Types of Literature

What are legends?

A legend is a semi-true story, which has been passed on from person-to-person and has
important meaning or symbolism for the culture in which it originates. A legend usually
includes an element of truth, or is based on historic facts, but with 'mythical qualities'.
Legends usually involve heroic characters or fantastic places and often encompass the
spiritual beliefs of the culture in which they originate.

What are myths?

A myth is a story based on tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. A myth
'conveys a truth' to those who tell it and hear it, rather than necessarily recording a true
event. Although some myths can be accounts of actual events, they have become
transformed by symbolic meaning or shifted in time or place. Myths are often used to explain
universal and local beginnings and involve supernatural beings. The great power of the
meaning of these stories, to the culture in which they developed, is a major reason why they
survive as long as they do - sometimes for thousands of years.

What are folktales?

A folktale is a popular story that was passed on in spoken form, from one generation to the
next. Usually the author is unknown and there are often many versions of the tale. Folktales
comprise fables, fairy tales, old legends and even 'urban legends'. Again, some tales may
have been based on a partial truth that has been lost or hidden over time. It is difficult to
categorize folktales precisely because they fit into many categories.

Epic

The word epic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective, “epikos”, which means a poetic
story. In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem, which is usually related to heroic deeds
of a person of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In order to depict this bravery
and courage, the epic uses grandiose style.

The hero is usually the representative of the values of a certain culture, race, nation or a
religious group on whose victor of failure the destiny of the whole nation or group depends.
Therefore, certain supernatural forces, deus ex machina, help the hero, who comes out
victor at the end. An epic usually starts with an invocation to muse, but then picks up the
threads of the story from the middle and moves on to the end.

African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together
with works written by Africans in European languages. Traditional written literature, which is limited to a smaller
geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic of those sub-Saharan cultures that have participated
in the cultures of the Mediterranean. In particular, there are written literatures in both Hausa and Arabic, created by the
scholars of what is now northern Nigeria, and the Somali people have produced a traditional written literature. There
are also works written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) and Amharic, two of the languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part of Africa
where Christianity has been practiced long enough to be considered traditional. Works written in European languages
date primarily from the 20th century onward. The literature of South Africa in English and Afrikaans is also covered in
a separate article, South African literature. See also African theatre.
The relationship between oral and written traditions and in particular between oral and modern written literatures is one
of great complexity and not a matter of simple evolution. Modern African literatures were born in the educational systems
imposed by colonialism, with models drawn from Europe rather than existing African traditions. But the African oral
traditions exerted their own influence on these literatures.
CHINESE LITERATURE

China possesses one of the world's major literary traditions. Its texts have been preserved for over 3,000 years.
Reverence for the past has influenced the preservation of these cultural sources, and may have influenced the invention
of woodblock printing in the 9th century and moveable type printing in the 12th century. The practice of collecting and
reproducing libraries has also played a major role in the transmission of literary tradition. Most important, China can
boast an unbroken cultural tradition based on the Chinese script as a language — a written medium — independent of
spoken dialectic difference. As literary language became increasingly removed from spoken language, it became less
vital and literature took a natural turn toward imitation. Indeed, after the formative classical period that began with
Confucius, the literary history of China becomes one of imitation-with-variations of different models. Literature also thus
becomes more elitist, for an understanding or appreciation of a text may require familiarity with the models being
alluded to.
The principal genre of Chinese literature is poetry; early folk songs established the shi (shih) form that crystallized during
the Han dynasty and dominated for the next 1,200 years. Beginning with the simple complaints and longings expressed
in rhymed couplets of folk songs, this form gradually became more and more complex, or "regulated," until it took years
of study to master its formal rules of composition.
The short story, which began to develop during the Tang dynasty, at first emphasized either historical events or
supernatural happenings which could not be related in a formal historical work. The notion of fiction as connected to
history persisted, yet more imaginative and rationally inexplicable, culminating in China's greatest novel, The Dream of
the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone, which is at once autobiographical and realistic, and at the same time
imaginative and mystical.
Japanese literature
The body of written works produced by Japanese authors in Japanese or, in its earliest beginnings, at a time when
Japan had no written language, in the Chinese classical language.

Both in quantity and quality, Japanese literature ranks as one of the major literatures of the world, comparable in age,
richness, and volume to English literature, though its course of development has been quite dissimilar. The surviving works
comprise a literary tradition extending from the 7th century CE to the present; during all this time there was never a “dark
age” devoid of literary production. Not only do poetry, the novel, and the drama have long histories in Japan, but some
literary genres not so highly esteemed in other countries—including diaries, travel accounts, and books of random
thoughts—are also prominent. A considerable body of writing by Japanese in the Chinese classical language, of much
greater bulk and importance than comparable Latin writings by Englishmen, testifies to the Japanese literary indebtedness
to China. Even the writings entirely in Japanese present an extraordinary variety of styles, which cannot be explained
merely in terms of the natural evolution of the language. Some styles were patently influenced by the importance of
Chinese vocabulary and syntax, but others developed in response to the internal requirements of the various genres,
whether the terseness of haiku (a poem in 17 syllables) or the bombast of the dramatic recitation.