Portal:Literature
Introduction
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment. It can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.
The term is sometimes used synonymously with literary fiction, which encompasses fiction written with the goal of literary merit.Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoirs, letters, and essays. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles, or other written information on a particular subject. (Full article...)
General images -
Z. Marcas is a novelette by French author Honoré de Balzac first published in 1840. Set in contemporary Paris, it describes the rise and fall of a brilliant political strategist who is abandoned by the politicians he helps into power. Destitute and forgotten, he befriends a pair of students who live next door to him in a boarding-house. The story follows their many discussions about the political situation in France.
Although Z. Marcas features characters from other Balzac stories and elements of literary realism – both hallmarks of Balzac's style – it is remembered primarily for its political themes. Balzac, a legitimist, believed that France's lack of bold leadership had led to mediocrity and ruin, and that men of quality were being ignored or worse. He maintained that the youth of France were in danger of being abandoned by the government, and predicted unrest in the years to come.
The story also explores Balzac's conviction that a person's name is a powerful indicator of his or her destiny, an idea he drew from the work of Laurence Sterne. The title character, with his keen intellect, is based on Balzac's conception of himself: a visionary genius who fails to achieve his true potential because of less talented individuals with more social power.
Selected excerpt
An 1890 recording of Walt Whitman reading the opening four lines of his poem "America", from his collection Leaves of Grass
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Selected illustration
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Today in literature
- 1536 - Johannes Secundus, Dutch poet died
- 1782 - Charles Robert Maturin, Irish playwright and novelist born
- 1881 - Lu Xun, Chinese writer born
- 1897 - William Faulkner, American writer born
- 1930 - Shel Silverstein, American humorist and author born
- 1933 - Ring Lardner, American writer died
- 1970 - Erich Maria Remarque, German author died
- 1980 - Marie Under, Estonian author and poet died
- 1999 - Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer died
- 2000 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet died
- 2003 - Herb Gardner, American playwright died
- 2003 - George Plimpton, American writer and actor died
- 2005 - M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and writer died
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