A lot of people starting to learn English literature often ask how extensive English literature is. It is not something not useful to ask about it because there have been various answers as well as different opinions about it.
We have to admit that most of common people knowing nothing about literature believe that English literature is literature written and/or published in the UK and US. Meanwhile, many other people consider it as any literary work written in English language. It makes sense but is not a totally accurate perception.
First off, English literature MUST BE WRITTEN in English language.
The language is a key to defining English literature. It means it is not an English literary work if not originally written in English language. It also means that any literary work translated into English cannot be seen as an example of English literary works.
Automatically, it also becomes an answer to the question "is English literature only limited to literature in the UK and US?", because there are a lot of non-British and non-American authors who write literary works in English Language.
Does it mean that all literary works written in English are works of English literature?
It is, of course, not. It is not only the language the aspect to consider when you are trying to define English literature. We also need to take into account the social, historical, and political aspects of the authors/writers and also the countries to which the belong.
In other works, where (in what country) the work is written and who writes it should be taken into account when defining English literature.
- English literature is written in a country or area that belongs to the British Empire and/or was a part of the Empire in the past.
- It includes countries in the British Isles, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland (Republic of Ireland is usually excluded due to its separation from the United Kingdom in early 1920s)
- It includes the US
- It includes some British Commonwealth s
