<story><title>The ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ is not the oldest surviving work of literature</title><url>https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2022/09/22/no-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-is-not-the-oldest-surviving-work-of-literature/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bananarchist</author><text>It sounds like the disagreement here is over the definition of literature. I generally regard wiktionary&amp;#x27;s fourth entry (high fiction) to be its definition, whereas this seems somewhere between that and the second (collected creative writing of a culture). I was shaking my head at most of the examples given. Now I see we are operating from two different foundations.&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is why so many arguments open with the cliche &amp;quot;Webster defines...&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>shireboy</author><text>If you want to converse with me, first define your terms - Voltaire&lt;p&gt;I was taught that Gilgamesh wasn’t the first written work of literature, but the first written work of epic story. I don’t know if this is true, but many of the other works cited are biographies, proverbs, etc.</text></comment>
<story><title>The ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ is not the oldest surviving work of literature</title><url>https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2022/09/22/no-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-is-not-the-oldest-surviving-work-of-literature/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bananarchist</author><text>It sounds like the disagreement here is over the definition of literature. I generally regard wiktionary&amp;#x27;s fourth entry (high fiction) to be its definition, whereas this seems somewhere between that and the second (collected creative writing of a culture). I was shaking my head at most of the examples given. Now I see we are operating from two different foundations.&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is why so many arguments open with the cliche &amp;quot;Webster defines...&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nottorp</author><text>Yeah, most of that list is life advice and religious texts. Then what comes is ... proto Ghilgamesh.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, apparently self improvement books are older than the first fiction :)</text></comment>