Introduction to European Literature who wrote Canterbury Tales.

 These, and other literary

masterpieces form part of what we call as Western
Canon.
Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the
Earth. Physically and geologically , Europe is the
westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe The list of works in the Western Canon varies according
is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west to the critic’s opinions on Western culture and the relative
by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean importance of its defining characteristics. The Great
Sea, to the southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and Books of the Western World  is an attempt to present the
the Black Sea and the waterways connecting the Black western canon in a single package of 60 volumes.
Sea to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is
generally divided from Asia by the water divide of the Indo-European Languages and Literatures
Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and by the Caspian Sea. The common literary heritage is essentially that
See map above for more details originating in ancient Greece and Rome. It was
preserved, transformed, and spread by Christianity and
European literature refers to the literature of Europe. thus transmitted to the vernacular languages of the
European literature includes literature in many European Continent, the Western Hemisphere, and other
languages; among the most important of the modern regions that were settled by Europeans.
written works are those in English, Spanish, French,
Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech To the present day, this body of writing displays a unity in
and Russian and works by the Scandinavians and Irish. its main features that sets it apart from the literatures of
Important classical and medieval traditions are those in the rest of the world. The languages may be varied due
Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse , Medieval French and to geographical distances but they share a common
the Italian Tuscan dialect of the renaissance. sense of identity bound by a common sense of ancestry.
Some of the European languages include:
European literature, also known as Western literature,
is the literature written in the context of Western culture in 1. Greek,
the languages of Europe, as several geographically or
historically related languages. Diverse as they are, 2. Latin,
European literatures, like Indo-European languages, are 3. Germanic,
parts of a common heritage belonging to a race of proud 4. Baltic,
nations which boast the likes of Homer who
5. Slavic,
wrote Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil who wrote
the Aeneid, Dante who wrote Divine Comedy, Chaucer 6. Celtic, and
7. Romance languages are all members of the Indo- Influential works of the Ancient Literature include but not
European family. limited to:
8. Finnish,
 The Epic of Gilgamesh – the world’s oldest epic
9. Hungarian, and
 The Code of Hammurabi – the world’s first codified
10. Semitic languages of the eastern Mediterranean,
law
such as Hebrew, are not Indo-European.
 The Book of the Dead – the compilation of
The common literary heritage is essentially that
Egyptian pantheon, rituals
originating in ancient Greece and Rome. It was
preserved, transformed, and spread by Christianity and  The Holy Bible – the sacred scriptures of Jews
thus transmitted to the vernacular languages of the  Iliad and Odyssey – the epics of Greece
European Continent, the Western Hemisphere, and other  Metamorphoses – the compilation of Roman
regions that were settled into by the Europeans. To the mythology and culture
present day, this body of writing displays a unity in its
main features that sets it apart from the literatures of the  Aeneid – the Epic of Rome
rest of the world.
Medieval Literature
The Divisions of European Literature
The Fall of the Roman Empire marked the beginning of
Ancient Literature the Medieval or Middle Ages. Also known as Dark
Ages, due to the prevailing conditions during this period,
This covers the five ancient civilizations
barbarian invasion and Muslim conquests marked this
of Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome inclu
era. Wars, famine, plagues and decline in culture and
ding the culture of the Israelites in Palestine—each
learning.
came into contact with one or more of the others not
necessarily in order but essentially by the influence each
The use of vellum (goat skin paper), parchment  (sheep
exerted over the others.
skin paper), and wooden tablets covered in green or
black wax to fashion books which are more durable than
The use of clay tablets, papyrus paper scrolls paved the
scrolls became widespread. Hence, the greatest number
way for the writing of the Holy Scriptures which is very
of books published during this era were bound with plain
much influential in European literature. Likewise, songs,
wooden boards, or with simple tooled leather for more
poems, fables, anecdotes and parables were all
expensive volumes.
invented during this period.
The popular books during this period include but not  Johannes Gutenberg – invented the movable type
limited to: printing press
 Desiderius Erasmus – initiated the Humanism
 King Arthur – Geoffrey of Monmouth Movement
 Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer  Martin Luther – initiated the Reformation in Europe
 History of British People – Venerable Bede  Christopher Columbus – discovered the New
 Divine Comedy – Alighieri Dante World (the Americas)
 Beowulf – Anglo-Saxon tradition  Christopher Marlowe – wrote Doctor Faustus
 Norse Mythology – Norse Tradition
 City of God – St. Augustine of Hippo 17th Century Literature
The 17th century was a period of unceasing disturbance
Renaissance Literature and violent storms, no less in literature than in politics
and society. The great question of the century, which
The term Renaissance (rebirth or revival) is given to the confronted serious writers from John Donne to John
historical period in Europe that succeeded the Middle Dryden, was Michel de Montaigne’s What do I know?
Ages. This period marked the reawakening of a new spirit
of intellectual and artistic inquiry, which was the dominant
This includes the ascertainment of the grounds and
feature of this political, religious, and philosophical
relations of knowledge, faith, reason, and authority in
phenomenon, was essentially a revival of the spirit of
religion, metaphysics, ethics, politics, economics, and
ancient Greece and Rome.
natural science. Hence, this period is also known as Age
of Reason.
In literature this meant a new interest in and analysis
of the great classical writers. Scholars searched for
Some monumental European masterpieces were written
and translated lost ancient texts, whose dissemination
during this period including but are not limited to:
was much helped by developments in printing in Europe
from about 1450. Written short
 Discourse on Methods – Rene Descartes
stories, novella and tales were born in this period.
 Pensees – Blaise Pascal
Influential persons during this era include but are not  Complete Essays – Francis Bacon
limited to:  Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes
 Iphigenie – Jean Racine  Elegy written in a country churchyard – Thomas
 Absalom – John Dryden Gray
 The Tragedies – William Shakespeare  Candide – Voltaire
 Don Quixote – Miguel De Cervantes  Social Contract Theory – Jean Jacques Rousseau
 Life is a Dream – Pedro Calderon  Poems of Scottish Dialect – Robert Burns
 Paradise Lost – John Milton  The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
 A Dictionary of the English Language – Samuel
18th Century Literature Jonson
The 18th century was marked by two main
impulses: reason and passion. The respect paid to 19th Century Literature
reason was shown in pursuit of order, symmetry,
decorum, and scientific knowledge. The cultivation of The 19th century was one of the most vital and
the feelings stimulated philanthropy, exaltation of interesting periods of all. This period has special interest
personal relationships, religious fervor, and the cult as the formative era from which many modern literary
of sentiment, or sensibility. conditions and tendencies derived. Influences that had
their origins or were in development in this period
In literature the rational impulse fostered satire, – Romanticism, Symbolism, Realism.
argument, wit, plain prose. The other inspired the
psychological novel and the poetry of the These literary movements are reflected in the current of
sublime. Novel and satire were born in this period. modern literature, and many social and economic
characteristics of the 20th century were determined in the
World-class masterpieces were written during this period. 19th.
Some of them include:
The literary giants who stood out during this period
 Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe include:
 A Tale of the Tub – Jonathan Swift
 William Wordsworth – Lyrical Ballads
 An Essay on Understanding – Alexander Pope
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Rime of the Ancient
 Encyclopedie – Denis Diderot
Mariner
 John Keats – Ode to Psyche
 Percy Bysshe Shelley – Ode to the West Wind context, as writers divided into those supporting political
 Lord Byron – Don Juan commitment in their writing and those reacting
conservatively against such a domination of art by
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment
politics.
 Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility
 Guy de Maupassant – The Diamond Necklace Some of the topnotch writers during this period include:
 George Eliot – Middlemarch
 Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness
 Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities
 L. Frank Baum – Wizard of Oz
 Thomas Hardy – Desperate Remedies
 Rudyard Kipling – Jungle Book
 Leo Tolstoy – War and Peace
 Jack London – Call of the Wild
 Anton Chekhov – Cherry Orchard
 Henry James – The Golden Bowl
 Henrik Ibsen – Enemy of the People
 H.G. Wells – War of the Worlds
 Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary
 Gertrude Stein – Three Lives
 Ivan Turgenev – Fathers and Sons
 Ezra Pound – Exultations
 Emile Zola – La Comedie Humaine
 D.H. Lawrence – The Trespasser
 Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities
20th Century Literature  Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes
The 20th century features an interest in  John Galsworthy – Quality
the unconscious and the irrational was reflected in their  James Joyce – Ulysses
work and that of others of about this time. This period
 Virginia Woolf – Mrs. Dalloway
marked an increasing sense of crisis and urgency,
doubts as to the 19th century’s faith in  T.S. Eliot – The Waste Land
the psychological stability of  Aldous Huxley – Kangaroo
the individual personality, and a deep questioning of  Franz Kafka – Metamorphosis
all philosophical or religious solutions to human
problems.  Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
 Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot
In the 1930s these qualities of 20th-century thought were
not abandoned but, rather, were expanded into a political