Strict adherence to the explicit or literal meaning of words or text, without allowance for metaphor, exaggeration, or figurative interpretation.
Biblical literalism insists that the six days of creation were twenty-four-hour periods.
An artistic or literary approach that seeks to depict subjects in a straightforward, factual, and lifelike manner, avoiding symbolism or stylistic distortion.
The novelist’s literalism left little room for the reader’s imagination.