European Literature
What is European Literature?
European literature is a broad term covering the literary works produced in
Europe, spanning many centuries, languages, and genres. It includes some of the
world's oldest literary traditions, from the epic poetry of ancient Greece and Rome
to the modernist and postmodernist movements of the 20th century. Known for its
rich diversity and profound influence on world literature, European literature has
been the source of numerous stylistic innovations, narrative forms, and
philosophical ideas.
Origin of European
Literature
Origin of European Literature
European literature can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome, where epic
poems such as Homer's "Iliad" and Virgil's "Aeneid" were written. Medieval
literature, including works such as Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Geoffrey
Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," emerged during the Middle Ages. The Renaissance
saw a revival of classical literature and the emergence of humanist writers such as
William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.
A History of
European Literature
European literature can be divided into various periods based on stylistic, thematic, and
cultural shifts. These include:
Ancient Period 750BC - 450
Classical Period 450 - 1066
Medieval Period 1066 - 1500
Renaissance Period 1485 - 1680
Age of Reason 1650 - 1800
Romantic Period 1798 - 1870
Modernism 1870 - 1965
Post-Modernism Period 1965 - present
Each period is marked by distinct literary styles, themes, and genres that reflect the
historical and cultural contexts of the times. European literature began in ancient Greece
nearly three thousand years ago and followed the twists and turns of European history.
The Classical Period
Literary activity has existed in Europe since ancient times, with the societies of
the ancient Greeks and Romans generally considered the birthplace of Western
literary tradition.
The earliest surviving European works from this period are the classical Greek
epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, dating from the 8th century BCE and
attributed to the poet Homer (c. 8th century BCE). Nearly 3,000 years later, modern
audiences still read these works, significantly influencing European literature.
By the time the Romans conquered Greece in the 2nd century BCE, the major
categories of literature that we know today, including drama, poetry, prose fiction,
history, philosophy, and biography, were already well established.
The Classical Period
Many of these were divided into genres with clearly defined rules and
conventions, such as comedy and tragedy in drama.
Ancient Roman writers working in Latin began to emulate Greek style, structure,
and subject matter in their own work. Over the centuries, the Romans began to
find their own voice and step away from mere imitations of Greek literature,
particularly in the fields of poetry and comic theatre.
By the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, Christianity had become widespread throughout
the Roman Empire, and religious morality began to make itself apparent in
European texts.
Did You Know?
Did you know? The oldest known intact book in Europe is a
copy of the Gospel of St. John. It dates from c. 698 and
was found remarkably well-preserved in the coffin of St.
Cuthbert.
The Middle Ages
The fall of the Roman Empire in 467 CE marked a turning point in the history of
European literature. The Roman Catholic Church had spread throughout Europe
thanks to the reach of the Roman Empire, and the Church remained the primary
intellectual institution of the Medieval period. Because of this, many of the
surviving texts from the Middle Ages are religious in nature, including hymns,
theological writings, and so-called mystery plays, which usually depicted Biblical
stories.
In addition to religious texts, the Middle Ages also produced secular literature,
although in smaller quantities.
The Middle Ages
Many of these texts, such as the Welsh Y Gododdin (7th-11th century) and the Old
English Beowulf (700-1000 AD) were based on myths or histories that had been
recounted orally for centuries but were finally written down during the Middle
Ages. Oftentimes, these stories were altered by the Christian scholars who
transcribed them. They added Christian influences that would not have been
present in the original story's oral tradition, thus altering the historical record that
remains of these ancient pieces of literature.
There was also a limited amount of secular prose and poetry produced across
Europe. Drama also regained popularity, particularly towards the end of the Middle
Ages.
The Renaissance
The Renaissance saw an explosion of artistic and cultural activity emerging from
years of plague, famine, and political instability that marked the late Middle Ages.
Beginning in Italy in the 14th century and slowly spreading across Europe,
numerous discoveries in science, astrology, and geography brought sweeping
changes to society. A growing interest in humanist philosophy caused
intellectuals to revisit the classical works of antiquity. The texts of the ancient
Greeks and Romans, largely forgotten during the Middle Ages, began to inspire a
new generation of European writers.
Around 1440, the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing
press, allowing literature to be reproduced and distributed on a previously
unimaginable scale.
The Renaissance
Poetry flourished in France with the Pléiade group, and the Spanish Miguel de
Cervantes (1547-1616) wrote Don Quixote (1605), widely considered the first
example of the modern novel.
Drama was also a significant literary form during the Renaissance, particularly in
Elizabethan England, where William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was busy
establishing himself as one of the greatest English-language writers of all time
with plays that are still widely read and performed today, such as Romeo and
Juliet (1597) and Hamlet (1599-1601).
The Enlightenment and Romanticism
During the Enlightenment, the volume of printed material significantly increased
across Europe. Society placed greater importance on reason, individuality, and
education.
Accordingly, science and philosophy heightened, and great thinkers such as
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704), and Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) produced some of the Enlightenment period’s most
influential texts. Works like Hobbes' The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
(1640), Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), and
Rousseau's The Social Contract (1762) remain some of the most influential texts in
the canon of Western philosophy.
By the end of the 18th century, however, European writers began to reject the
rationalism of the Enlightenment in favor of sentimentality and imagination.
The Enlightenment and Romanticism
Starting in Germany in the late 1700s and emphasizing individual expression in art
and individual rights in politics, Romanticism had become Europe’s dominant
literary and artistic movement by the beginning of the 19th century.
Romantic writers such as Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832), and William Blake (1757-1827) emphasized the power of emotions, the
beauty of nature, and importance of giving the imagination free rein. Works like
Hugo's Les Miserables (1862) and Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience
(1794) are frequently studied to understand the cultural, morally philosophical,
theological, and social views of the early-to-mid nineteenth century, with texts like
Les Miserables important for critiquing French politics after the French
Revolution.
Definition
Romanticism was a literary movement that emphasized
individuality and strong emotions, idealized nature, and
explored universal themes such as love and loss.
DYK?
European Romanticism influenced a similar yet distinct
literary movement in the United States. American
Romanticism, commonly referred to as the first truly
American literary movement, emphasized the newness and
optimism of the western frontier and hope for the new
country.
Realism
By the mid-19th century, Realism had overtaken Romanticism as authors rejected
idealization in favor of a realistic, if often bleak, depiction of everyday life. First
published in 1856, Madame Bovary by the French Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) is
generally seen as the herald of this new literary movement. Intensely focused on
the mundane details and dissatisfactions of Madame Bovary’s bourgeois life, the
novel marked a sharp contrast from the sweeping romanticization and idealism of
the Romantic period.
Authors across Europe, including Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Henrik Ibsen (1828-
1906), and Charles Dickens (1812-1870) followed Flaubert’s example, using
literature to depict daily life and critique society and middle-class morality.
Definition
Realism was a literary movement beginning in the mid-19th
century where authors sought to depict life as realistically
as possible.
Modernism
Towards the end of the 19th century, Realism gave way to Modernism, a literary
movement that continued the Realist tradition of social critique but focused on the
form and style of writing instead of plot and content. This resulted in a variety of
new narrative techniques, including stream-of-consciousness narration, non-
linear storylines, and multiple viewpoints.
Writers like James Joyce (1882-1941), Franz Kafka (1883-1924), and Virginia Woolf
(1882-1941) set a prescient for experimentation that would carry on into the 21st
century. Modernist writers also explored the effects of Industrialisation, war, and
new technologies on society.
Modernism
Towards the end of the 19th century, Realism gave way to Modernism, a literary
movement that continued the Realist tradition of social critique but focused on the
form and style of writing instead of plot and content. This resulted in a variety of
new narrative techniques, including stream-of-consciousness narration, non-
linear storylines, and multiple viewpoints.
Writers like James Joyce (1882-1941), Franz Kafka (1883-1924), and Virginia Woolf
(1882-1941) set a prescient for experimentation that would carry on into the 21st
century. Modernist writers also explored the effects of Industrialisation, war, and
new technologies on society.
Modernism
Famous modernist texts include:
• Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899)
• T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland (1922)
• James Joyce's Ulysses (1920)
• Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" (1922)
• Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu (1922 English Trans.)
• Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway (1925)
Definition
Modernism was a literary movement of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Authors were inspired to break away
from past literary conventions and play with their work’s
form, style, and structure.
Postmodernism and Contemporary Literature
The end of World War II in 1945 generally marks the start of the Postmodern period
and the beginning of the contemporary era. Postmodern authors used techniques
like intertextuality, parody, and metafiction to continue and expand the literary
experimentation that began with Modernism.
In European literature, many sub-movements among Postmodern authors, such as
the Theatre of the Absurd, developed in reaction to the senselessness of World
War II. The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is often cited as one of the
most important figures in the Theatre of the Absurd movement, with his modern
classic Waiting for Godot (1953) capturing the essential themes of existentialism
and the meaninglessness of life.
Definition
Intertextuality is a literary convention where an author uses
various techniques, including quotes, allusions, and more,
to refer to and connect their text to another.
Parody is an exaggerated imitation of a work or style for
comedic effect and to mock or draw attention to specific
elements of a text.
Metafiction is a literary technique where the author draws
attention to the constructed nature of the text itself.
Theatre of the Absurd was a literary movement in the
1950s and 60s. Plays from this movement believed that life
was essentially meaningless.
Famous Works and
Authors
Famous Works and Authors
Prominent literary pieces and noteworthy writers from the European canon
include William Shakespeare's plays such as "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet,"
Jane Austen's novels like "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility,"
Charles Dickens's social critiques in "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities,"
Fyodor Dostoevsky's psychological explorations in "Crime and Punishment" and
"The Brothers Karamazov," and Gabriel García Márquez's magical realism in "One
Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera." These literary
giants have left an indelible mark on the literary landscape of Europe and beyond.
Examples
Classical Greek and Roman Literature
Many works of literature from ancient Greece and Rome are still widely read.
• The Iliad (c. 8th century BCE) by Homer
• The Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE) by Homer
• Medea (431 BCE) by Euripides (480-406 BCE)
• Metamorphoses (8th century CE) by Ovid (43 BCE-17/18 CE)
Literature from the Middle Ages
The Church largely controlled European literature from the Middle Ages; however,
there are also some examples of secular writings.
• Beowulf (c. 1000 CE) by Anonymous
• The Divine Comedy (1320) by Dante Alighieri (Italy; 1265-1321)
• The Canterbury Tales (1392) by Geoffrey Chaucer (England; c. 1340s-1400)
• Everyman (1510) by Anonymous
Literature from the Renaissance
The Renaissance represented a renewed interest in the literature of antiquity and
individual expression in art.
• Praise of Folly (1509) by Desiderius Erasmus (The Netherlands; 1466-1536)
• Romeo and Juliet (1597) by William Shakespeare (England; 1564-1616)
• Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes (Spain; 1547-1616)
• Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton (England; 1608-1674)
Literature from the Enlightenment and Romanticism
Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the rationalism of the Enlightenment
gradually faded into the sentimentality of Romanticism.
• Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe (England; c. 1660-1731)
• Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley (England; 1797-1851)
• Faust (1829) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Germany; 1749-1832)
• Les Miserables (1862) by Victor Hugo (France; 1802-1885)
Realist Literature
By the mid-19th century, European writers had adopted Realism to depict the
mundanity of daily life in literature.
• Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert (France; 1821-1880)
• A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens (England; 1812-1870)
• A Doll’s House (1879) by Henrik Ibsen (Norway; 1828-1906)
• War and Peace (1869) by Leo Tolstoy (Russia; 1828-1910)
Modernist Literature
Modernism followed the literary movement of Realism in Europe and represented
an emphasis on form and structure in place of plot and content.
• The Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka (Prague; 1883-1924)
• Ulysses (1920) by James Joyce (Ireland; 1882-1941)
• Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf (England; 1882-1941)
• The Stranger (1942) by Albert Camus (France; 1913-1960)
Postmodernist Literature
Postmodernist authors continued and expanded upon the experimental
tendencies that began during the Modernist movement.
• Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett (Ireland; 1906-1989)
• The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) by John Fowles (England; 1926-2005)
• If on a winter’s night a traveler (1979) by Italo Calvino (Italy; 1923-1985)
• Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) by Umberto Eco (Italy; 1932-2016)
Short Quiz!!!
I. Multiple Choice
Direction: Choose the BEST answer for the followig questions. Write only the letter of the
correct answer.
1. What is a broad term covering the literary works produced in Europe, spanning
many centuries, languages, and genres?
a. European Literature c. Japanese Literature
b. Chinese Literature d. African Literature
2. Who is the author of Romeo and Juliet?
a. Jane Austen c. William Shakespeare
b. Gabriel Garcia Marquez d. Charles Dickens
3. 1066–1500 belong to what period?
a. Classical Period c. Modernism
b. Medieval Period d. Romantic Period
4. In what period did the volume of printed material significantly increase across
Europe?
a. The Renaissance c. The Enlightenment and Romanticism
b. The Middle Ages d. Modernism
5. What is a literary movement that emphasized individuality and strong emotions,
idealized nature, and explored universal themes such as love and loss?
a. Realism c. Intertextuality
b. Modernism d. Romanticism
II. True or False
Direction: Write T if the statement is correct and F if it is wrong.
6. The oldest known intact book in China is a copy of the Gospel of St. John.
7. European literature is a broad term covering the literary works produced in Europe,
spanning many centuries, languages, and genres.
8. Parody is an exaggerated imitation of a work or style for comedic effect and to mock
or draw attention to specific elements of a text.
9. Intertexuality is a literary technique where the author draws attention to the
constructed nature of the text itself.
10. Realism was a literary movement beginning in the mid-19th century where authors
sought to depict life as realistically as possible.
