Representativ

e Text and
Authors from
Europe
E U R O P E A N L I T E R AT U R E known as
We s t e r n Literature is literature
written in Indo-European
l a n g u a g e s a n d r e fl e c t s t h e v a l u e s
and beliefs of the western world.
T h e t r a d i t i o n o f We s t e r n w r i t i n g
covers a period of several
thousand years beginning with
the Asian Greeks and Roman and
c o n t i n u i n g t o d ay.
Europe
EUROPEAN is one of the seven
traditional continents of the Earth.

Europe is sometimes described as

Peninsula of Peninsulas

Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasia

supercontinent and its bordered by
the Arctic Ocean to the North, the
Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the
Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian
Seas to the south.
 The literatures of Europe are compiled in many languages;
among the most important of the modern written works are
those in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese,
German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech, Russian, Macedonian,
the Scandinavian languages, Gaelic and Turkish.

Important classical and medieval European literary traditions

are those in Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Bulgarian, Macedonian,
Old Norse, Medieval French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of
the renaissance.
 PERIODS OF EUROPEAN
LITERATURE
Ancient Period
- The birth of the European Literature can be
traced back to circa 750 BC.

- It was the time when two significant literary

works were developed.

1.The OLD TESTAMENT

• Of the bible which was composed of 39
books in Hebrew languages
• It is made of various genres which include
lyric poem, tales and histories
2. The LLIAD AND THE ODYSSEY which
were associated by Homer

• Scholars believed that the great works of

Greek Literature were amassed over many
years by poets who followed the oral
tradition

• The Old Testaments was undoubtedly very

moralistic and religious, whereas the lliad
and Odyssey told the stories of the brave
actions of Greek Heroes.
 PERIODS OF EUROPEAN
LITERATURE
Old English or Anglo-Saxon Middle English literature
1 . 2 .
(c. 450-1066) (1066–1500)
- Encompasses the surviving - Middle English literature was
literature written in Old English in written in many dialects that
Anglo-Saxon England, in the period corresponded to the region,
after the settlement of the Saxons history, culture, and background of
and other Germanic tribes in individual writers.
England c. 450 and "ending soon
after the Norman Conquest" in o allegorical narrative poem
1066. o drama
o liturgy
o epic poetry o folk tales
o hagiography o Hagiographies
o sermons o historiography
o Bible translations o Bible translations
o Bible translations o Romances
o chronicles
o Riddles
3 .
English Renaissance (1500– 4 .
Elizabethan period (1558–
1660) 1603)
- The English Renaissance turns to - The rise of Edmund Spenser, Sir
be a cultural and artistic Philip Sidney
movement. - William Shakespeare stands out in
- Introduced the sonnet from Italy this period as a poet
to England - Renowned Christopher Marlowe,
and Ben Jonson
o Romances
o allegorical narrative poem o English Renaissance theatre
o drama o Poetry
o folk tales o epic poem
o vernacular literature o songs
o vernacular liturgy o Tragedy
o sonnet o romances
o Bible translations o tragicomedies
5 .
Jacobean period (1603– 6 .
Late Renaissance (1625–
1625) 1660)
- The birth of Shakespeare’s written - Rise of the second generation
genre "problem plays" and tragedy metaphysical poets
- popularized the English sonnet - The birth of allegory and classical
allusions, and epic works
o problem play
o tragedies o Metaphysical poem
o revenge play o allegory and classical allusions
o Romance o epic
o English sonnet
o Metaphysical poem
7 .
Restoration Age (1660– 8 .
Age of Romanticism (1798–
1700) 1837)
- the pioneering of literary criticism - originated artistic, literary, and
- The presentation of John Milton’s intellectual movement in
religious flux and political upheaval - landscape is often prominent in the
and his epic poem poetry of this period so much so that
the Romantics, especially perhaps
o sexual comedy play Wordsworth, are often described as
o moral wisdom prose 'nature poets
o literary criticism narratives
o epic poem o elegy
o satirical verse o metrical romance
o fiction and journalism o dramatic monologue
o political and economic writing o Romantic novel
o philosophical themes o historical novel
o allegory o nature poem
o novel o romantic poem
o long fiction o poetry and visual arts
o fictional biographies o Sonnet
o Romance fiction o Lyrical Ballad
o drama
o comedy
9 .
Victorian literature (1837–
1901)
- the novel became the leading literary
genre in English
- Charles Dickens emerged on the
literary scene
- Introduction of detective novel in the o science fiction
English language. o realistic fiction
- Development of science fiction o Romanticism
novels and realistic fiction o ghost story
o horror story
o vampire literature
o horror fiction
o invasion literature
o short stories
o Literature for children
o poetry
o dramatic monologue
o musical burlesques
o comic operas
o novel
o feminist novels
o literary realism
1 0 .
Modernism (1901–2000)
- English literary modernism
developed in the early twentieth-
century
- lyric poet and major novels
evolved
- maintained a conservative o Modernist poetry in English
approach to poetry by combining o Conservatism
romanticism, sentimentality and o Impressionism
hedonism. o lyric poetry
- The emergence of British writer of o feminism
the early years of the twentieth- o allegorical novel
century Rudyard Kipling o television plays

o Radio drama
o genre fiction
o fantasy
o science fiction
o short stories
o detective novels
o thriller writing
o comic science fiction
o darkly comic fantasy
o children's novels
 Representative texts and authors from
Europe Literature of the Ancient Greece:

Sophocles
 “Oedipus the King”
Sophocles
“Oedipus the King” is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright
Sophocles, first performed in about 429 BCE. It was the second of
Sophocles’ three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in
the internal chronology (followed by “Oedipus at Colonus” and then
“Antigone”.

It follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he

has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own
mother, Jocasta. Over the centuries, it has been regarded by many as
the Greek tragedy par excellence and certainly as the summit of
Sophocles’ achievements.
England- Age of Restoration (1660–1700)

John Milton

was an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for
the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later
under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and
political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost
(1667), written in blank verse, and widely considered to be one of the
greatest works of literature ever written.
England- Age of Restoration (1660–1700)

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost has two narrative arcs, one about Satan (Lucifer) and
the other following Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other
rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, also called in
the poem, Tartarus. In Pandaemonium, the capital city of Hell, Satan
employs his rhetorical skill to organize his followers; he is aided by
Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also present. At the
end of the debate, Satan volunteers to corrupt the newly created
Earth and God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind. He
braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of
Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traversal of the Chaos outside
Hell, he enters God's new material World, and later the Garden of
Eden.
 17th Century Russian Literature

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy)

usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who

is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time, He received
multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from
1902 to 1906 and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902
and 1910.

Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, he is best known for

the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877), often
cited as pinnacles of realist fiction.
 17th Century Russian Literature

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy tracks the life of aristocrat Anna

Karenina and her tryst with Count Vronsky. The novel is staged in the
late nineteenth century at the height of major political and social
changes in Russia. Anna Karenina includes dozens of characters that
portray a realistic account of Russian society during this period.
 Literary text and authors from
21 Literary
Century
st
Works

1.First Love, Last Rites (1975)

• A collection of short stories and had won
Ian Somerset Maugham Award in 1976
McEwa 2. The Child in Time (1987)
n • A fictional novel which won the Prix
Femina Etranger (1993)and Germany’s
Shakespeare Prize (1999)
3. Atonement (2001)
• British metafictional novel which receives
various awards
He is an English • WH Smith Literary Award (2002)
novelist and • National Book Critic’s Circle Fiction Award
screenwriter (2003)
• Los Angeles Time Prize for Fiction (2003)
• Santiago Prize for European Novel (2004)
 Literary text and authors from
21 Century
st

Literary Works
1.White Teeth (2000)
ZADIE
• Was described by James Wood as
SMITH
“hysterical realism” in 2000
2.On Beauty (2005)
• Was short –listed for the Booker Prize
and won the 2006 Orange Prize for
fiction
3.NW (2012)
She is a British • Was short-listed for the Ondaatje
novelist and Prize and the Women’s Prize for
essayist fiction
Literary text and authors from
21 Century
st

She is an award
winning French
novelist and has
published several
novels for adults.
Delphine de Vigan
 Literary text and authors from
21 Century
st

Literary Works

1.“No et moi” (No and me) (2007)

• Was awarded as The Booksellers’
Prize in France in 2008
2.“Rein ne s’oppose a la nuit”
.(Nothing Holds Back the Night)
(2011)
• Autobiographical novel which
Delphine de V i g a brought
n her a set of awards
 Literary text and authors from
21 Century
st

Born as Michel
Thomas. He is a
controversial and
award-winning French
novelist.
Michel
Houellebecq
 Literary text and authors from
21 Century
st

Literary Works

1.“La Carte et le Territoire” (2010)

“The Map and the Territory” (2010)

• Received the most prestigious

French Literary prize (Prix
Goncourt) in 2010
Michel
Houellebecq
 End.

-Teacher Chrisdel