Literature

Cultural criticism is a school of thought that looks at how movies, music, literature, art, politics and much more define a current culture. In addition to studying Mozart and Shakespeare, critics...

Citing and referencing your sources is not always the easiest part of writing a paper. This is especially true if the source does not follow the rules of basic citation. The Encyclopedia...

Many writers tend to skip the step of creating a cast of characters when they begin a novel. Instead they usually focus on a protagonist that fits into their plot and jump into the writing...

Classes in early English literature study texts that date back to the seventh century. Although difficult to read in their original form, these Old English and Middle English texts provide many...

Writing a children's book is something that is extremely enjoyable and rewarding. The main goals of this endeavor are to create a story that children will enjoy reading and finding meaning in....

Mephisto is short for Mephistopheles, a devil who appears in a number of legends and fictional works. Alhough we first see mention of Mephisto in superstitious treatises on witchcraft from the...

The difference between the terms "literary theory" and "literary criticism" is so minor that they are used interchangeably. However, they are distinct at their core.

Creating a story using a specific list of words takes not only imagination, but also skill. Whether for a class assignment, writing challenge or improvisational game, this tests the true ability...

One of the best ways to learn about the ideas and lifestyles of a culture is to read its literature. French literature has greatly influenced our world by providing a wide range of topics and...

Choosing a story to write about can be an intimidating and difficult task. Few things are worse than realizing halfway through a ten-page research paper that you chose a bad topic. However,...

The hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) chamber was originally developed to deliver 100 percent pure oxygen at greater than 1 atmosphere of pressure, usually to treat deep-sea divers suffering from...

"Hope for the Flowers" is an allegorical children's book by Trina Paulus about a pair of caterpillars who transform into monarch butterflies. The book has proven inspirational and has been...

Memorizing a speech can be tricky. Perhaps you need to memorize one for academic purposes, to fulfill a requirement for a speech class, for example. Or you'd simply like to show off your wit and...

You need to learn and apply rules that govern "structure and format" in every short story or novel manuscript you write. They're not difficult, and once you get used to them, the process will...

You can easily download audio books for your Amazon Kindle using Audible. You can either transfer your existing audio books to Kindle or download new audio books. All you need to do is download...

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a work of science fiction, but not of the typical kind: It experiments with the idea of an intelligence-enhancing surgery that allows an individual with...

Are you one of those people that loves books so much that you'll go to a used book store, or a Barnes and Noble and buy a ton of books? I was. I could go into a bookstore and easily buy 10 to 15...

Students of all ages across the world study the works of William Shakespeare, which provide enlightenment and delight for those who can understand his meaning. Many students of Shakespeare become...

Ambrose Bierce defined mythology as this: "The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts...

You have a Kindle, one of Amazon's newest wireless reading devices. If you bought the Kindle 2 for yourself, then Amazon.com already has registered you. If you received the Kindle 2 as a gift, you...

Including interviews with experts in your essays can lend an air of credibility to whatever subject you're writing about. There are several ways you can incorporate interviews into your essay, but...

The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and intellectual movement in New York's Harlem neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s when African-American music, art, philosophy and literature became...

From the 1920s to about 1935, African American culture began to assert its own ideas through different media such as literature, music, art, drama, and sculpture, particularly in New York. ...

MLA style is commonly used to cite references for various research and literature papers. MLA style, which refers to the style of the Modern Language Association, is generally simpler to use than...

Unlike a novel written recently, a classic is typically a book, novel or play that was written years ago, during a different era. Although it is easy to find a classic novel, many people ignore...

If you've submitted your written poetry or prose to literary journals in the past, you already know about the managing your submissions. Literary journals have dozens of rules that vary from...

Also known as the New Negro Movement, the Harlem Renaissance was a period of unprecedented literary creativity and expression among African-American writers, especially in Harlem, in New York...

Creating a Mystery Book Club can add a bit of drama to your life. There are a lot of mystery book series on the market today and Mystery Book Clubs appeal to both men and women. You can carry the...

Whether you are writing an essay,a story or engaging in a role-playing forum, literacy can play a big part in helping your words flow. Literacy can be simply defined as the ability to read and...

The word "sic" appears in stories and news articles within a direct quotation from another source. It is used to note that errors or archaic terms were present in the original quote.

A literature essay discusses diverse aspects of literature, from the topic of the book to its author and history. The essay can be written on American, English or world literature and take on an...

The word "tidy" has several definitions, applications and uses in the English language. Although it's mostly used as an adjective or describing word, tidy can also be used as a verb, noun or adverb.

APUPA patterns describe the nature of relationships within subject areas of a classification scheme, and the way in which people instinctively navigate them.

In a previous article, I wrote, “my main objective is to help people understand that writing a narrative is very important for the individual writer and for the audience who reads the writer’s...

The art of playwriting is tremendously old. While theatre historians typically point to Aeschylus and the great Greek tragedians of the Classic world for some hint to the origins of the dramatist,...

Sophocles' play "Oedipus the King" is well known both as a canonical work and as the influence for Freud's Oedipus complex. In the play, there are references to Oedipus having swollen feet. Many...

"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic work of English literature by Jane Austen. The novel is beloved not only as a portrait of early-19th century British society, but also as a timeless romance...

Even since his death in 1988, Louis L'Amour has remained one of the most popular English-language writers in the world. Several volumes of short stories, published posthumously, have only enhanced...

"Aladdin and his Magic Lamp" is a story from "The Arabian Nights." Though many people know it from the Walt Disney movie, the actual story is somewhat different.

Logos is a Greek root word meaning word, speech or reason. Because of its place as a root word and with such wide-reaching meaning, "logos" has a wide variety of connotations, all connected to...

You've just earned your literary criticism bachelor's degree, and you're considering graduate school. To get anything out of your next degree, you need a goal. Make a goal statement for yourself....

Some people bemoan the gradual loss of reading in our lives, replaced by video games and similar noisy fare. Yet both sides of the debate make good points about the advantages and disadvantages of...

Fairy tales are an effective tool used to indirectly teach children a lesson or morale. Though the plots of different fairy tales often vary, they usually all maintain the same structure. By...

The canon of English literature and modern-day drama are rooted in Shakespeare. Without Shakespeare, tragedy and comedy would not be where they are today. Although going to a Shakespearean play...

Nostalgic is an adjective that is derived from the word nostalgia, which was first coined in 1668 by a German man named Johannes Hofer. The word went through several modifications before the 1920...

Literary criticism is an interpretive process used to weigh the social value of a written idea. Critics have reviewed and debated the value of literary works since before the Italian Renaissance.

Ernest Hemingway has influenced countless authors over the years, including novelists, reporters, and screenwriters. Here are a few tips to help you write in a similar style.