The history of literature is the historical
development of writings in prose or poetry that
attempt to provide entertainment,
enlightenment , or instruction to the reader/
listener/observer, as well as the development of
the literary techniques used in the
communication of these pieces. Not all writings
constitute literature . Some recorded materials,
such as compilations of data (e.g., a check
register ) are not considered literature, and this
article relates only to the evolution of the works
defined above.
The beginnings of
literature
Main article: Early literature
See also: Sangam literature , Sumerian literature ,
Ancient Egyptian literature , and Babylonian
literature
Literature and writing, though connected, are
not synonymous. The very first writings from
ancient Sumer by any reasonable definition do
not constitute literature—the same is true of
some of the early Egyptian hieroglyphics or the
thousands of logs from ancient Chinese
regimes. Scholars have often disagreed
concerning when written record-keeping
became more like “literature” than anything
else; the definition is largely subjective.
Moreover, given the significance of distance as
a cultural isolator in earlier centuries, the
historical development of literature did not
occur at an even pace across the world. The
problems of creating a uniform global history of
literature are compounded by the fact that many
texts have been lost over the millennia, either
deliberately, by accident, or by the total
disappearance of the originating culture. Much
has been written, for example, about the
destruction of the Library of Alexandria in the
1st century BC, and the innumerable key texts
which are believed to have been lost forever to
the flames. The deliberate suppression of texts
(and often their authors ) by organisations of
either a spiritual or a temporal nature further
shrouds the subject.
A stone tablet containing part of the
Epic of Gilgamesh
Certain primary texts, however, may be isolated
which have a qualifying role as literature’s first
stirrings. Very early examples include Epic of
Gilgamesh , in its Sumerian version predating
2000 BC, and the Egyptian Book of the Dead
written down in the Papyrus of Ani in
approximately 1250 BC but probably dates from
about the 18th century BC. Ancient Egyptian
literature was not included in early studies of
the history of literature because the writings of
Ancient Egypt were not translated into European
languages until the 19th century when the
Rosetta stone was deciphered.
Many texts handed down by oral tradition over
several centuries before they were fixed in
written form are difficult or impossible to date.
The core of the Rigveda may date to the mid
2nd millennium BC. The Pentateuch is
traditionally dated to the 15th century, although
modern scholarship estimates its oldest part to
date to the 10th century BC at the earliest.
Homer ‘s Iliad and Odyssey date to the 8th
century BC and mark the beginning of Classical
Antiquity . They also stand in an oral tradition
that stretches back to the late Bronze Age.
Indian śruti texts post-dating the Rigveda (such
as the Yajurveda, the Atharvaveda and the
Brahmanas ), as well as the Hebrew Tanakh and
the mystical collection of poems attributed to
Lao Tze , the Tao te Ching , date to the Iron Age,
but their dating is difficult and controversial.
The great Hindu epics were also transmitted
orally, likely predating the Maurya period.
Antiquity
Main article: Ancient literature
China
Main articles: Chinese classics and Classical
Chinese poetry
The Classic of Poetry (or Shijing ) is the oldest
existing collection of Chinese poetry,
comprising 305 works by anonymous authors
dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. The
Chu Ci anthology (or Songs of Chu ) is a volume
of poems attributed to or considered to be
inspired by Qu Yuan ‘s verse writing. Qu Yuan is
the first author of verse in China to have his
name associated to his work and is also
regarded as one of the most prominent figures
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