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| Home > History of Literature
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| | History of Literature
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The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which aim at providing education, entertainment and enlightenment to its readers as well the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces. All written work does not come under the purview of literature e.g. compilations of data is not considered literature.
The historical development of literature did not happen at an even pace across the world. Many texts have been lost over the millennium either by the disappearance of the originating culture or by accident for e.g. much has been written about the destruction of the Libey of Alexandria in the 3rd century B.C. where innumerable texts are supposed to have been lost.
The following may be considered to be the first strings of literature - Epic of Gilgamesh (the Sumerian version predating 2000 B.C.) and the `Egyptian book of the Dead` written in Papyrus in Ani in the 250 B.C but probably dates about 18th century B.C. Many texts handed down by oral tradition over several centuries were written down much later e.g. Homer`s Illiad and Odyssey orally belonged to the later Bronze Age, but written versions dates to 8th century. The great Hindu epics were also transmitted orally, likely predating the Mauriyan period.
Some of the important ancient Literature that influence world literature are Indian literature, Greek literature, Persian literature and Latin literature.
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