The basic elements of literature are: knowledge with historical value and research value; A system for expressing and recording certain meanings. People usually understand that literature refers to the sum of knowledge recorded in books, periodicals and laws.
Literature is the most effective means of recording, accumulating, spreading and inheriting knowledge, the most basic and main source of information in human social activities, and the most basic means of information exchange and dissemination.
Extended data:
The content of the literature reflects the knowledge level of people in a certain social and historical stage; The existing forms of documents (such as recording means, writing materials, composition and communication methods, etc.). ) were influenced and restricted by the development level of social science, technology and culture at that time.
For example, before the invention of paper, the ancients in China could only make records on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bamboo slips and silk books; Before the invention of block printing, the ancients could only record documents by hand.
However, it was on the basis of the accumulation of experience in the primary and primitive stage of literature that paper and block printing were invented, which made the recording method of literature more convenient, more widely spread and faster.