Indian freedom
movement. The main aim of the novel is to shoe the struggle for Indian independence and hoe a
small girl see that in her open point of view. Neela is afraid of arranged marriage set up by their
parents. It also raises the question of being a girl they have to face lots of problem like lack of
education and marriages. The Corch Bearer is second children book published in 2003 it is full

of action, adventure and magic. Anand is a twelve year old boy given a conch shells that possess
magical power. Anand faces the good and evil parts within himself during the journey.
Queen of dreams 2004 the sixth novel of Divakaruni that also contain magic elements. Mrs.
Gupta„s daughter Rakhi is a young artist and divorced mother who living in Berkley. In
California .Her mother has the ability of foresee the dream and guide the people thought their
fates. Sometimes Rakhi feels isolated from her mother„s past in India and the dream world she
inhabits .Rakhi wanted to know about the other side of her existence. Rakhi and other immigrant
faced lots of problem. Racism, hate –crime and ugly violence are forced on then again and again
they are dominated by their colour of skin. Effected by horrible events Rakhi got the gifted of
new love and understanding for her family. The writer has tried to take the reader into immigrant
culture and their miserable state. She forces the reader to see racism through the point of a
immigrants.
The novel the Palace of Illusion 2006 it narrates the great Indian epic Mahabharata which is
historical, mythical and magical. Through the female character Panchali author has given the rare
feminine interpretation of the epic. Author tries to uncover the hidden female emotions which is
equally interesting one. Shadowland 2009, one amazing thing 2010 and oleander girl 2013 it is
the latest novel written by Divakaruni. It explores the problem of identity and culture. Chitra
Banerjee Divakaruni became one of the best leading writers of Indian heritage writing in
English. Though she born in India but she settled in America and has been telling the stories of
Indian immigrant women trying to be accommodated and assimilated in the free socio cultural
environment of India. Women are portrayed by her as exploited, subjected and dominant in male
society.
These women have experienced the sufferings if they cross the magical circle drawn around
them by their home culture. Women are struggled to create their own identity out of their
immigrant existence, they fight against society, class, conflicts, gender discrimination and the
problem of female feticide, financial issues like dowry system have been explode. Her writing is
mingled with her knowledge about India and her experience as an immigrant. She knows both
the culture well which find its expression in her literary works. She often compares culture by
putting her female characters into two different cultures. Her protagonist is deeply from Indian
culture though they struggle for freedom and independence. In her literary works she explores
the nature and scope of trauma of immigrant women?s life. She proved to be one of the important
Indian women novelist writing on women issues from the perspectives of immigrants. In her

most of the works she attempts to explore how either the individuals or society exploiting
women in modern times, she has changed the concept of stereotypes thinking. She wants her
women?s to project themselves as human beings and not as object but they are equal to men.

Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry.^[1] In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed.^[2] Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.

Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoir, letters, and essays. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular subject.^[3][4]

Etymologically, the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura «learning, a writing, grammar,» originally «writing formed with letters,» from litera/littera «letter».^[5] In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts.^[6][7] Literature is often referred to synecdochically as «writing,» and poetically as «the craft of writing» or simply «the craft.» Syd Field described his discipline, screenwriting, as «a craft that occasionally rises to the level of art.»^[8]

Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, which now includes electronic literature.

Definitions[edit]

Definitions of literature have varied over time.^[9] In Western Europe, prior to the 18th century, literature denoted all books and writing. Literature can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions, so that cultural studies, for instance, include, in addition to canonical works, popular and minority genres. The word is also used in reference to non-written works: to «oral literature» and «the literature of preliterate culture».

A value judgment definition of literature considers it as consisting solely of high quality writing that forms part of the belles-lettres («fine writing») tradition.^[10] An example of this is in the (1910–11) Encyclopædia Britannica that classified literature as «the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing».^[11]

History[edit]

Oral literature[edit]

The use of the term «literature» here is a little problematic because of its origins in the Latin littera, “letter,” essentially writing. Alternatives such as «oral forms» and «oral genres» have been suggested but the word literature is widely used.^[12]

Australian Aboriginal culture has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through tens of thousands of years.
In a study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago.^[13] Significantly, this is a «minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria», and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the Gunditjmara people, an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence.^[14] An axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill.^[13]

Oral literature is an ancient human tradition found in «all corners of the world».^[15] Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures:

The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer’s oral style. (…) Indeed, if these final decades of the millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality.^[15]

The earliest poetry is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a way of remembering history, genealogy, and law.^[16]

In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques.^[17]

The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with the first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down.^[18] According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it a «parallel products of a literate society».^[19]

All ancient Greek literature was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so.^[20] Homer’s epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally.^[21] As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in the stories with local characters or rulers to give the stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience, but making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition as unreliable.^[22] The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition.^[23]

Writing systems are not known to have existed among Native North Americans before contact with Europeans. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in a context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices.^[24] While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues.^[25] Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as a means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story’s audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion.^[26] For example, rather than yelling, Inuit parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water’s edge by telling a story about a sea monster with a pouch for children within its reach.^[27]

See also African literature#Oral literature

Oratory[edit]

Oratory or the art of public speaking «was for long considered a literary art».^[3] From Ancient Greece to the late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role in Western education in training orators, lawyers, counselors, historians, statesmen, and poets.^{[28][note 1]}

Writing[edit]

Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form.^[30] Though in both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica, writing may have already emerged because of the need to record historical and environmental events. Subsequent innovations included more uniform, predictable, legal systems, sacred texts, and the origins of modern practices of scientific inquiry and knowledge-consolidation, all largely reliant on portable and easily reproducible forms of writing.  

Early written literature[edit]

Ancient Egyptian literature,^[31] along with Sumerian literature, are considered the world’s oldest literatures.^[32] The primary genres of the literature of ancient Egypt—didactic texts, hymns and prayers, and tales—were written almost entirely in verse;^[33] By the Old Kingdom (26th century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included funerary texts, epistles and letters, hymns and poems, and commemorative autobiographical texts recounting the careers of prominent administrative officials. It was not until the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created.^[34]

Many works of early periods, even in narrative form, had a covert moral or didactic purpose, such as the Sanskrit Panchatantra.200 BC – 300 AD, based on older oral tradition.^[35][36] Drama and satire also developed as urban culture provided a larger public audience, and later readership, for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry) was often the speciality of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the Shijing or Book of Songs (1046–c.600 BC).^[37][38][39]

In ancient China, early literature was primarily focused on philosophy, historiography, military science, agriculture, and poetry. China, the origin of modern paper making and woodblock printing, produced the world’s first print cultures.^[40] Much of Chinese literature originates with the Hundred Schools of Thought period that occurred during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (769‒269 BC).^[41] The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism, of Daoism, of Mohism, of Legalism, as well as works of military science (e.g. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, c.5th century BC)) and Chinese history (e.g. Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian, c.94 BC). Ancient Chinese literature had a heavy emphasis on historiography, with often very detailed court records. An exemplary piece of narrative history of ancient China was the Zuo Zhuan, which was compiled no later than 389 BC, and attributed to the blind 5th-century BC historian Zuo Qiuming.^[42]

In ancient India, literature originated from stories that were originally orally transmitted. Early genres included drama, fables, sutras and epic poetry. Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas, dating back to 1500–1000 BC, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India.^[43][44] The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas (vedic collections) date to roughly 1500–1000 BC, and the «circum-Vedic» texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000‒500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid-2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.^[45] The period between approximately the 6th to 1st centuries BC saw the composition and redaction of the two most influential Indian epics, the Mahabharata^[46][47] and the Ramayana,^[48] with subsequent redaction progressing down to the 4th century AD. Other major literary works are Ramcharitmanas^[49] & Krishnacharitmanas.

The earliest known Greek writings are Mycenaean (c.1600–1100 BC), written in the Linear B syllabary on clay tablets. These documents contain prosaic records largely concerned with trade (lists, inventories, receipts, etc.); no real literature has been discovered.^[50][51] Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, the original decipherers of Linear B, state that literature almost certainly existed in Mycenaean Greece,^[51] but it was either not written down or, if it was, it was on parchment or wooden tablets, which did not survive the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces in the twelfth century BC.^[51]
Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are central works of ancient Greek literature. It is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC.^[52] Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary.^[53][54][55] Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally.^[56] From antiquity until the present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film.^[57] The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who «has taught Greece» – ten Hellada pepaideuken.^[58][59] Hesiod’s Works and Days (c.700 BC) and Theogony are some of the earliest, and most influential, of ancient Greek literature. Classical Greek genres included philosophy, poetry, historiography, comedies and dramas. Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC) authored philosophical texts that are the foundation of Western philosophy, Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC) and Pindar were influential lyric poets, and Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) and Thucydides were early Greek historians. Although drama was popular in ancient Greece, of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors still exist: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The plays of Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC) provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, the earliest form of Greek Comedy, and are in fact used to define the genre.^[60]

The Hebrew religious text, the Torah, is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–333 BC, probably 450–350 BC).^[61] This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra, the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation.^[62] This represents a major source of Christianity’s Bible, which has had a major influence on Western literature.^[63]

The beginning of Roman literature dates to 240 BC, when a Roman audience saw a Latin version of a Greek play.^[64] Literature in Latin would flourish for the next six centuries, and includes essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings.

The Qur’an (610 AD to 632 AD),^[65] the main holy book of Islam, had a significant influence on the Arab language, and marked the beginning of Islamic literature. Muslims believe it was transcribed in the Arabic dialect of the Quraysh, the tribe of Muhammad.^[26][66] As Islam spread, the Quran had the effect of unifying and standardizing Arabic.^[26]

Theological works in Latin were the dominant form of literature in Europe typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages. Western Vernacular literature includes the Poetic Edda and the sagas, or heroic epics, of Iceland, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, and the German Song of Hildebrandt. A later form of medieval fiction was the romance, an adventurous and sometimes magical narrative with strong popular appeal.^[67]

Controversial, religious, political and instructional literature proliferated during the European Renaissance as a result of the Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press^[68] around 1440, while the Medieval romance developed into the novel,^[69]

Publishing[edit]

Publishing became possible with the invention of writing but became more practical with the invention of printing. Prior to printing, distributed works were copied manually, by scribes.

The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware c. 1045. Then c.1450, Johannes Gutenberg independently invented movable type in Europe. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce and more widely available.

Early printed books, single sheets, and images created before 1501 in Europe are known as incunables or incunabula. «A man born in 1453, the year of the fall of Constantinople, could look back from his fiftieth year on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed, more perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since Constantine founded his city in A.D. 330.»^[70]

Eventually, printing enabled other forms of publishing besides books. The history of modern newspaper publishing started in Germany in 1609, with publishing of magazines following in 1663.

University discipline[edit]

In England[edit]

In England in the late 1820s, growing political and social awareness, «particularly among the utilitarians and Benthamites, promoted the possibility of including courses in English literary study in the newly formed London University». This further developed into the idea of the study of literature being «the ideal carrier for the propagation of the humanist cultural myth of a well educated, culturally harmonious nation».^[71]

America[edit]

Women and literature[edit]

The widespread education of women was not common until the nineteenth century, and because of this literature until recently was mostly male dominated.^[72]

There were few English-language women poets whose names are remembered until the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century some names that stand out are Emily Brontë, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson (see American poetry). But while generally women are absent from the European cannon of Romantic literature, there is one notable exception, the French novelist and memoirist Amantine Dupin (1804 – 1876) best known by her pen name George Sand.^[74][75] One of the more popular writers in Europe in her lifetime,^[76] being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s,^[77] Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) is the first major English woman novelist, while Aphra Behn is an early female dramatist.

Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded between 1901 and 2020 to 117 individuals: 101 men and 16 women. Selma Lagerlöf (1858 – 1940) was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded in 1909. Additionally, she was the first woman to be granted a membership in The Swedish Academy in 1914.^[78]

Feminist scholars have since the twentieth century sought expand the literary canon to include more women writers.

Children’s literature[edit]

A separate genre of children’s literature only began to emerge in the eighteenth century, with the development of the concept of childhood.^{[80]: x–xi} The earliest of these books were educational books, books on conduct, and simple ABCs—often decorated with animals, plants, and anthropomorphic letters.^[81]

Aesthetics[edit]

Literary theory[edit]

A fundamental question of literary theory is «what is literature?» – although many contemporary theorists and literary scholars believe either that «literature» cannot be defined or that it can refer to any use of language.^[82]

Literary fiction[edit]

Literary fiction is a term used to describe fiction that explores any facet of the human condition, and may involve social commentary. It is often regarded as having more artistic merit than genre fiction, especially the most commercially oriented types, but this has been contested in recent years, with the serious study of genre fiction within universities.^[83]

The following, by the award-winning British author William Boyd on the short story, might be applied to all prose fiction:

[short stories] seem to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards the grave and oblivion.^[84]

The very best in literature is annually recognized by the Nobel Prize in Literature, which is awarded to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, produced «in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction» (original Swedish: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning).^[85][86]

The value of imaginative literature[edit]

Some researchers suggest that literary fiction can play a role in an individual’s psychological development.^[87] Psychologists have also been using literature as a therapeutic tool.^[88][89] Psychologist Hogan argues for the value of the time and emotion that a person devotes to understanding a character’s situation in literature;^[90] that it can unite a large community by provoking universal emotions, as well as allowing readers access to different cultures, and new emotional experiences.^[91] One study, for example, suggested that the presence of familiar cultural values in literary texts played an important impact on the performance of minority students.^[92]

Psychologist Maslow’s ideas help literary critics understand how characters in literature reflect their personal culture and the history.^[93] The theory suggests that literature helps an individual’s struggle for self-fulfillment.^[94][95]

The influence of religious texts[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

Religion has had a major influence on literature, through works like the Vedas, the Torah, the Bible,^[96]
and the Qur’an.^[97][98][99]

The King James Version of the Bible has been called «the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language», «the most important book in English religion and culture», and «the most celebrated book in the English-speaking world»^{[citation needed]} — principally because of its literary style and widespread distribution. Prominent atheist figures such as the late Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have praised the King James Version as being «a giant step in the maturing of English literature» and «a great work of literature», respectively, with Dawkins then adding, «A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian».^[100][101]

Societies in which preaching has great importance, and those in which religious structures and authorities have a near-monopoly of reading and writing and/or a censorship role, may impart a religious gloss to much of the literature those societies produce or retain — as for example in the European Middle Ages. The traditions of close study of religious texts has furthered the development of techniques and theories in literary studies.

Types[edit]

Poetry[edit]

Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its greater use of the aesthetic qualities of language, including musical devices such as assonance, alliteration, rhyme, and rhythm, and by being set in lines and verses rather than paragraphs, and more recently its use of other typographical elements.^{[102][103][104]} This distinction is complicated by various hybrid forms such as sound poetry, concrete poetry and prose poem,^[105] and more generally by the fact that prose possesses rhythm.^[106] Abram Lipsky refers to it as an «open secret» that «prose is not distinguished from poetry by lack of rhythm».^[107]

Prior to the 19th century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical lines: «any kind of subject consisting of Rhythm or Verses».^[102] Possibly as a result of Aristotle’s influence (his Poetics), «poetry» before the 19th century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art.^{[clarification needed][108]} As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition;^[109][110] hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature.

Prose[edit]

As noted above, prose generally makes far less use of the aesthetic qualities of language than poetry.^{[103][104][111]} However, developments in modern literature, including free verse and prose poetry have tended to blur the differences, and American poet T.S. Eliot suggested that while: «the distinction between verse and prose is clear, the distinction between poetry and prose is obscure».^[112] There are verse novels, a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Eugene Onegin (1831) by Alexander Pushkin is the most famous example.^[113]

On the historical development of prose, Richard Graff notes that «[In the case of ancient Greece] recent scholarship has emphasized the fact that formal prose was a comparatively late development, an «invention» properly associated with the classical period».^[114]

Latin was a major influence on the development of prose in many European countries. Especially important was the great Roman orator Cicero.^[115] It was the lingua franca among literate Europeans until quite recent times, and the great works of Descartes (1596 – 1650), Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), and Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677) were published in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were the works of Swedenborg (d. 1772), Linnaeus (d. 1778), Euler (d. 1783), Gauss (d. 1855), and Isaac Newton (d. 1727).

Novel[edit]

A novel is a long fictional prose narrative. In English, the term emerged from the Romance languages in the late 15th century, with the meaning of «news»; it came to indicate something new, without a distinction between fact or fiction.^[116] The romance is a closely related long prose narrative. Walter Scott defined it as «a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvelous and uncommon incidents», whereas in the novel «the events are accommodated to the ordinary train of human events and the modern state of society».^[117] Other European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel: «a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo«,^[118] indicates the proximity of the forms.^[119]

Although there are many historical prototypes, so-called «novels before the novel»,^[120] the modern novel form emerges late in cultural history—roughly during the eighteenth century.^[121] Initially subject to much criticism, the novel has acquired a dominant position amongst literary forms, both popularly and critically.^{[119][122][123]}

Novella[edit]

The publisher Melville House classifies the novella as «too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story».^[124] Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novella to be between 17,000 and 40,000 words.^[125]

Short story[edit]

A dilemma in defining the «short story» as a literary form is how to, or whether one should, distinguish it from any short narrative and its contested origin,^[126] that include the Bible, and Edgar Allan Poe.^[127]

Graphic novel[edit]

Graphic novels and comic books present stories told in a combination of artwork, dialogue, and text.

Electronic literature[edit]

Electronic literature is a literary genre consisting of works created exclusively on and for digital devices.

Nonfiction[edit]

Common literary examples of nonfiction include, the essay; travel literature and nature writing; biography, autobiography and memoir; journalism; letters; journals; history, philosophy, economics; scientific, and technical writings.^[4][128]

Nonfiction can fall within the broad category of literature as «any collection of written work», but some works fall within the narrower definition «by virtue of the excellence of their writing, their originality and their general aesthetic and artistic merits».^[129]

Drama[edit]

Drama is literature intended for performance.^[130] The form is combined with music and dance in opera and musical theatre (see libretto). A play is a written dramatic work by a playwright that is intended for performance in a theatre; it comprises chiefly dialogue between characters. A closet drama, by contrast, is written to be read rather than to be performed; the meaning of which can be realized fully on the page.^[131] Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.

The earliest form of which there exists substantial knowledge is Greek drama. This developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical, or mythological themes,

In the twentieth century scripts written for non-stage media have been added to this form, including radio, television and film.

Law[edit]

Law and literature[edit]

The law and literature movement focuses on the interdisciplinary connection between law and literature.

Copyright[edit]

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.^{[132][133][134][135][136]} The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.^{[137][138][139]}

United Kingdom[edit]

Literary works have been protected by copyright law from unauthorized reproduction since at least 1710.^[140] Literary works are defined by copyright law to mean «any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung, and accordingly includes (a) a table or compilation (other than a database), (b) a computer program, (c) preparatory design material for a computer program, and (d) a database.»^[141]

Literary works are all works of literature; that is all works expressed in print or writing (other than dramatic or musical works).^[142]

United States[edit]

The copyright law of the United States has a long and complicated history, dating back to colonial times. It was established as federal law with the Copyright Act of 1790. This act was updated many times, including a major revision in 1976.

European Union[edit]

The copyright law of the European Union is the copyright law applicable within the European Union. Copyright law is largely harmonized in the Union, although country to country differences exist. The body of law was implemented in the EU through a number of directives, which the member states need to enact into their national law. The main copyright directives are the Copyright Term Directive, the Information Society Directive and the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Copyright in the Union is furthermore dependent on international conventions to which the European Union is a member (such as the TRIPS Agreement and conventions to which all Member States are parties (such as the Berne Convention)).

Copyright in communist countries[edit]

Copyright in Japan[edit]

Japan was a party to the original Berne convention in 1899, so its copyright law is in sync with most international regulations. The convention protected copyrighted works for 50 years after the author’s death (or 50 years after publication for unknown authors and corporations). However, in 2004 Japan extended the copyright term to 70 years for cinematographic works. At the end of 2018, as a result of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the 70 year term was applied to all works.^[143] This new term is not applied retroactively; works that had entered the public domain between 1999 and 2018 by expiration would remain in the public domain.

Censorship[edit]

Censorship of literature is employed by states, religious organizations, educational institutions, etc., to control what can be portrayed, spoken, performed, or written.^[144] Generally such bodies attempt to ban works for political reasons, or because they deal with other controversial matters such as race, or sex.^[145]

A notorious example of censorship is James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, which has been described by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov as a «divine work of art» and the greatest masterpiece of 20th century prose.^[146] It was banned in the United States from 1921 until 1933 on the grounds of obscenity. Nowadays it is a central literary text in English literature courses, throughout the world.^[147]

Awards[edit]

There are numerous awards recognizing achievement and contribution in literature. Given the diversity of the field, awards are typically limited in scope, usually on: form, genre, language, nationality and output (e.g. for first-time writers or debut novels).^[148]

The Nobel Prize in Literature was one of the six Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895,^[149] and is awarded to an author on the basis of their body of work, rather than to, or for, a particular work itself.^{[note 2]} Other literary prizes for which all nationalities are eligible include: the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Man Booker International Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Hugo Award, Guardian First Book Award and the Franz Kafka Prize.

See also[edit]

• Outline of literature
• Index of literature articles

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

• Project Gutenberg Online Library
• Internet Book List similar to IMDb but for books (archived 7 February 2007)
• Digital eBook Collection – Internet Archive

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Literature is a group of works of art that are made of words. Most are written, but some are shared by word of mouth. Literature usually means a work of poetry, theatre or narrative.^[1] There are many different kinds of literature, such as poetry, plays, or novels. They can also be put into groups by their language, historical time, place of origin, genre, and subject.^[1] The word «literature» comes from the Latin word «literatura,» which means «writing formed with letters.»^[2]

Most of the earliest works were epic poems. Epic poems are long stories or myths about adventures, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia. Ramayana and Mahabharta, two Indian epics, are still read today. The Iliad and Odyssey are two famous Greek poems by Homer. They were shared over time through speaking and memory and were written down around the 9th or 8th century BCE.^[3]

Literature can also mean imaginative or creative writing, which is read for its artistic value.

[change | change source]

• English literature
• French literature
• Italian literature
• German literature
• Japanese literature
• American literature
• Spanish literature
• Modernist literature

References[change | change source]

Literature is a group of works of art made up of words. Most are written, but some are passed on by word of mouth. Literature usually means works of poetry and prose that are especially well written. There are many different kinds of literature, such as poetry, plays, or novels. They can also be put into groups through their language, historical period, origin, genre, and subject. The word literature comes from the Latin word «learning, writing, grammar».

Most of the earliest works were epic poems. Epic poems are long stories or myths about adventures. Ramayana and Mahabharta, two Indian epics, are still read today. Odyssey and Iliad are two famous Greek poems by Homer. They were passed down through speaking and written down around the 8th century BC.

Literature can also mean imaginative or creative writing, which is looked at for its artistic value.

Major forms

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, prosaic ostensible meaning. Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its being set in verse; prose is cast in sentences, poetry in lines; the syntax of prose is dictated by meaning, whereas that of poetry is held across meter or the visual aspects of the poem. Prior to the 19th century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical lines; accordingly, in 1658 a definition of poetry is «any kind of subject consisting of Rhythm or Verses». Possibly as a result of Aristotle’s influence (his Poetics), «poetry» before the 19th century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art. As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition; hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature.

Prose

Prose is a form of language that possesses ordinary syntax and natural speech rather than rhythmic structure; in which regard, along with its measurement in sentences rather than lines, it differs from poetry. On the historical development of prose, Richard Graff notes that «[In the case of Ancient Greece] recent scholarship has emphasized the fact that formal prose was a comparatively late development, an «invention» properly associated with the classical period».

• Novel: a long fictional prose narrative. It was the form’s close relation to real life that differentiated it from the chivalric romance; in most European languages the equivalent term is roman, indicating the proximity of the forms. In English, the term emerged from the Romance languages in the late 15th century, with the meaning of «news»; it came to indicate something new, without a distinction between fact or fiction. Although there are many historical prototypes, so-called «novels before the novel», the modern novel form emerges late in cultural history—roughly during the eighteenth century. Initially subject to much criticism, the novel has acquired a dominant position amongst literary forms, both popularly and critically.
• Novella: in purely quantitative terms, the novella exists between the novel and short story; the publisher Melville House classifies it as «too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story». There is no precise definition in terms of word or page count. Literary prizes and publishing houses often have their own arbitrary limits, which vary according to their particular intentions. Summarizing the variable definitions of the novella, William Giraldi concludes «[it is a form] whose identity seems destined to be disputed into perpetuity». It has been suggested that the size restriction of the form produces various stylistic results, both some that are shared with the novel or short story, and others unique to the form.
• Short story: a dilemma in defining the «short story» as a literary form is how to, or whether one should, distinguish it from any short narrative; hence it also has a contested origin, variably suggested as the earliest short narratives (e.g. the Bible), early short story writers (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe), or the clearly modern short story writers (e.g. Anton Chekhov). Apart from its distinct size, various theorists have suggested that the short story has a characteristic subject matter or structure; these discussions often position the form in some relation to the novel.

Drama

Drama is literature intended for performance. The form is often combined with music and dance, as in opera and musical theater. A play is a subset of this form, referring to the written dramatic work of a playwright that is intended for performance in a theater; it comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at dramatic or theatrical performance rather than at reading. A closet drama, by contrast, refers to a play written to be read rather than to be performed; hence, it is intended that the meaning of such a work can be realized fully on the page. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.

Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial knowledge. Tragedy, as a dramatic genre, developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical or mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious themes. With the advent of newer technologies, scripts written for non-stage media have been added to this form. War of the Worlds (radio) in 1938 saw the advent of literature written for radio broadcast, and many works of Drama have been adapted for film or television. Conversely, television, film, and radio literature have been adapted to printed or electronic media.

• English literature
• Branko Mikasinovich
• Enid Blyton

Images for kids

• 

  A traditional Kyrgyz manaschi performing part of the Epic of Manas at a yurt camp in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

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  Limestone Kish tablet from Sumer with pictographic writing; may be the earliest known writing, 3500 BC. Ashmolean Museum

• 

• 

  The intricate frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra from Tang dynasty China, the world’s earliest dated printed book, AD 868 (British Library)

• 

  Dante, Homer and Virgil in Raphael’s Parnassus fresco (1511), key figures in the Western canon

• 

  Sculpture in Berlin depicting a stack of books on which are inscribed the names of great German writers.

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