belleslettres

Belles-lettres, literally "beautiful letters," is a traditional term for a category of literature valued for its artistic quality and stylistic elegance rather than for information, instruction, or technical utility. The phrase arose in France during the 17th and 18th centuries to distinguish refined, aesthetically oriented writing from works deemed practical, political, or scientific and to mark a concern with form, language, and imaginative effect.

Historically, belles-lettres encompassed poetry, drama, fiction, and literary criticism—texts prized for diction, cadence, and beauty of expression. It implied cultivation, taste, and polish, and it was closely associated with salons, literary journals, and the canon of high culture in European letters. In later usage, the term became more diffuse and is often treated as a historical descriptor rather than a precise genre, signaling a tradition of language-centered art rather than a fixed set of works.

Today some critics view the label as outdated or elitist, arguing that it can obscure the value of writing that is experimental, argumentative, or socially engaged. Nevertheless, "belles-lettres" continues to be used to describe texts admired for their stylistic achievement—across poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism—in which language itself is a central artistic instrument.