Literature
In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and nonfiction.
One of the earliest know literary works is the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem dated around 2100 BC, which deals with themes of heroism, friendship, loss, and the quest for eternal life. Early works often had an overt or covert religious or didactic purpose. Romance flourished during the Middle Ages onwards, whereas the Age of Reason manufactured nationalistic epics and philosophical tracts.
