European

Literature
European literature refers to the literature of
Europe. European literature includes literature in
many languages; among the most important of the
modern written works are those in English, Spanish,
French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern
Greek, Czech and Russian and works by the
Scandinavians and Irish.
Genres In European Literature

• the novel and narrative

theory.
• the short story or novella.
• women's writing.
• (auto)biography.
• translation as a genre.
• 'faction' (the blurring of
fact and fiction)
• the detective novel.
European Literary Tradition

Important classical and

medieval traditions are
those in Latin, Ancient
Greek, Old Norse, Medieval
French and the Italian
Tuscan dialect of the
renaissance. In colloquial
speech, European literature
often is used as a synonym
for Western literature.
Literary Artists In Europe
Homer 8th/9th Century BCE
Homer is the legendary author of the
Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems
that are the central works of ancient
Greek literature. The Iliad is set during
the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the
city of Troy by a coalition of Greek
kingdoms.
 Work
• “The Iliad” and “The
Odyssey”
Sophocles 496-406 BCE
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek
tragedians whose plays have survived.
His first plays were written later than or
contemporary with those of Aeschylus,
and earlier than or contemporary with
those of Euripides.
Works
• Antigone (c. 442 BCE)
• Oedipus The King (429 - 420 BCE)
• Philoctetes (409 BCE)
• Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE)
• Electra
• Ajax
• Women of Trachis
Aristophanes 450-388 BCE
Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the
deme Kydathenaion, was a comic
playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of
his forty plays survive virtually complete.
 Works
• Back to Top of Page • “The Birds”
• “The Acharnians” • “Lysistrata”
• “The Knights” • “Thesmophoriazusae”
• “The Clouds” • “The Frogs”
• “The Wasps” • “Ecclesiazusae”
• “Peace” • “Plutus (Wealth)”
Virgil 70-18 BCE
• Publius Vergilius Maro, usually
called Virgil or Vergil in English,
was an ancient Roman poet of
the Augustan period. He wrote
three of the most famous poems
in Latin literature: the Eclogues,
the Georgics, and the epic
Aeneid.
 Famous Work
• The Aeneid
The epic poem of Aeneas of Troy, and the origins of
Rome.
Horace 65-8 BCE
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known
in the English-speaking world as
Horace, was the leading Roman
lyric poet during the time of
Augustus.
 Works
• Back to Top of Page
• “Carmen Saeculare” (“Song of the
Ages”)
• “Ars Poetica” (“The Art of Poetry”)
• “Tu ne quaesieris” (Odes, Book 1,
Poem 11)
• “Nunc est bibendum” (Odes, Book 1,
Poem 37)
Dante Alighieri 1265-1321 CE
Durante di Alighiero degli
Alighieri, commonly known by
his name of art Dante Alighieri
or simply as Dante, was an
Italian poet during the Late
Middle Ages.
 Work
• Divine Comedy
Giovanni Boccaccio 1313-1375
Giovanni Boccaccio was an
Italian writer, poet,
correspondent of Petrarch, and
an important Renaissance
humanist. Boccaccio wrote a
number of notable works,
including The Decameron and
On Famous Women.
 Works
• Caccia di Diana
• The Filostrato (ca. 1338)
• L'Ameto (1341-1342)
• L'amorosa visione (ca. 1342)
Geoffrey Chaucer 1342/43-1400
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet
and author. Widely considered the
greatest English poet of the Middle Ages,
he is best known for The Canterbury
Tales. Chaucer is known as the "Father of
English literature", and he was the first
writer to be buried in Poets' Corner of
Westminster Abbey.
Works
• Translation of Roman de
la Rose, possibly extant as
The Romaunt of the Rose
• The Book of the Duchess
• The House of Fame
• Anelida and Arcite
• Parlement of Foules
• Troilus and Criseyde
• Translation of Boethius'
Consolation of Philosophy
as Boece
• The Legend of Good
Women
• The Canterbury Tales
• A Treatise on the
Astrolabe
Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a
Spanish writer who is widely regarded as
the greatest writer in the Spanish language
and one of the world's pre-eminent
novelists. His novel Don Quixote has been
translated into over 140 languages and
dialects; it is, after the Bible, the most-
translated book in the world.
 Works
• El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605)
• Novelas ejemplares (1613)
• "El coloquio de los perros" ("The Dialogue of the Dogs")
• Segunda Parte del Ingenioso Cavallero [sic] Don Quixote
de la Mancha (1615)
• Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (1617)
• La Galatea, the pastoral romance
Circa 1600, Shakespeare (1564-1616)
William Shakespeare was an English
poet, playwright and actor, widely
regarded as the greatest writer in the
English language and the world's
greatest dramatist. He is often called
England's national poet and the "Bard
of Avon".
 Works
• Romeo and Juliet • Hamlet
• The Merchant of Venice • Othello
• Much Ado About Nothing • King Lear
• Henry V • Macbeth
• Richard III
Voltaire 1694-1778
François-Marie Arouet, known by his
nom de plume Voltaire, was a French
Enlightenment writer, historian and
philosopher famous for his wit, his
criticism of Christianity, especially the
Roman Catholic Church, and his
advocacy of freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, and separation of
church and state.
Works
• The Henriade (1723)
• The Maid of Orleans
• Mariamne (1724)
• Zaïre (1732)
• Mahomet (1736)
• Nanine (1749)
• The Age of Louis
XIV(1751)
• Essay on the Customs
• Spirit of the Nations (1756)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 1785-
1863/1786-1859
The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and
Wilhelm, were German academics,
philologists, cultural researchers,
lexicographers and authors who
together collected and published
folklore during the 19th century.
Work
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european-literature/
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