Ask ten people what literature is, and you'll get ten different answers. Some will say novels and poetry. Others will throw in plays, essays, even song lyrics if they're feeling generous. The truth is literature has never had tidy borders. It's writing that tries to do more than just relay information; it wants you to feel something, notice something, or walk away seeing the world a little differently than you did an hour ago.

People have been telling stories since long before anyone wrote them down. Homer's epics were recited aloud for generations before they were ever put to paper. The same goes for countless folk tales, religious texts, and oral histories across every culture on Earth. Writing just gave those stories a way to survive intact, to travel across centuries without losing their shape in the retelling. That's part of why........

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