the.com/literature
Language that got edited enough times to outlive its author.
means Written works, especially those valued for their artistic or intellectual merit, that endure beyond their moment of creation.
from From Latin 'litteratura,' meaning writing or grammar, itself built from 'littera' — a letter of the alphabet. For a long time it simply meant being well-read or literate in letters generally; only later did it narrow to mean the polished, lasting body of written art we shelve and study today.
- original meaning
- literacy itself, not quality writing
- gatekeeping shift
- 18th century narrowed it to imaginative works
- oldest surviving
- Epic of Gilgamesh, roughly 4000 years old
- nobel category
- only prize judged on taste, not proof