belles-lettres

kaunokirjallisuus puhekieltä The humanities.
puhekieltä literature Literature, particularly light compositions valued for their aesthetic properties.
(a.) Henry Reed in the 1878 ed. of Lectures on English Literature, p. 34:

That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’