kirjanduses

Kirjanduses is the field and practice focused on literature—the study of written artistic works, their creation, form, content, and reception. It covers prose, poetry, drama and other literary forms, examining how texts reflect and shape culture and society and how audiences interpret them. As both an academic discipline and a critical activity, it combines analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary texts.

The field encompasses several subfields and approaches, including kirjandusteooria (literary theory), kirjandushistoria (history of literature), and kirjanduskriitika (literary criticism). It also draws on stylistics, genre theory, narratology, and other frameworks to analyze language, structure, themes, and stylistic devices. Methodologically, scholars use close reading, historical contextualization, comparative and intercultural perspectives, and reception studies to explore texts, authors, movements, and literary traditions.

In practice, kirjanduses is studied in universities, research institutes, libraries, and literary journals. It interacts with language, national identity, and culture, and often situates national literatures—such as Estonian literature—within broader world literatures. The field informs education, publishing, translation, and cultural policy, contributing to an understanding of literary value, heritage, and the role of literature in society.