LITERATURE (in Latin, litteratura, literatura, writing, from littera, letter), in the widest sense is the expression, representation or manifestation of thought by means of alphabetic symbols called letters — the products being considered as a collective body, without special regard to the excellence and beauty of the farm of expression. But in a restricted and usually preferred sense only the more polished or artistic class of such products, to gether with the critical knowledge and apprecia tion of them, may be called literature; for the term is, according to this latter usage, applied exclusively to writing which has claim to con sideration on the ground of beauty of form or emotional effect. Thus, a declaration conform ing to the latter usage is John Morley's often cited sentence: °Literature consists of all the books . . . where moral truth and human passion are touched with a certain largeness, sanity, and attractive and the best recent expression of the same high view is to be credited to Lieut. Coningsby Dawson, who writes in October 1917: °In the light of my experience at the front, the petty personal problems which we cloak in words and call literature seem so ignoble a presentation of men and women who are planned for im mortality and live in an infinite world.° The passport to this higher class (literature in the usually preferred sense and belles-lettres) is the possession of what is known as literary quality; and the foregoing statements enable us to conclude that any work in this field should, if its possession of this passport quality is to be fully conceded, rise above pettiness or triviality of thought and expression, and should attain or approximate not only attractiveness of form but also soundness and adequacy of treatment.
There is certainly room for doubt as to the correct classification of the main divisions of this subject, especially in regard to the admis sion or exclusion of distinctive groups. For instance, the literary quality of a work in the field of science or in the field of oratory (after the oration has been printed) may be so marked and striking that we easily think of the former as literature in the restricted, and not merely in the widest, sense; and we may also, and almost as easily, overlook the fact that oratory must be held to be expression by vocal sounds and not primarily representation by alphabetic symbols. On the other hand, some of the
dramatic works that are now by common con sent classed as secular literature's best offering were originally designed simply to be acted, to be played, and without one thought of the effect they would produce when printed and read. In general usage, however, six or seven main groups are recognized, and all of these, except the first and the last were developed in Greece or Greek colonies before (some of than long before) the middle of the 4th century B.0 We have thus the literature of religion, of philosophy, of poetry (epic, dramatic and lyrical), of history, of oratory (unless this be excluded for the reason already mentioned), of criticism and of fiction. In this work the literature of the several peoples of the world, both ancient and modern, are treated fully under their special or national titles, as Ameri can Literature, Celtic Literature, English Liter ature, Greek Literature, Latin Literature, Latin-American Literature, Jewish Literature, Lithuanian Literature, Persian Literature, Polish Literature, Russian Literature, etc., etc. Reference to the Classified Index will give a complete list of articles dealing with special periods or phases of literature and literary his tory, as Comparative Literature, Classical Literature, Literature of the Middle Ages, Elizabethan and Victorian literatures, etc. In addition, the great masterpieces of world liter ature have received special treatment under their own titles, giving an outline of •the plot, characters, literary excellence and literary his tory of the work in question, e.g. Hedda Gabler, Autobiography of Franklin. Man without a Country, Jane Eyre, Peter Ibbotson, Hernani, Gil Blas, La Vita Nuova, Amiel's Journal, Anna Karenina, Kalevala, Madame Bovary, etc.