Difference Between History and Literature
Main difference
The main difference between History and Literature is that History is the occurrence of events in the past while Literature is an artistic expression about society and life.
History vs. Literature
History is the occasion or event that happened in the past, while literature is the written material of an artist in the past or even the present. Formed by events that happen, there is history, while literature can be an invention of any event or imagination of the truth that has been written.
The study of past events is known as history, while the study of a person’s written work is literature.
History deals with facts and information, but literature is fiction. In history, methodologies such as statistical interference, criticism of the source, arguments of analogy are used, while in the reading of literature, critical appreciation and decoding.
Comparison chart
| History | Literature |
| A study of the past is called history. | The study of written work is called literature. |
| Content | |
| It’s about facts and information. | It is mainly about the imagination of the authors, literary devices, fiction, etc. |
| Accuracy | |
| Written records are considered an accurate historical source. | Written works often contain fiction; therefore, it may not be considered an accurate source in the literature. |
| Methodologies | |
| Methodologies such as statistical interference, criticism of sources, arguments by analogy, etc. are used. | Methodologies such as reading, critical appreciation and decoding are used. |
| events | |
| Talk about past events. | It tells us about the artistic events of the past. |
What is History?
History describes how the past narrates human beings. Achievements, happenings, events, etc. of the general population relate to history.
A theme that deals with written materials, mainly about the past: through these written materials many truths about the past way of life can be reached. The occurrence of events that take place in certain blocks of time, the story is often in focus, and to facilitate grouping, the historian gives the names. According to social history, geographical locations, history can be further studied. Historian is a person who studies and researches history and provides written material about it. Prehistory means a period before records are provided in writing.
According to Marxist theory, there are five segments of the history of primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, and socialism.
story types
- Cultural history – branch of history that deals with cultural analysis and customs of the past
- Diplomatic History : Focuses on the study of world relations between nations.
- Political history : This branch of history is the narration of the valuation of political affairs.
- Intellectual History : This is about personal dealings and how records developed.
- Social story: The social story is the section of the story that looks at the lived familiarity of the precedent. It focuses on a variety of community norms, such as standard forms, live clients, disciplines, status, etc. of people along with demographics.
- Economic History – Focuses on the cramming of economies as well as past monetary phenomena.
What is literature?
Simply put, literature is a written work that can be studied. Throughout history, various definitions defined literature. Literature is an artistic work in written form, especially with a high and lasting artistic value according to the definition of the Cambridge dictionary.
In various ways, literature can be classified, i.e. pros versus poetry or fiction versus non-fiction. Other primary forms are the story, the novel and the drama. Thoughts and creativity are elements of literature.
To improve the quality of literary work, many authors use a variety of literary devices. For the beginning of the literature, isolating is an additional challenge.
types of literature
- Biography : It is the story about the life of a person, which is written by another person. Autobiography: The story about a person’s life written by himself.
- Fantasy – Novels written in different words by ourselves are fantasy novels.
- Fable – Frequently based on mammalian characters.
- Folktale – A folktale may be based on a fallacy and feature supernatural characters. Surrounded by culture, it has been agreed, usually verbally. Includes fairy tales and swindles and many other stories.
- Myth : The story about tradition in a particular culture accepted as pure and sacred. A myth can be the midpoint of mystical beings and make it clear how impressive it can be, like lightning or the world itself.
- Legend – Typically mixes current affairs and creative writing. A story that has been handed down to more than just different generations is supposed to be history.
- Science Fiction – Technology and science affects the world and examines some science fiction.
Key differences
- History is the occurrence of events in the past, while literature is the artistic expression in the past.
- A study of the past is history, while literature is the study of written work that occurs in the past.
- History deals with facts and information; meanwhile, literature deals mainly with the imagination of the authors.
- In history, written records are considered an accurate source; on the other hand, literature often contains fiction.
Final Thought
History is the study of past events, while literature is an artistic work on fictional and non-fictional stories.