ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the basic traits and activities that define literature, such as the reading and writing of text and how text and images can be integrated. Text and static images have a lot in common in the material and sensorial modalities: they appear on flat surfaces, are perceived visually and are primarily spatial in the material modality. The use of technical media and basic media types, whether we use text or speech, publish a printed book or share texts in social media, shapes our understanding of what kind of stories can be told and which kind of experiences and memories and feelings can be expressed. Telling stories and appealing lyrically to an audience is something that people do in stand-up comedy shows and spoken poetry, or during professional storytelling. These are all contemporary qualified media types of oral traditions with its own social contexts, conventions, festivals and prizes.
