The following topic outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to literature:

Essence of literature

• Composition
• Writing

Forms of literature

Oral literary genres

Epic poetry - Legend - Mythology - Ballad - other forms of oral poetry - Folktale - Oral Narrative (Oral History) - Urban legend

Written literary genres

• Children's literature
• Constrained writing
• Erotic literature
• Poetry (see that article for an extensive list of sub-genres and types)

Aubade - Clerihew - Epic - Haiku - Lied - Lyric - Ode - Rhapsody - Song - Limerick - Sonnet - Speculative poetry

• Prison literature
• Rhymed prose

Saj' (Maqama) - Fu (literature) - Rayok

Non-fiction

Autobiography - Biography - Diaries and Journals - Essay - Frame Narrative - In Medias Res - Literary criticism - Memoir - Outdoor literature - Spiritual autobiography - Travel literature

Fiction genres

• Adventure novel
• Airport novels
• Comedy

Parody - Satire

• Crime fiction

Detective fiction (Hardboiled, Whodunit) - Newgate novel

• Erotica
• Fable
• Fairy tale
• Family Saga
• Frame story
• Gothic

Southern Gothic

• Historical fiction
• Inspirational fiction
• Invasion literature
• Mystery
• Philosophical literature

Inspirational fiction - Religious literature

• Psychological novel
• Psychological thriller
• Romance

Historical romance (Regency romance) - Inspirational romance - Paranormal romance

• Saga
• Speculative fiction

Alternate history - Fantasy (for more details see Fantasy subgenres; fantasy literature) (Epic fantasy, Science fantasy, Steampunk, Urban fantasy, Weird fantasy) - Horror (Lovecraftian horror, Weird menace) - Science fiction (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics) (Cyberpunk, Hard science fiction, Space opera) - Supernatural fiction

• Sensation novel
• Slave narrative
• Thriller

Conspiracy fiction - Legal thriller - Spy fiction/Political thriller - Techno-thriller

• Western

History of literature

History of the book - History of theater - History of science fiction - History of ideas - Intellectual history - Literature by nationality

Basic literature concepts

• literature
• Western canon
• the teaching of writing: composition, rhetoric
• poetry

prosody - meter - scansion - Constrained writing

• poetics

villanelle - sonnet - sestina - ghazal - ballad - blank verse - free verse - epic poetry

• prose

fiction - non-fiction - biography

• prose genres

essay - flash prose - journalism - mini saga - novel - novella - short story

• theater

history of theater

• literary criticism
• rhetoric

metaphor - metonymy - symbol - allegory

• Basic procedural knowledge

poetry analysis - effective reasoning in argument writing

• Techniques and conceits

False document - Frame tale - anecdote - point of view

• Varieties of literary criticism (applications of Literary theory)

Marxist literary criticism - Semiotic literary interpretation - Psychoanalytic literary interpretation - Feminist literary interpretation - New historicism - Queer literary interpretation

Literary scholars and literary critics

See also Literary critics

Literature lists

List of basic literature topics - List of authors - List of books - List of literary awards - List of literary terms - List of prizes, medals, and awards for literary prizes - List of women writers - List of writers - List of literary genres

See also

• List of literature topics
• Literature
• English studies
• History of literature
• History of modern literature
• World literature

External links

• Yahoo! Directory listing for Literature
• The Internet Public Library listing for Literature
• Nobel Prize in Literature