6
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Literature
Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, “literature” is used to describe anything from creative writing to more
technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and
nonfiction. The word “literature” has different meanings depending on who is using it and in what context. It could be applied broadly to mean any symbolic
record, encompassing everything from images and sculptures to letters. In a more narrow sense the term could mean only text composed of letters, or other
examples of symbolic written languagwe. An even more narrow interpretation is that text have a physical form, such as on paper or some other portable form, to te
exclusion of inscriptions or digital media. Literature is a body of written works related by subject-matter e.g. the
literature of computing, by language or place of origin e.g. Russian literature, or by prevailing cultural standards of merit. In this last sense, ‘literature’ is taken to
include oral, dramatic, and broadcast compositions that may not have been published in written form but which have been or deserve to be preserved. Since
the 19th century, the broader sense of literature as a totality of written or printed works has given way to more exclusive definitions based on criteria of
imaginative, creative, or artistic value, usually related to a work’s absence of factual or practical reference. Until the mid-20
th
century, many kinds of non- fictional writing in philosophy, history, biography, criticism, topography, science,
and politics were counted as literature; implicit in this broader usage is a
7
definition of literature as that body of works which, deserves to be preserved as part of the current reproduction of meanings within a given culture. This sense
seems more tenable than the later attempts to divide literature as creative, imaginative, fictional, or non-practical from factual writings or practically
effective works of propaganda, rhetoric, or didactic writing. According to Simon and Delyse Ryan in Wikipedia, literature is a road
that is much travelled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory. Most attempted definitions are broad and vague, and they inevitably
change overtime. In fact, the only thing that is certain about defining literature is that the definition will change. Concepts of what is literature change over time as
well.
2.2 Play