How Long Have Humans Been Writing and Creating Literature?

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Are you wondering about how long have humans been writing and creating literature? Perhaps you are interested with the evolution of the written works of humanity. If yes, then you came across the right article! Here, you will be presented how long have humans been writing and creating literature and how these literary works had evolved to contemporary written materials.

Historical proofs of early literary works are constantly being studied by a very large number of scholars. The first written material to date was actually written by the Sumerians. However, it is being disputed that these written accounts could not be recognized as literature since they just simple record keepings of the early ancestors of humanity. This is also the case for the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the numerous records that trace it roots to the ancient Chinese regimes.

The greatest dilemma being faced by scholars, whenever they decide to create a structured timeline of the development of literature, the fact that there are a lot of written works that were destroyed and burned during a lot of wars and other events in the history. Therefore, a literary work may come before another one, but will not be recognized since the original text was not found.

Nevertheless, the evolution of literature has really greatly affected humanity. Literature is considered to be the golden thread that ties humanity since it is a common art of human nature. It is a way of expressing the soul, it is a form of communication and it symbolizes the customs, culture, beliefs and way of living of people living in the country where it originated from.

History is proof to the numerous great written works of the ancient time. In China, you will find great works such as "The Art of War" which is written by Sun Tzu, symbolizes the great tactics and army planning of Chinese people. China is also home to the greatest and most well-known philosophers such as Confucius and Lao Tzu who authored influential literary works such as Analects and Tao Te Ching.

Greece is also home to great works of literature. The most famous literary works that originated from Greece includes "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer. Poets like Sappho also brought pride to the Greeks by writing classic poetries. Meanwhile, Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripedes are all known to be the greatest tragedians of Greece. Some of their works include Trojan women, Oedipus the King, Medea, The Bacchae, and Orestia. On the other hand, Aristophanes is popular by creating comedic playwrights.

Well-known Greek philosophers are Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. These three great philosophers had made a great contribution to the evolution of literature by putting their philosophies into written materials. However, some of their works were not recovered due to the several events that happened during their time.

Another Asian country who has a great historical background when it comes to literature is India. The written account of laws and philosophies that are being observed by Indians are compiled on the record known as Vedas. Some of the world-famous epics from India include Ramayana and Mahabharata. These two epics depict the rich culture and history of Indians.

As for the Islamic culture, the most famous literary work "One thousand and one nights" is a compilation of folktales that were told by a Persian queen.

During the renaissance period, the production of literary written materials was improved due to the invention of printing press. From then on, the massive production of written works paved the way for better record keeping and tracing of the evolution of the literary works written after the invention of the printing press.

Websites For Learning All About Literature

  1. American Folk
  2. Bibliomania
  3. Bohemian Ink
  4. Myth Web
  5. The Pulitzer Prizes