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Greek literature, ancient

(Encyclopedia)Greek literature, ancient, the writings of the ancient Greeks. The Greek Isles are recognized as the birthplace of Western intellectual life. The next period of Greek literature reached its zenith i...

Greek literature, modern

(Encyclopedia)Greek literature, modern, literature written in Greek in the modern era, primarily beginning during the period of rebellion against the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In general, 20th-century Greek lit...

Medieval Latin literature

(Encyclopedia)Medieval Latin literature, literary works written in the Latin language during the Middle Ages. Many literary genres were already being taken over by writing in the vernacular, which had begun in...

motif, in literature

(Encyclopedia)motif mōtēfˈ [key], in literature, term that denotes the recurrent presence of certain character types, objects, settings, or situations in diverse genres and periods of folklore and literature. Ex...

New Zealand literature

(Encyclopedia)New Zealand literature. In the 20th cent. New Zealand developed a vital literary tradition, though only a few of its authors are well-known outside its islands: Katherine Mansfield, short-story writer...

naturalism, in literature

(Encyclopedia)naturalism, in literature, an approach that proceeds from an analysis of reality in terms of natural forces, e.g., heredity, environment, physical drives. The chief literary theorist on naturalism was...

Old Norse literature

(Encyclopedia)Old Norse literature, the literature of the Northmen, or Norsemen, c.850–c.1350. It survives mainly in Icelandic writings, for little medieval vernacular literature remains from Norway, Sweden, or D...

Canadian literature, French

(Encyclopedia)Canadian literature, French, the body of literature of the French-speaking population of Canada. Except for the narratives of French explorers (such as Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Esprit Radisson) ...

canzone, in literature

(Encyclopedia)canzone –nä [key], in literature, Italian term meaning lyric or song. It is used to designate such various literary forms as Provençal troubadour poems and the lyrics of Dante, Petrarch, and other...

style, in literature

(Encyclopedia)style, in literature, the mysterious yet recognizable result of a successful blending of form with content. Generally speaking, all the arts reflect one of two stylistic tendencies: the classical or t...