Literature

Artistic and other forms of presetnation employing the written word. Classifications of literature use various criteria such as factuality or fictionality of matter, prose or pretic diction, and esthetic intent, i.e., if a work of literature is intended to be a work of art or not. Other classifications of intent include whether the work is meant to be didactic, informative or entertaining. The classifications of literature according to structure are innumerable. Other criteria are extrinsic such as length of composition, manner of publication (book, magazine, newspaper) or manner of dramatization (theatre, film, television). Despite two thousand years of attempts to classify literature rigorously according to a universally approved system, mankind's written productions tend to elude clinical dissection particularly as hybrid forms and innovations constantly occur. Literature apears to be as variegated and as open to future developments as the human mind which creates it.