ABSTRACT
Interest in the specific characteristics of literature dates from the beginnings of theoretical reflections on this subject; this interest has grown in recent times with the efforts to establish the limits and content of literary studies. Identical questions arise when attempts are made to define a literary work as a work of verbal art. Difficulties with narrative or dramatic prose are conveniently solved by the theory which points to the fictional element as the main discriminant of literature. Literary beyond dispute are those literary genres in which, as if according to Dante’s definition, all three characteristics of “literariness” occur simultaneously (e.g., an epic poem). From a contemporary perspective it seems odd that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was frequently questioned whether lyrics are part of poetry because of the absence of the fictional imitative element.
