1. the quality of being literary; the characteristics that make something literary in nature or style
Usage: academic; literary criticism

Examples

• The professor discussed the literariness of the novel’s complex narrative structure.
• Critics debated the literariness of popular fiction versus high literature.
• The poem’s literariness was evident in its sophisticated use of metaphor.
• Scholars analyze the literariness of texts to understand their artistic merit.
• The author’s background in poetry added a certain literariness to her prose.
• The literariness of the work distinguished it from mere entertainment.