Art in Literature. Literature, most generically, is any body of written works.
More restrictively, literature refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage. Its Latin root literatura / litteratura was used to refer to all written accounts.
The concept has changed meaning over time to include texts that are spoken or sung, and non-written verbal art forms. Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic literature.
Literature is classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction, and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama; and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations.
Definitions of literature have varied over time: it is a culturally relative definition. In Western Europe prior to the 18th century, literature denoted all books and writing. A more restricted sense of the term emerged during the Romantic period, in which it began to demarcate imaginative writing. Contemporary debates over what constitutes literature can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions; cultural studies,