literarisch
literary
Relating to literature, written works, or poetry.
EXAMPLE
Sie gewann einen bedeutenden literarischen Preis für ihren Roman.
She won an important literary prize for her novel.
literarisch
literary
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Meanings
literarisch
literary
In the style of poetry or elevated prose; artfully and linguistically sophisticated in wording.
EXAMPLE
Sein Briefwechsel ist von hohem literarischem Wert.
His correspondence is of great literary value.
Usage tips
Word family
The adjective 'literarisch' (literary) belongs to the word family of 'die Literatur' (literature). It describes everything that has to do with books, poetry, and the written word as an art form.
EXAMPLE
Er interessiert sich sehr für die deutsche Literatur und für literarische Debatten.
He is very interested in German literature and in literary debates.
Context clue
The word has two closely related meanings. It can refer to the subject of literature, for example 'ein literarischer Wettbewerb' (a literary competition). But it can also describe the artful style of something that is not necessarily literature, for example 'ein literarisch wertvoller Brief' (a letter of literary value).
EXAMPLE
Sie analysiert eine literarische Figur aus einem Roman von Goethe.
She analyzes a literary character from a novel by Goethe.
Typical collocations
Common combinations are 'literarische Gattung' (literary genre, e.g. novel, poem), 'literarische Epoche' (literary period, e.g. Romanticism, Enlightenment), and 'literarische Figur' (literary character).
EXAMPLE
Der Roman ist eine wichtige literarische Gattung des 19. Jahrhunderts.
The novel is an important literary genre of the 19th century.
Compare with
literarisch vs sprachlich
linguistic
Sprachlich anspruchsvoll evaluates how a text is written, for example its choice of words and sentence structure. Literarisch anspruchsvoll can refer to the same linguistic quality, but additionally places the writing in the context of literary art or elevated prose. Use sprachlich for questions of expression alone; for a literary quality, use literarisch.
literarisch
Die Rezension lobt die Passage als literarisch anspruchsvolle Prosa.
The review praises the passage as sophisticated literary prose.
sprachlich
Im Sprachkurs untersuchen wir, warum dieselbe Passage sprachlich anspruchsvoll formuliert ist.
In the language course, we examine why the same passage is written in such sophisticated language.
In real life
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