What is literature?

Grade 5 Russian Literature topic: Section I “Verbal creativity” — “What is literature?” and “Native literature and world literature” (E. E. Ozmitel, L. E. Yakovleva, pp. 4–8). Literature is verbal creativity. The Latin word «litera» means “letter”, so the synonyms of «литература» are «письменность» (writing) and «книги» (books). Fiction is a form of art in which the author's thoughts and feelings are expressed in words, by means of language. Primitive times, before writing, are the childhood of literature. In the old days texts were written by hand on stone, wood, papyrus, birch bark and animal skins. The Library of Alexandria held about 700,000 scrolls, the Matenadaran about 3–4 thousand manuscripts. Paper was invented in China. Ch. Aitmatov's books have been translated into 180 languages, and A. S. Pushkin is called the creator of the modern Russian literary language.