Characters from literature (7)
I believe the answer is:
letters
I believe this is a double definition.
'characters' is the first definition.
(letter is a kind of character)
'literature' is the second definition.
(thesaurus)
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for letters that I've seen before include "Items of mail" , "Written notes" , "Epistles" , "Characters" , "academic credentials" .)