What 

          Is 

    Literature?

What is Literature?

Definitions of Literature by Famous Poets &Writers

"The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean." by Robert Louis Stevenson (added by CelalS)

   "Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way." by Salman Rushdie

(added by Irina N.)

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become."-C.S. Lewis( added by Bianca D.)

“Literature is news that stays news.” by Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading (added by Beytullah P.)

"Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”

by Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (added by Elías)

   "

“When faced with certain books, one wonders: who will read them? And to certain people one wonders: what will they read? And finally, books and people meet ”. – André Gide.  by (Added by YASMINA)

“I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them.” – Emma Thompson by SALMAN

“Literature consists of those writing which interpret the meanings of nature and life, in words of charm and power, touched with the personality of the author, in artistic forms of permanent interest.”- Henry Van Dyke. (Added by Kristína K.)

Virginia Woolf: "Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others." (Added by Simona)

          Literature           Genres

https://www.mindmeister.com/1707039410# prepared by Celal S.  

A fable is a story that teaches a moral or a lesson. It often has animal characters. (Kristina )

       Fiction

An autobiography is the story of a person's life written or told by that person. Beytullah

A biography is the story of a person's life written or told by another person.

Fantasy novels are often set in worlds much different from our own and usually include magic, sorcery and mythical creature. Irina

A folktale is a story that has been passed down, usually orally, within a culture. It may be based on superstition and feature supernatural characters.

A myth Is a tradItIonal story that a partIcular culture or group once accepted as sacred and true.  SAra

       Fiction in verse

A legend is a story that has been handed down over generations and is believed to be based on history, though it typically mixes fact and fiction.  Elias

A biography is the story of a person's life written or told by another person.  Salman 

Science fiction stories examine how science and technology affect the world.  Bianca

Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is dramatic art in the way it is represented.

Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable. 

Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the reader. Sara

Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was handed down by word of mouth. Sımona

Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical. Celal

Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by literature that is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. Irına

Mystery-novels, also called detective fiction, follow a detective solving a case from start to finish.

Thriller-novels are dark, mysterious, and suspenseful plot-driven stories.

Historical-fiction novels take place in the past

Romance- centers around love stories between two people

Western-tell the stories of cowboys, settlers, and outlaws exploring the western frontier and taming the American Old West

(added by Bianca D.)

       Literature 

              in 

       your country?

A collection of poems by one of Turkey’s leading poets Gülten Akın, who was also known as “Turkey’s mother poet,” became available in English in 2014 with the publication of What Have You Carried Over?: Poems of 42 Days and Other Works, (2014).  

While Akın did not want to be identified as a “woman poet” or a “feminist” her poetry gives voice to Anatolia’s poor uneducated people, especially women. What Have You Carried Over?: Poems of 42 Days and Other Works is 

a collection of translations of poems Akın wrote between 1956 

and 2008, reflecting on some very traumatic incidents in Turkish 

history, including the aftermath of military coups that took place 

during those decades. 

prepared by Celal S TR

Turkish Literature

Gülten Akın

Necip Fazıl Kısakürek is the one of the most popular poets in Turkey. He was born in 1904 and He died in 1983.

One of his famous poem: "BEKLENEN"

Ne hasta bekler sabahı,        Neither the sick waits for the morning
Ne taze ölüyü mezar.            Nor the grave for the fresh dead
Ne de şeytan, bir günahı ,    Nor Satan for a sin
Seni beklediğim kadar.         As long as I have waited for you.

Geçti istemem gelmeni,       Too late, I don’t want you to come
Yokluğunda buldum seni;    I have found you in your absence
Bırak vehmimde gölgeni     Leave your shadow in my delusion
Gelme, artık neye yarar?      Don’t come, what good is it now?

Literature in your country?

by BeytullahP.

    Mihai Eminescu is one of the greatest poets from Romania. He was also a journalist and a novelist. He was born in 1850 and he died in 1889. His most famous poem is Luceafarul (The Vesper). It is a love poem that has 98 stanzas. This is a fragment from the poem:

      Literature in Romania 

"Iar ea vorbind cu el in somn,

Oftind din greu suspina:

- "O, dulce-al noptii mele domn,

De ce nu vii tu? Vina!

Cobori in jos, luceafar blind,

Alunecind pe-o raza,

Patrunde-n casa si in gind

Si viata-mi lumineaza!"

"And while she is in slumber gone

She murmurs through her sighs:

"Come down to me beloved one,

Fair prince of  clear skies.

Come down, good Lucifer and kind,

O lord of my aspire,

And flood my chamber and my mind

With your sweetest fire!"

prepared by Irina 

    Ion Creangă  (March 1, 1837 – December 31, 1889) was a Moldavian, later Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories.Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and children's literature includes narratives structured around eponymous protagonists ("Harap Alb"), as well as fairy tales indebted to conventional forms ("The Story of the Pig", "The Goat and Her Three Kids",).

      Literature in Romania  

by Bianca D.

    Literature in Spain

José de Espronceda is considered the greatest poet of Romanticism in Spain. He was born in 1808 and died young in 1842. His most famous poem is Canción del pirata (Song of the pirate), a poem about freedom:

Con diez cañones por banda,

viento en popa, a toda vela,

no corta el mar, sino vuela,

un velero bergantín:

Bajel pirata le llamaban,

por su bravura, el Temido,

en todo mar conocido,

del uno al otro confín.

prepared by Elias  

Literature In Spain

Antonio Machado was one of the most important poets on the Spanish literary scene and one of the greatest and youngest exponents of the generation of '98. Was born in July 1875 in Seville, Spain, and died in February 1939. 

He has many well-known poems, one of them is "Campo" (field), a poem that shows love as salvation to states of sadness.

La tarde está muriendo                              The afternoon is dying

como un hogar humilde que se apaga.  like a humble home that is extinguished.

Allá, sobre los montes,                                There, on the mountains,

quedan algunas brasas.                              some embers remain.

Y ese árbol roto en el camino blanco      And that broken tree on the white road

hace llorar de lástima.                                 makes you cry with pity.

                                                                                          by Yasmina Haddach

Literature In Spain SALMAN

LITERATURE IN SPAIN (SARA)

Federico García Lorca: Known for his homosexuality or for having been viciously murdered during the Spanish Civil War, Lorca above all highlights the enormous quality of his work. He was related to many of the most important intellectuals of his time such as Luis Buñuel, Rafael Alberti or Salvador Dalí.

Born: June 5, 1898, Fuente Vaqueros (Spain)

Death: August 18, 1936, Camino de

Víznar to Alfacar, Granada (Spain)

One of his most important works is

Bodas De Sangre (Blood Wedding)

  Literature in Slovakia

Juraj Červenák (born 1974) is a Slovak writer. He publishes in Slovak, Czech and Polish. He lives in Banská Štiavnica. He made his book debut in 1993, and has published more than three dozen books since then. He established himself as the author of historical fantasy with Slavic motifs.

Among the author's most commercially successful works is the cycle of detectives stories Captain Stein and notary Barbarič. It is about the investigation of crimes during the reign of Rudolf II. at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. So far, the series has published the novels The Dead on Hell's Hill, The Blood of the Firstborn,Fire sign, Devil in the Mirror, Wolf and Dagger,  Forest of ghosts and angel in the underworld.

He is the holder of several genre awards, including the Fantasy Award, the Best Fantasy Award or the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Award for the best Czech and Slovak book of the year.

        Added by Kristína K.

           Literature in Slovakia 

Martin Kukučín (1860 - 1928), was a Slovak physician, novelist, playwright and publicist. He was the most important representative of Slovak literary realism, the founder of modern Slovak prose. 

He didn’t live only in Slovakia, he moved to Croatia, Chile. 

Interesting fact is that the asteroid (23444) is named Kukučín in his honor. 

He wrote about ordinary people and their lives in the Slovak villages. In his first storie he wrote about it form the nicer side, but later on he began to write also about the negative phenomena. Among his most popular works are Rysavá Jalovica (Red heifer), Neprebudený (Unawakened), Dies irae, Dom v stráni. Many of his books were filmed. 

(Added by Simona)

Literature on street 

from Spain/Morocco

Literature on street 

from Romania

Literature on street from Romania

Literature on street

from Turkiye

Literature on street

from Turkiye

Folk Tales in your Country

Turkish Folk Tale 

"Keloglan (The Bald Boy) and the Mirror" 

 One day the Aga (the land owner) called Keloğlan for a glass of water, and Keloğlan went to get it for him. In the Aga's room, there was a large mirror, something which Keloglan had never seen before. He noticed that there was another boy in the mirror who jumped to obey the aAga's command, and that other boy seemed to be moving faster than he was. Looking into the mirror, Keloglan shouted, 

"You are trying to please the aga so that he will like you better than he does me!"

Folk Tales in your Country

Keloğlan (The Bald Boy and The fish) 

Two days later when the Aga was not in his room, Keloğlan went there and stood before the mirror. The other boy was there again in the mirror. Keloglan became so annoyed that the other boy mimicked everything that he did that he smashed the mirror into many small pieces. Seeing himself in one of the smaller pieces, Keloğlan became furious. 

"Are you still alive?" he shouted.

Keloğlan (The Bald Boy) is a folkloric  character in Turkiye and 

he is famous all around the World. prepared by Celal.