UNIT III: THE AUSTRALIAN, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN

LITERATURE

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

a) Explore the different Australian Literature;

b) Investigate the key issues in Australian literature, and appraise its historical
background and significant themes;
c) Appreciate the different contributions of the Australian authors in Literature;
d) Critically reflect on and develop literary arguments in a variety of contexts;
e) Analyze and answer the following activities.

Lesson 1/ Module 11: The Australian Literature

Introduction to Australian Literature

Australian literature literary works are produced in the area or by the people of
the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. Australia was a collection of
British colonies; therefore, its literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader
tradition of English literature. Since 4566, the character of a new continent is introduced
into literature Exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mate ship, egalitarianism,
democracy, migrant and national identity, distance from other Eastern nations and
proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living, and the "beauty and the terror" of
life in the Australian bush. First landing by Dutch explorers was in the beginning of the
17th century. Australia was first settled as a penal colony of Great Britain at the end of
the 18th century. As a British colony and later a commonwealth state, Australia was
profoundly influenced by Britain in all aspects of society. Australian Literature since the
19th century was the first popular works such as novels about life on the frontier, using
vernacular language or Australian dialect. Later in the 19th century Gothic novels,
poetry, drama, children's literature, and histories became famous.
Themes of Australian Literature

a. Relationship to Australia - a country is often seen as threatening and alien.

b. Mate ship - intensely loyal relationship of shared experience, mutual respect,
and unconditional assistance existing between friends (mates) in Australia.
c. National identity - what it means to be Australian, Patric White, and Peter Carey.
d. Since the mid-20th century, AustLit emerges with a distinctive voice of its own.
e. Not least under the influence of extensive immigration from Asia and Europe.
f. Immigrants brought in elements of their culture and identity to Australian
literature.

Australian literature- Australian literature, the body of literature, both oral and written, produced
in Australia.

Australian Literature characteristically expresses collective values. Even when the

literature deals with the experiences of an individual, those experiences are very likely to be
estimated in terms of the ordinary, the typical, the representative. It aspires on the whole to
represent integration rather than disintegration. It does not favor the heroism of individual action
unless this shows dogged perseverance in the face of inevitable defeat. Although it may express
strong ironic disapproval of collective mindlessness, the object of criticism is the mindlessness
rather than conformity. This general proposition holds for both Indigenous Australians and those
descended from later European arrivals, though the perception of what constitutes the community
is quite radically different in these two cases. The white Australian community is united in part by
its sense of having derived from foreign cultures, primarily that of England, and in part by its
awareness of itself as a settler society with a continuing celebration of pioneer values and a deep
attachment to the land. Aboriginal peoples in their traditional cultures, story, song, and legend
served to define allegiances and relationships both to others and to the land that nurtured them.
For modern Aboriginal people, written literature has been a way of both claiming a voice and
articulating a sense of cohesion as a people faced with real threats to the continuance of their
culture.
Aboriginal Narrative: The Oral Tradition

When first encountered by

Europeans, Australian Aboriginal peoples did
not have written languages (individual
words were collected from the first contact,
but languages as systems were not written
down until well into the 20th century). Their
songs, chants, legends, and stories,
however, constituted rich oral literature,
and, since the Aboriginal peoples had no
common language, these creations were
enormously diverse. Long unavailable to or
misunderstood by non-Aboriginal people,
their oral traditions appear (from researches
undertaken in the last half of the 20th
century) to be of considerable subtlety and
complexity. The oral literature of Aboriginal peoples has an essentially ceremonial function. It supports
the fundamental Aboriginal beliefs that what is given cannot be changed and that the past exists in an
eternal present, and it serves to relate the individual and the landscape to the continuing spiritual
influence of the Dreaming (or Dreamtime)—widely known as the Alcheringa (or Altjeringa), the term
used by the Aboriginal peoples of central Australia—a mythological past in which the existing natural
environment was shaped and humanized by ancestral beings. While the recitation of the song cycles and
narratives is to some extent prescribed, it also can incorporate the new experience and thus remain
The Century Afterpart
applicable—both Settlement
of the past (called up by the Ancestors) and part of the present.

Aboriginal oral tradition may be public (open to all members of a community

and often a kind of entertainment) or sacred (closed to all but initiated members of one
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discovered in the new continent. Yet some attempted to interpret
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early expressions of localAmong
and complex. pride by thethose
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are as
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those thatCharles
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thoseWentworth in Australia
that are women's (1823),
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serving a tour of duty in the Antipodes, like the unfortunately
the eyes and ears of the other sex and the uninitiated. The chief subject of Aboriginalnamed Barron Field, were
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Those who were likely to spend a much longer-term in New South
journeys of the Ancestors. This practice serves at least three significant purposes: it Wales, as the colony was
then known,their
reinforces expressed
knowledgea profound
of localnostalgia for home. The
geography—that is, sense
the food of exile was location
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of by
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holes, places of convict
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region's alike.
terrain, and so on—and it
also serves a social function (sometimes bringing large clans together) and a religious or
ritual function.
 Above all, the oral literature of Aboriginal peoples is involved with the performance.
It is not simply a verbal performance. The traditional song is very often associated with dance,
and storytelling with gestures. Or stories may be accompanied by diagrams drawn in the sand
and then brushed away again. Each song, each narrative, is in effect acted out. Storytellers will
customarily announce who they are, where they come from, and what their relation to the story
is, as though they are its agent. They may provide a frame for their story. They use the common
devices of oral literature such as repetition and enumeration and formulaic expression. But they
always take care of their songs and stories; they are as careful with imagery and symbolism, with
the figures of speech, as they are with other aspects of the ceremony. The intention of the song
man or storyteller is not to assert a sense of individuality but to identify the continuing validity of
the song or the story. There may be a direct address to the listener (or, in more recent times, the
reader), but this is a device of inclusion. It is also a stratagem to ensure understanding, providing
the opportunity for explanation, and elaboration whenever that is desirable.
 The prose writers exhibited the inquiring mind of the 18th century; a scientific interest
in the novelties of the new world and their perception of man as a social being show that, while
the Romantic movement was underway in Europe, early Australia was essentially fostered by
the Enlightenment. Watkin Tenchrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1789) and its sequel, A
Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson (1793), was immediately popular in
Europe. Matthew A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814) is another example of this engaging
literature of discovery. Yet touches of the Romantics arrived speedily enough. By mid-century
Charles Harpur, the child of ex-convicts was writing rugged, well-sustained poems that were
responsive to the landscape in the manner of William Wordsworth. In other poems, he imitated
the idealism of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Harpur also had made a careful study of Emersonian ideas.
But his poetry and prose were not easily available beyond their occasional appearance in the
colonial press, and only in modern times has a proper estimation of his work been undertaken.
A collection of his poems, Poems by Charles Harpur, was published in 1883.

Adam Lindsay Gordon was a much more popular poet. The Sick Stockriderfrom his Bush
Ballads and Galloping Rhymes (1870) was a general favorite, much admired and much recited. It
conveyed a sense of comradeship, mapped a world by a Bushmans kind of detail, and exhibited
stoic sentimentalism that was exactly to colonial taste. Henry Kendall, a poet of forests and
mountain streams, specialized in more mournful effects. As he is the poetry of sound and
description rather than of action (as evinced in his volume Leaves from Australian Forests
[1869]), it is not always clear that he was wrestling with some broad transcendentalist notions.

The first Australian novel, Henry Saverys "Quintus Servinton", was published in 1831. It
is strongly autobiographical, and its convict theme amounts to special pleading. But it does not
emphasize the exotic possibilities of its Australian scenes. James Tuckers Ralph Rashleigh; or,
The Life of an Exile (written in 1844; published in an edited version in 1929 and its original text
in 1952), on the other hand, makes use of all the sensational opportunities at hand. It begins as
a picaresque account of low-life London and proceeds through the whole gamut of convict life,
escapes, bushrangers, and life among Aboriginal peoples. One of its most telling moments is
Ralphs's panic at being lost in the bush, a theme that compelled many colonial writers and
painters.

The first widely known novel of Australia was "Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn (1859)"
by Henry Kingsley, brother of Charles Kingsley. When the action at last moves from Devon to
Australia, the story transposes into heroic romance, and it too manages to incorporate the
sensational possibilities of the colonial experience: bushrangers and bushfires, floods and
hostile Aboriginal peoples, the tragic outcome of being lost in the bush, cattle branding and
horse galloping, and a fortune earned. Catherine Helen Spences Clara Morison (1854) details
with a nice sense of irony the social preoccupations of Adelaide in the mid-19th century, but it
was not a well-known novel.

Marcus Clarkes "His Natural Life (1874; the antecedent phrase For the Term of was
inserted without authority after his death)" is the first novel regarded as an Australian classic. It
is a powerful account of the convict experience, drawing heavily on documentary sources.
Within the rigors and perversions of the convict system, another social system forms itself and
establishes its code. But beyond the horrors and the brutality, there is a compensating moral
theme, that of goodness recognized. Clarke uses his Australian material to approach universal
values. Both Clarke and Rolf Boldrewood (pseudonym of Thomas Alexander Browne) initially
published their fiction in serial installments in colonial magazines such as the Australian Journal
and The Sydney Mail. Boldrewoods Robbery Under Arms (1888) was immensely popular, and it
too achieved classic status. Of particular interest is the Australian vernacular in which the
narrator, Dick Marston, presents his confession of his part in gang activity. Boldrewood also
articulates the sentimental, stoic resignation that colonial Australians seemed to favor. Other
novelists who had established themselves by the late 1800s were Rosa Praed—her Policy and
Passion (1881) is an interesting account of the personal life of a Queensland politician—and the
prolific Ada Cambridge.

Not to be forgotten in any account of the first hundred years are the published journals
of the explorers. Not only were their discoveries of widespread interest, but many of them—
including Charles Sturt, Edward John Eyre, and Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell—were
accomplished writers. Eyres account of his struggle around the Great Australian Bight (a wide
embayment of the Indian Ocean) inspired the Australian novelist Patrick White in writing Voss
(1957), although White modeled that novel in part on the experiences of Ludwig Leichhardt,
explorer, and naturalist who in the 1840s led a dangerous expedition through interior Australia
that resulted in the discovery of many sites suitable for settlement.

The centenary year 1888 provided the occasion for review and reassessment, and
almost inevitably that actively encouraged the growing nationalist sentiment already in
evidence in such publications as the weekly Bulletin (founded 1880). The last 20 years of the
19th century saw a marked growth of nationalism and the movement toward the federation of
the separate states. The Bulletin, with its rallying cry of Australia for the Australians, was
ardently nationalistic. It urged its contributors to write Australian and to celebrate above all the
virtues of the Australian worker, especially the bush worker. It endorsed the egalitarian myth of
mateship rather than the independence of the little man, the battler, who struggles on his own
against the odds. It espoused a cheerful, somewhat larrikin (Australian word meaning, among
other things, rowdy, or irresponsible) brashness, and in this, it revealed its underlying urban
orientation. Other papers and magazines of the period actively published Australian writing, but
the Bulletin attracted the utopian idealists and the sentimental realists who dominated
Australian writing at the end of the century. It advocated a spare, laconic style; it preferred a
humorous attitude to life's hardships; and it favored themes of national pride, the values of
rural life, and sympathy for the struggles of small-scale farmers. Among its many contributors,
A.B. (Banjo) Paterson was acclaimed for composing Waltzing Matilda and for his bush ballads,
and Henry Lawson published his greatest short stories there. (Among the collections of
Lawson's work are While the Billy Boils [1896] and Children of the Bush [1902]).
 Curiously, at the very time, the image of young Australia was being so vigorously
advanced, Paterson and Lawson and Steele Rudd (pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis) showed a
pronounced tendency to nostalgia, to the distant in time or place. Joseph Furphy, resisting the
call for succinctness, wrote a large complex novel, Such Is Life (1903), describing the rural world
of the 1880s. It overflows with details of station life, the conversations of bullock drivers,
nationalistic sentiments, and philosophical meditations about chance and determinism. The
reading of the Australian experience in terms of bush realism was open to challenge. Barbara
Bayntons stories in Bush Studies (1902) subvert the persistent mateyethos, suggesting instead
the darkly disturbing side of bush experience. Christopher Brennan, in such volumes as Poems
1913 (1913), virtually ignored local preoccupations in his Symbolist poetry; he tapped instead
the deep sources of spiritual restlessness, particularly through the use of myth and archetype.
Some popular writers, such as C.J. Dennis in his verses about the Sentimental Bloke, relocated
many of the bush attitudes to the inner city.

By the early decades of the 20th century, the era of bushranging, convictism, and
exploration was far enough in the past to be regarded as historical color. It also was fully
expected that the Aboriginal peoples would also pass away—Daisy Bates, who lived for many
years among Aboriginal people, used as the title of her book about her experiences the
standard phrase The Passing of the Aborigine (1938). Aboriginal people had become the subject
of anthropological interest in the work of Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen
in Central Australia, and Aboriginal legends had been collected and rewritten by K. Langloh
Parker, although there was still very little interest in Aboriginal people as people. Such interest
as existed was—in the manner of the times—proprietary, as in Mrs. Aeneas Gunns The Little
Black Princess (1905) for young readers and in her autobiographical We of the Never-Never
(1908), about her experiences on a station in the Northern Territory, the last region of Australia
to attract European expansion. It still regards itself as the quintessential Outback.

The first great phase of writing for children also occurred in the Federation era
(Australia's version of the Edwardian period, extending from 1901, when the Australian
provinces formed a federation, to just beyond the end of World War I), a time of widespread
wealth and security and, for the middle class, of social consolidation. The books for children
reflect this atmosphere; they also reflect another reality, the easy acceptance of both
Australian and British Empire loyalties. Classic works were written by Ethel Turner, Ethel Pedley,
Amy, and Louise Mack, May Gibbs, and Mary Grant Bruce (a little later), and Norman Lindsays
wonderful The Magic Pudding (1918) became standard fare for generations of Australian
children.

The character of the times is perhaps best represented in the work of such diverse
writers as Mary Gilmore, Walter Murdoch, and Miles Franklin. Each expressed a kind of
independence from the time: Gilmore by the long reach of her memory, apparent in such
volumes as Old Days, Old Ways: A Book of Recollections (1934); Murdoch by the gentle whimsy
and conversational ease of his essays, as in Speaking Personally (1930); and Franklin by her
absorption in the realm of Australian pastoral in such novels as Up the Country (1928), though
she is mostly remembered by her early pseudo-autobiographical My Brilliant Career (1901).
John Shaw Neilson, in the sheer shimmering beauty of his lyric poetry, achieves another order
of timelessness, that of the moment of true perception, at once unworldly and firmly located in
the natural world.

E.J. Banfield stepped aside from the world for reasons of health and wrote from his
island on the Great Barrier Reef a series of books beginning with Confessions of a Beachcomber
(1908) that reflected, often wryly, on natural history and the advantages of the contemplative
life. Jack McLaren in My Crowded Solitude (1926) was another who encountered timelessness
for a time. And C.E.W. Bean found the same slow rhythms of experience out on the great
Western plains (On the Wool Track [1910]) and down the Darling River (The Dreadnought of the
Darling [1911]). Like Banfield and Murdoch, he identified a genial world and men whose
essential character he admired, and, when he entered the world of torrid events as Australias
official war historian, his thesis was that the courage and resourcefulness of the Australian
soldier, the digger, was derived from the bushman—that these were but two manifestations of
the national type. The same perception is present in Keith Hancocks Australia (1930), a reading
of Australian history in terms of character.

The most impressive novelist of the period was Henry Handel Richardson (pseudonym
of Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson). Her Maurice Guest (1908), set in Leipzig, Germany, is an
antiromantic novel about ordinariness caught up with a genius, provincialism among the exotic,
the tragedy of an insufficiently great passion. Her three-volume masterpiece, The Fortunes of
Richard Mahony (1917–29), traces the fluctuating fortunes of the immigrants who established
the new urban Australia in the late 19th century. The last volume, Ultima Thule, graphically
describes conditions in the goldfields and brings its character studies of the temperamentally
opposite spouses, Richard and Mary, to a profoundly moving climax. Katharine Susannah
Prichard's realism in Working Bullocks (1926) and Coonardoo (1929), her sympathetic portrait
of an Aboriginal woman, was of a more romantic nature. For others, such as Kylie Tennant and
Eleanor Dark, realism served social and historical ends.

Modernism arrived with the poetry of Kenneth Slessor (as evidenced in such of his
volumes as Earth-Visitors [1926] and Five Bells [1939]) and R.D. FitzGerald (Forty YearsPoems
[1965] and Product: Later Verses by Robert D. FitzGerald [1977]). Slessor was committed to the
importance of the image; FitzGerald was of a more philosophical bent and developed complex
arguments in his poems. During the 1930s both became preoccupied with history and the
concept of time.
The Depression years directed attention back to the comparable experiences of the
early 1890s and confirmed the defining status of that period in Australian cultural mythology,
the apotheosis of the acclaimed national virtues—mateship, humorous stoicism, populist
pragmatism, and irony. It was also a time of international awakening, and it was a time of
discovery, like the many books about travel, especially in the Australian Outback, testify.
Among the discoveries of that period was a romantic notion of the spirit of place and the
importance, for writers, of what could still be discerned of Aboriginal culture: this discovery
gave rise to the Jindyworobak movement, which had as its goal the freeing of Australian art
from alien influences. By apt coincidence, Xavier Herberts Capricornia (1938) was published at
this time. Herbert's sprawling comic anarchy, his maverick vision, and the sense of remoteness
from regulated society all derive from his Northern Territory milieu. But Capricornia also
displays all the themes important to the Jindyworobak movement: concern for the Aboriginal,
discovery of the Outback, social protest, and the true spirit of Australia. Before long, however,
world events overwhelmed the movement completely.

Literature From 1940 To 1970

A new and very talented generation of writers and artists began to emerge at the
outset of World War II. Literary magazines—including Southerly and Meanjin, both concerned
with promoting Australian writing (and both still extant)—established themselves, and the
interest of the international reading public in Australian writing grew. Although factual and
descriptive writing remained prominent, Australian writers became increasingly speculative and
searching. The Ern Malley hoax (1944), in which the poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart,
writing as a deceased mechanic-salesman-poet, parodied what they saw as the
meaninglessness of experimental verse, was an indication of the demand for new standards.
Similarly, Patrick White, a Nobel Prize winner (1973) and the most important and influential of
the modern Australian novelists, was drawn to Australian themes and the Australian landscape,
but he was profoundly dismissive of the dun-colored journalism, as he thought it, of Australian
fiction.

Whites' imaginative reach, ambitious themes, and elaborate imagery showed him
surpassing nationalistic limitations. His major novels, The Tree of Man (1955), Voss (1957), and
Riders in the Chariot (1961), had an epic scope. His short stories and plays and his later novels
explored more completely the ambiguity of character and the troubling question of belief.
White not only demonstrated the richness of the Australian experience for imaginative writing
(your country is of great subtlety) but drew the attention of the world to it.

Martin Boyd had won the first Gold Medal from the Australian Literature Society as
early as 1928, but his career belonged mainly to the postwar period. His particular interest was
in tracing the influence of the past upon the present, most often through novels of family
histories. These novels—particularly Lucinda Brayford (1946) and the Langton quartet,
beginning with The Cardboard Crown (1952)—were chronicles too of the decline of the genteel
and aristocratic tradition. Christina Stead, who also had begun writing before the war, did not
win recognition until the 1960s, with the reissue of The Man Who Loved Children (1940). Her
novels explored the relationship between personality and environment and particularly the
theme of exploitation. A younger writer, Randolph Stow, had an early success with To the
Islands (1958), a novel that was poetic in texture and structure and that intertwined aspects of
European and Aboriginal culture and belief.
 The practice of descriptive verse continued in the postwar period, but the new
generation of poets also sought a new symbolic reading of Australia. They turned increasingly
to the meditative lyric. In such poems as The Death of the Bird and Moschus Moschiferus, A.D.
Hope developed a reputation for witty, satiric, and allusive verse delivered in the clear middle
style of John Dryden. Rather richer and more emotionally charged were the lyrics of Judith
Wright (Collected Poems 1942–1970 [1971]); sometimes she attempted abstruse concepts,
lodged in images of the natural world. Douglas Stewart (Collected Poems 1936–1967 [1967])
was another who drew his inspiration directly from the natural world, perceiving in it fragments
of the moral design of the universe. James McAuley, always a meditative poet, achieved both
grace and humanity in the moving clarity of his later verse (for example, in Music Late at Night
[1976]). And David Campbell (Collected Poems [1989]) combined an intelligent love for poetry
with a passion for the land, the language of the traditional lyric with the speech rhythms of the
Australian vernacular. His poetry too was mainly a kind of meditative lyric. Rosemary Dobson
(Collected Poems [1991]) was another of this generation of fine poets. Although Vivian Smith
(New Selected Poems [1995]) does not quite fit with this group, he continued the practice of
meditative lyric and so may be mentioned here. Gwen Harwood developed a thoughtful kind of
poetry, varied at times by clever, satiric verses, as in her Collected Poems (1991).

Plays had been written in Australia well back into the colonial period, but the drama
was not distinguished and was of only local interest. Among the first notable plays were two
radio plays by Douglas Stewart, Ned Kelly (published 1943), and The Fire on the Snow
(performed 1941), both of which showed the symbolic possibilities in historic figures. In 1955
Ray Lawler won local and international acclaim for Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, a play
naturalistic in character and idiom and universal in theme yet peculiarly Australian in its
attitudes. Its success began something of a revival in Australian drama; it was followed by Alan
Seymour's The One Day of the Year (1961) and Patrick Whites Four Plays (published 1965).

In nonfictional prose, there were numerous histories and biographies in this period. In
the early 1960s occurred one of those curious convergences that mark literary history. Several
writers began publishing works of an autobiographical kind in which the emphasis lay
elsewhere than on the self. Judith Wrights The Generations of Men (1959) is a family history,
just as Mary Durack's Kings in Grass Castles (1959) is the story of her ancestors as well as social
history. Martin Boyds Day of My Delight (1965) defines his family in its historical and moral
context, while Hal Porters The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony (1963) is a résumé of post-
Edwardian Australia as seen in a country town (an audacious but convincing variant on the bush
orientation of traditional writing) and is patterned as a biography of his mother.

At about the same time began another productive phase of writing for children, and by
the end of the 1960s, both Patricia Wrightson and Ivan Southall had won major awards for their
work. Wrightson's novels of the 1960s and 70s were particularly interesting in their use of
Aboriginal figures and motifs, as in Behind the Wind (1981). In 1986 she was awarded the
international Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifetime achievement in children's literature.
Literature From 1970 To 2000

Hal Porter had already begun to establish himself as one of the more interesting short-
story writers. His manner was arch, his perception ironic, his taste somewhat melodramatic.
But his eye for detail was exact and his powers of recollection extraordinary. All these
characteristics can be observed in the volumes The Cats of Venice (1965) and Fredo Fuss Love
Life (1974). His insistence that he wrote only of what was fact, apart from impressing the reader
that the world is a very strange place, put him completely at odds with the following generation
of short-story writers as, for example, Frank Moorhouse, Michael Wilding, and Peter Carey.
These writers, provocative and scandalous in the manner of the 1970s, broke free from all
restraints and explored the many possibilities of fantasy—sexual, science fiction, gothic.
Allowing for the liberalism of their values, their stories display an almost moral preoccupation
with social and political attitudes. They are each highly alert to the ironic possibilities of
personal encounters. In the 1980s Carey extended his range and began writing novels, still
exploiting fantasy and, as much postmodernist fiction does, the interpolation of stories within
stories. He won the Booker Prize in 1988 with Oscar and Lucinda (1988).

Thomas Keneally commenced his prolific output in the late 1960s and attracted
widespread notice with The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972). Nearly all his novels explore the
intersection of history and the individual life and contemplate just what kind of effect the
insignificant individual can have on events of some moment. When Schindlers Ark (1982), which
is centrally about just this situation, won the Booker Prize in 1982, it caused something of a
sensation for being as much a work of fact as of fiction. Keneally was a gifted storyteller, and his
fiction appealed to both the serious and the popular audience. Several of his novels were made
into films or plays.

Thea Astley was another highly successful novelist, droll and amusing, yet she wrote
about serious issues. She developed a love-hate relation with many of her characters and
subjects, but underlying her narrative is warm humanity and a delight inaccurate imagery and
surprising turns of phrase. In Beachmasters (1985), one of her most accomplished novels, she
re-creates the cultural tensions in a South Pacific island with aspirations to independence from
joint English and French control. Randolph Stow had similarly written a sensitive and
sympathetic novel of intercultural relations in the Trobriand Islands in Visitants (1979). Astley's
later novels—Drylands: A Book for the Worlds Last Reader (1999), for example—were
increasingly concerned with the dominant, two-pronged problem in late 20th-century Australia:
not only how to effect a reconciliation between Aboriginal peoples and European Australians
but also how to reconcile white Australians to the dark side of their past.

With an Imaginary Life (1978), David Malouf, already a promising poet, emerged as a
major novelist. Nominally a story about Ovid in exile, the novel is really about the transforming
power of the imagination. Malouf's writing is spare, delicate, meticulous. Like many writers of
the time, he thought carefully about language and the signs by which meaning is conveyed. He
also reflected on ow placehowightinfluencese perception; this interest lies behind his use of
Queensland as a setting—as, for example, in Remembering Babylon (1993). C.J. Koch developed
a similar interest in regional writing, using the exotic possibilities of Asia to provide a mythic
reading of political events in The Year of Living Dangerously (1978) and Highways to a War
(1995) and the shadowy otherness of Tasmania in The Doubleman (1985) and Out of Ireland
(1999). Likewise, Shirley Hazzard wrote with great seriousness of purpose in her modern
tragedy The Transit of Venus (1980), an ironic love story devised to contemplate how strangely
things come about. Like so much of Australian fiction, it looks for patterns of meaning that
might indicate some kind of proportion in destiny.

The 1980s also witnessed the emergence of several accomplished women writers
Janette Turner Hospital, Kate Grenville, Helen Garner, Glenda Adams, Barbara Hanrahan, and
Elizabeth Jolley—and the first three of these continued to be prominent voices in the 1990s. In
all her work Grenville treads a precarious line between darkness and superb comedy, from the
extraordinary Lilians Story (1985) and its sequel, Dark Places (1994), to her understated novel
The Idea of Perfection (1999). Garners' work includes The Children's Bach (1984) and True
Stories: Selected Non-Fiction (1996), which draws upon the fact as well as fiction. Hospitals
Collected Stories 1970–1995 appeared in 1995. Jolley's enigmatic fiction includes Miss
Peabody's Inheritance (1983) and The Well (1986). Among male writers, Brian Castro, Robert
Drewe, David Foster, and Tim Winton similarly emerged as significant writers. Of these Winton
and Foster are particularly notable for their volumes Cloudstreet (1991) and The Glade Within
the Grove (1996), respectively.

The two leading poets of the 1980s were Les Murray, allusive and humane, concerned
to find what evidence he could in the secular world of spiritual realities and to demonstrate the
importance of poetry in ordinary life (a representative volume of his work is Dog Fox Field
[1990]), and Bruce Dawe, who evinced the Australian voice in his contemporary, journalistic
poetry appearing in, for example, Sometimes Gladness (1978). Robert Gray continued the
tradition of spare, almost Imagistic lyric verse in such volumes of his as Piano (1988) and Certain
Things (1993). Robert Adamson and John Tranter wrote more experimental verse, as is evinced,
respectively, in The Clean Dark (1989) and The Floor of Heaven (1992).

David Williamson developed a kind of journalistic drama. He had a good ear for
Australian idiom and a good eye for Australian social and cultural attitudes, including prejudice.
His plays were topical, particularly in terms of current political interests, yet they also tapped
much that was enduring and deep-seated in the collective identity. Two of his critically
acclaimed plays are Travelling North (1980) and Dead White Males (1995). Other playwrights
who came into prominence were Jack Hibberd, Alex Buzo, Peter Kenna, Louis Nowra, Steve J.
Spears, and Michael Gow. Nowras Così (1992) was successfully adapted for film.

In nonfictional prose, the autobiographical mode continued. Patrick Whites Flaws in the
Glass (1981) was of particular interest. Malouf and Koch both wrote a volume of essays, and
these too were interesting for the light they shed upon the writers as well as being fine
examples of the essay form. Travel writing continued to be published; one of the most
interesting examples was Robyn Davidsons Tracks (1982), an account of her trek across
Australia with her camels. It is a shaped narrative, tracing her increasing awareness of the
meaning and experience of the desert and leading toward self-discovery. Like the imaginative
writers, she looked for a pattern of significance in her experience. A.B. Facey, recounting his life
experience in A Fortunate Life (1981), accepted what life had offered, not with bitterness but
with gratitude. Robert Dessaix in Night Letters: A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy (1996)
wrote a series of highly cultivated reflections on the poignancy of life, art, and, ultimately,
death. Drusilla Modjeska similarly interwove history and personal story, as in Stravinskys Lunch
(1999).

In each of these modes of writing, Aboriginal people also began to make their presence
known. Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) published her first volume of poetry, We Are Going,
in 1964. Mudrooroo Narrogin (Colin Johnson, whose Aboriginal identity, however, was
questioned) published his first novel, Wild Cat Falling, in 1965. Jack Davis wrote several
acclaimed plays. Sally's autobiography, My Place (1987), is a moving account of her discovery of
her identity and family history. It is also a social and cultural history. And Kim Scott, with his
novel Benang (1999), became the first Aboriginal writer to win the prestigious Miles Franklin
Award (which he shared with Astley). By the example of these and other Aboriginal writers,
Aboriginal people have asserted their claim to the imaginative territory of Australia—a claim
especially significant in the last decade of the 20th century as Australians attempted to affect a
process of mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Literature In The 21st Century

Writing in Australia evolved through several phases. It began with mapping the
difference and distinctiveness of a new society establishing itself in the antipodes and at a large
imaginative distance from the rest of the world. Then it concentrated on finding and
articulating its cultural voice. This writing was characterized by unusual colloquialisms and
figures of speech, ironic understatement, and laconic rhythms; it concentrated on representing
—even asserting—a nationalist sentiment. Beyond that phase, Australian writing became more
sophisticated, discovering the universal in its local symbolism. Until the mid-20th century,
Australians had written as though their work was that of a more or less homogeneous society.
In the closing decades of the 20th century, however, the country's literature began the
discovery of differences within itself: regional, cultural, and ethnic.

Many of the Australian writers who distinguished themselves in the last decades of the
20th century continued to make their mark in the new century. Named a living treasure by the
National Trust of Australia in 1997, Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds (1977) and
the Masters of Rome series of historical novels (1990–2007), remained one of the country's
most prolific and best-selling novelists.
 Similarly, productive and protean was Peter Carey, whose My Life As a Fake (2003) drew
its inspiration from McAuley and Stewarts 1944 poetry hoax, whereas his Theft: A Love Story
(2006) lampooned the international art market with a story of art fraud. Careys other 21st-
century efforts included Parrot and Olivier in America (2009), focusing on a character modeled
on 19th-century French social observer Alexis de Tocqueville, and Amnesia (2015), which
employs cybercrime as the lens through which to view the Battle of Brisbane (1942), a clash
between U.S. soldiers and Australian military personnel and civilians during World War II.

Among Thomas Keneally's publications in the new millennium were American Scoundrel
(2002), a biography of the infamous American politician and Civil War general Daniel Sickles;
The Daughters of Mars (2012), a novel about volunteer nurses during World War I; and Shame
and the Captives (2013), a fictionalized account of prison breakouts by Japanese prisoners of
war in New South Wales during World War II. Tim Winton added the highly regarded novels Dirt
Music (2001) and Breath (2009) to his oeuvre.

Novelist, historian, and film director Richard Flanagan won the 2002 Commonwealth
writers prize for best book for his novel Goulds Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish (2001), the
story of a convict living in 19th-century Tasmania. Flanagan's engaging mystery The Unknown
Terrorist (2006) offers a cynical view of the world in the wake the of September 11he , 2001,
attacks, and his The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013) was much praised for its brutally
stark depiction of the life of a prisoner of war during World War II. Fear of terrorism in the post-
September 11 worlds is central in Janette Turner Hospitals' political thrillers Due Preparations
for the Plague (2003) and Orpheus Lost (2007). The Secret River (2005), another tale of the life
of a British convict in Australia, earned Kate Grenville the 2006 Commonwealth writers prize for
best book. Other Australians who published novels of note in the first decades of the 21st
century were Geraldine Brooks (winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for March), Sonya
Hartnett, Roger McDonald, Alexis Wright, Steven Carroll, Steve Toltz, Christos Tsiolkas, Anna
Funder, Patricia Mackintosh, and Sofie Laguna.

The art of the short story was also alive and well in Australian literature in the 21st
century and received notable contributions with the publication of acclaimed collections from
Turner Hospital (North of Nowhere, South of Loss [2003]), Winton (The Turning [2004)],
featuring 17 overlapping stories), and David Malouf (Every Move You Make [(2006]). In the
2000s and 2010s the contributions of Australia's most-revered contemporary poet, Les Murray,
included Learning Human, Selected Poems (2001), The Biplane Houses (2005), Taller When
Prone (2010), and Waiting for the Past (2015).
Significant and Contemporary Australian Authors
 Patrick White
 Elizabeth Jolley
 Peter Carey
 Thomas Keneally
 Coleen McCullough

Patrick White (1912 - 1990)

Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian
author who was widely regarded as a major English-
language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935
until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-
story collections and eight plays. His fiction freely
employs shifting narrative vantagepoints and a
stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
 FAMOUS WORK:

Novels Collections Plays Non Fiction Awards

1. Happy Valley 1. The Burnt Ones 1. Big Toys 1. Flaws in the Nobel Prize in
(1939) (1964) (1978) Glass (1981) Literature
2. The Living and the 2. Four Plays (1965) 2. Signal Driver 2. Patrick Lifetime
Dead (1941) 3. The Cockatoos (1983) White Achievement
3. The Aunt's Story (1974) 3. Netherwood Speaks winner
(1948) 4. Collected Plays: (1983) (1989) (1973)
4. The Tree of Man Vol 1 (1985) 3. Letters of
(1955) 5. Three Uneasy Patrick
5. Voss (1957) Pieces (1987) White (1994
6. Riders in the 6. Collected Plays:
Chariot (1961) Vol 2 (1994)
7. The Solid 7. Selected Writings
Mandala (1966) (1994)
8. The Vivisector
(1970)
9. The Eye of the
Storm (1973)
10. A Fringe of Leaves
(1976)
11. The God in the
Rafters (1978)
12. The Twyborn
Affair (1979)
13. The Memoirs of
Many in One
(1986)
14. The Hanging
Garden (2012)

"Riders in the Chariot"

Miss Hare lives alone in the ruins of her family estate in the 1960s suburbs of Sydney,
attended only by her housekeeper Mrs. Jolley. In her wanderings Miss Hare meets Alf
Dubbo, an aboriginal artist; Mordecai Himmelfarb, a Holocaust survivor; and Mrs.
Godbold, a local washerwoman. Tender and lacerating, subtle and sweeping, Patrick
White’s boldest novel traces the personal and spiritual histories of these four lost
souls toward the moment they meet and recognize their shared vision. Riders in the
Chariot was the winner of the 1961 Miles Franklin Prize for Best Australian Novel and
the 1965 Gold Medal of the Australian Literature Society. Author Patrick White (1912-
1990) was Australia's Nobel laureate in literature.
 Genre: Literary Fiction

Elizabeth Jolley (1923 - 2007)

She was 53 years old when her first book was
published, and she went on to publish fifteen
novels (including an autobiographical trilogy),
four short story collections and three non-fiction
books, publishing well into her 70s. She was also
a pioneer of creative writing teaching in Australia
counting many well-known writers such as Tim
Winton among her students.
Novels Collections Non Fiction

1. Palomino (1980) 1. Five Acre Virgin 1. Central Mischief

2. The Newspaper of (1976) (1992)
Claremont Street (1981) 2. Travelling 2. Diary of a
3. Mr Scobie's Riddle (1983) Entertainer (1979) Weekend Farmer
4. Miss Peabody's 3. Woman in a (1993)
Inheritance (1983) Lampshade (1983) 3. Learning to Dance
5. Milk and Honey (1984) 4. Stories (1985) (2006)
6. Foxybaby (1985) 5. Off the Air (1995)
7. The Well (1986) 6. Fellow Passengers
8. The Sugar Mother (1988) (1997)
9. The Orchard Thieves 7. Sunburnt Country
(1995) (2000) (with Joan
10. Lovesong (1997) London)
11. An Accommodating
Spouse (1999)
12. An Innocent Gentleman
(2001)

FAMOUS WORK:

"Milk and Honey"

Jacob, young son of an Australian
winegrower, is torn between Louise, the slight
daughter of his music teacher, and Madge, a
married member of the local orchestra.

Genre: General Fiction

 Peter Carey 1943
Peter Carey was born in 1943 in Australia and
lives in New York. He is the author of the
highly acclaimed short story collection, The
Fat Man in History, seven novels, Bliss,
Illywhacker (shortlisted for the 1985 Booker
Prize), Oscar and Lucinda (winner of the 1988
Booker Prize), The Tax Inspector, The
Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs
(winner of the 1998 Commonwealth Writers
Prize) and True History of the Kelly Gang
(winner of the 2001 Booker Prize), and for
children, The Big Bazoohley.
Genres: Literary Fiction

Novels Collections Non Fiction Awards

1. Bliss (1981) 1. The Fat 1. 30 Days 1. The Man Booker
2. Illywhacker (1985) Man in in Prize Best Novel
3. Oscar and Lucinda History Sydney nominee (1985) :
(1988) (1974) (2001) Illywhacker
4. The Tax Inspector aka 2. Wrong 2. World Fantasy Best
(1991) Exotic About Novel nominee
5. The Unusual Life of Pleasure Japan (1986) : Illywhacker
Tristan Smith s (2004) 3. The Man Booker
(1994) 2. War Prize Best Novel
6. The Big Bazoohley Crimes winner (1988) : Oscar
(1995) (1979) and Lucinda
7. Jack Maggs (1997) 3. Collecte 4. James Tait Black
8. True History of the d Stories Memorial Prize for
Kelly Gang (2000) (1994) Fiction Best Book
9. My Life as a Fake nominee (1997) : Jack
(2003) Maggs
10. Theft (2006) 5. The Man Booker
11. His Illegal Self Prize Best Novel
(2008) winner (2001) : True
12. Parrot and Olivier History of the Kelly
in America (2010) Gang
13. The Chemistry of 6. International IMPAC
Tears (2012) FAMOUS
Dublin WORK:
Literary
14. Amnesia (2014) Awards Best Novel
15. A Long Way From nominee (2002) :
Home (2018) True History of the
Kelly Gang
7. The Man Booker
Prize Best Novel
nominee (2006) :
Theft
8. National Book Award
for Fiction Best Book
nominee (2010) :
Parrot and Olivier in
America
 Thomas Keneally (1935)
aka William Coyle, Meg and Tom Keneally

"True History of the Kelly Gang"

Thomas Keneally began his writing career in 1964
and has published thirty novels since. They
include Schindler's Ark, which won the Booker
Prize in 1982 and was subsequently made into
the film Schindler's List, and The Chant Of Jimmie
Blacksmith, Confederates and Gossip From The
Forest, each of which was shortlisted for the
In a dazzling act of ventriloquism, Peter
Booker Prize. His most recent novels are The
Carey gives Ned Kelly a voice so wild,
Daughters Of Mars, which was shortlisted for the passionate and original that it is
Walter Scott Prize in 2013, Shame and the impossible not to believe that the
Captives and Napoleon's Last Island. He has also famous bushranger himself is speaking
written several works of non-fiction, including his from beyond the grave. True History of
memoir Homebush Boy, Searching for Schindler the Kelly Gang is the song of Australia,
and Australians. He is married with two and it sings its protest in a voice at
New Books
daughters and lives in Sydney. once crude andAugust
delicate,
2020menacing
(kindle) and
heart-wrenching. Carey gives us Ned
Genres: Historical, Literary Fiction Kelly as The
orphan, as Oedipus,
Thomas Keneally as horse
Collection
thief, farmer, bushranger, reformer,
September 2020 (hardback)
bank-robber, police-killer and, finally,
as his country's beloved Robin Hood.
Novellas
Blackberries (2012)
Novels Non Fiction Awards
1. The Place at Whitton 1. Moses the Lawgiver (1975) 1. The Man Booker Prize
(1964) 2. Outback (1983) Best Novel nominee
2. The Fear (1965) 3. Australia: Beyond the (1972) : The Chant of
3. Bring Larks and Heroes Dreamtime (1987) (with Jimmie Blacksmith
(1967) Patsy Adam-Smith and 2. The Man Booker Prize
4. Three Cheers for the Robyn Davidson) Best Novel nominee
Paraclete (1968) 4. Now and In Time To Be (1975) : Gossip from the
5. The Survivor (1969) (1991) Forest
6. A Dutiful Daughter 5. The Place Where Souls 3. The Man Booker Prize
(1971) Are Born (1992) Best Novel nominee
7. The Chant of Jimmie 6. The Utility Player (1993) (1979) : Confederates
Blacksmith (1972) 7. Memoirs from a Young 4. The Man Booker Prize
8. Blood Red, Sister Rose Republic (1993) Best Novel winner (1982) :
(1974) 8. Our Republic (1993) Schindler's Ark
9. Gossip from the Forest 9. Homebush Boy (1995) 5. Walter Scott Prize Best
(1975) 10. The Great Shame (1998) Historical Novel nominee
10. Season in Purgatory 11. American Scoundrel (2013) : The Daughters of
(1976) (2002) Mars
11. Victim of the Aurora 12. Lincoln (2002)
(1977) 13. Dimsum Asia's Literary
12. Ned Kelly and the City of Journal (2005) (with Yu
Bees (1978) Hua)
13. Passenger (1979) 14. The Commonwealth of
14. Confederates (1979) Thieves (2005)
15. The Cut-Rate Kingdom 15. Searching for Schindler
(1980) (2008)
16. Bullie's House (1981) 16. Australians (2010)
17. Schindler's Ark (1982) 17. Three Famines (2011)
18. aka Schindler's List 18. Australians: Eureka to
19. A Family Madness the Diggers (2012)
(1985) 19. Australians: Flappers to
20. The Playmaker (1987) Vietnam (2016)
21. To Asmara (1989)
22. aka Towards Asmara
23. Act of Grace (1989) (as
by William Coyle)
 FAMOUS WORK:
24. By the Line (1989)
25. Flying Hero Class (1991)
26. Chief of Staff (1991) (as
by William Coyle)
27. Woman of the Inner Sea
(1992)
28. Jacko (1993)
29. A River Town (1995)
30. Bettany's Book (2000)
31. The Office of Innocence
(2002)
32. The Tyrant's Novel
(2003)
33. Widow and Her Hero
(2007)
34. The People's Train
(2009)
35. The Daughters of Mars
(2012)
36. Shame and the Captives
(2014)
37. Napoleon's Last Island
(2016)
38. Crimes of the Father
(2017)
39. The Book of Science and
Antiquities (2018)
40. The Dickens Boy (2020)

"Schindler's Ark (1982)"

In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist became a living legend

to the Jews of Cracow. A womanizer and drinker, he risked his life to protect Jews in
Nazi-occupied Poland. This novel was subsequently made into the internationally
acclaimed film "Schindler's List".

Genre: Historical
 Colleen McCullough (1937 - 2015)
Colleen McCullough was born in Australia. A
neurophysicist, she established the department of
neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital
in Sydney, then worked as a researcher and teacher
at Yale Medical School for ten years. She is the
author of the record-breaking international
bestseller The Thorn Birds as well as eleven other
novels.
Genres: Historical, Mystery

Omnibus
Three Complete Novels (1999)

Series Novels

Masters of Rome 1. Tim (1974)

1. The First Man in Rome (1990) 2. The Thorn Birds (1977)
2. The Grass Crown (1991) 3. An Indecent Obsession (1981)
3. Fortune's Favourites (1993) 4. A Creed for the Third Millennium (1985)
4. Caesar's Women (1995) 5. The Ladies of Missalonghi (1987)
5. Caesar (1997) 6. The Song of Troy (1998)
6. The October Horse (2002) 7. Morgan's Run (2000)
7. Antony and Cleopatra (2007) 8. The Touch (2003)
 FAMOUS
WORK
Carmine Delmonico 9. Angel (2004)
1. On, Off (2005) 10. The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet
2. Too Many Murders (2009) (2008)
3. Naked Cruelty (2010) 11. Bittersweet (2013)
4. The Prodigal Son (2012)
5. Sins of the Flesh (2013) aka Old Sins, Long

"Thorn Birds"

In the rugged Australian Outback, three

extraordinary generations of Cleary's live
through joy and sadness, bitter defeat and
magnificent triumph - driven by their dreams,
sustained by remarkable strength of
character...and torn by dark passions, violence
and a scandalous family legacy of forbidden
love.

Genre: Historical
Direction: From the Introduction of the Australian Literature up to the Literature of the 21st century, kindly
create a timeline of the different developments and significant contributions of the Australian Literature in
History.
Below are the examples of a timeline. Make it as creative as you could. Kindly submit it in our Google
Classroom.
References:

https://www.britannica.com/art/Australian-literature

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/patrick-white/

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/colleen-mccullough/
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/thomas-keneally/

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/peter-carey/
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/elizabeth-jolley/
 Lesson 2 / Module 12
The Pacific Literature / New Zealand Literature

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson the students should be able to:

a) Identify the hidden history of New Zealand Literature;

b) Explore the notable works of the famous authors of New Zealand;
c) Appreciate how the World War II affects the Literature of New Zealand;
and
d) Accomplished the different activities attached with the lesson.

Introduction to Pacific Literature

New Zealanders have long been avid readers, but until the mid-20th century most of the
literature they consumed was imported from Britain. Historian and poet Keith Sinclair identified
the 1950s as the decade 'when the New Zealand intellect and imagination came alive'. This
flowering of creative and critical talent was not sudden, but the climax of a process that had
begun at least two decades before.

By the 1930s a new breed of New Zealand writers was emerging, assisted by the growth
of universities and small publishing enterprises. The New Zealand centennial in 1940 provided a
further boost to the local literary scene, and later that decade a state Literary Fund was
established. By the 1950s there was a wider range of outlets for creative writing, including the
influential magazine Landfall. New voices in poetry and drama were generating heated debate
over identity and politics, while writers of novels, short stories, children's and popular fiction
were also finding new audiences.

The 1930s saw the emergence in New Zealand of a new breed of writers, whose work
usually embodied a reaction against established ideas and conventions. Often these writers
were influenced by recent trends in literature overseas, notably modernism, and by social and
political events such as the Depression. A growing, if narrow, sense of nationalism was
expressed, focusing on the dilemma of Pākehā who still looked to England as 'Home', but
increasingly identified with New Zealand through ties of kinship and daily experience. Some
major literary figures of the 1930s, including short-story writer Frank Sargeson, poets Allen
Curnow, A.R.D. Fairburn, Denis Glover and R.A.K. Mason, and Glover's printer associate Bob
Lowry, remained active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Maori Narrative: The Oral Tradition

Like all Polynesian peoples, the Maori, who began to occupy the islands now
called New Zealand about 1,000 years ago, composed, memorized, and performed laments,
love poems, war chants, and prayers. They also developed mythology to explain and record
their past and the legends of their gods and tribal heroes. As settlement developed through the
19th century, Europeans collected many of these poems and stories and copied them in the
Maori language. The most picturesque myths and legends, translated into English and
published in collections with titles like Maori Fairy Tales (1908; by Johannes Carl Andersen),
were read to, or by, Pakeha (European) children, so that some—such as the legend of the lovers
Hinemoa and Tutanekai or the exploits of the man-god Maui, who fished up the North Island
from the sea and tamed the sun—became widely known among the population at large.

Oratory on the marae tribal was, and continues to be, an important part of
Maori culture; it is difficult to make a clear distinction, such as exists in written literatures,
between text and performance. Nor was authorship always attributable. And the Maori sense
of time was such that legend did not take the hearer back into the past but rather brought the
past forward into the present, making the events described contemporary.

Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, the Maori people, disastrously
affected by European minordiseases to which they had only weak resistance, appeared to be in
decline, and European scholars recorded as much Maori legend as they could, believing that the
Maori would die out and that their oral culture, highly figurative and often of rare poetic
beauty, deserved preservation. Some of this material was published; a great deal more was
stored in libraries and is studied today, not least by Maori students and scholars intent on
recovering their own cultural past.

Although Maori individuals and groups have become notable performers of

various kinds of European music, their traditional music also survives. To the 19th-century
European ear, the words of Maori poetry were impressive and beautiful, but the music was
tuneless and monotonousand tended to be ignored. It is, however, inseparable from the words,
and the scholars Mervyn McLean and Margaret Orbell were the first to publish text and music
together. McLean and Orbell distinguished three kinds of waiata (songs): waiata tangi (laments
—for the dead, but also for other kinds of loss or misfortune), waiata aroha (songs about the
nature of love—not only sexual love but also love of place or kin), and waiata whaiaaipo (songs
of courtship or praise of the beloved). In addition, there are pao (gossip songs), poi (songs
accompanying a dance performed with balls attached to flax strings, swung rhythmically), oriori
(songs composed for young children of chiefly or warrior descent, to help them learn their
heritage), and karanga (somewhere between song and chant, performed by women welcoming
or farewelling visitors on the marae). Some chants are recited rather than sung. These include
karakia (forms of incantation invoking a power to protect or to assist the chanter), paatere
(chants by women in rebuttal of gossip or slander, asserting the performers high lineage and
threatening her detractors), kaioraora (expressions of hatred and abuse of an enemy, promising
terrible revenge), and the haka (a chant accompanied by rhythmic movements, stamping, and
fierce gestures, the most famous of these being war dances that incorporate stylized violence).
In every aspect of this tradition, the texts, which in pre-European times survived through
memorization, were inseparable from gestures and sometimes music. The most widely used
modern development of these traditional forms is the waiata-a-ringa (action song), which fits
graceful movements to popular European melodies.

Modern Maori Literature

Until the 1970s there was almost no connection between the classical Maori
tradition, preserved largely as a historical record, and the development of a postcolonial
English-language literature of New Zealand. When Maori writers began to appear after World
War II, they wrote in English, and the most notable of them knew little or nothing of the Maori
language. In 1966 Jacqueline Sturm, wife of the poet James K. Baxter, became the first Maori
writer to appear in a major anthology of New Zealand short stories. By that time, Hone
Tuwhare, the first Maori poet to make a strong impression in English, had published his first
book, No Ordinary Sun (1964). Witi Ihimaeras short stories, collected in Pounamu, Pounamu
(1972; Greenstone, Greenstone), and his novel Tangi (1973) seemed finally to establish Maori
writers as part of modern New Zealand writing. The Whale Rider (1987; film 2002) gained
Ihimaera an international readership. Patricia Graces narratives of Maori life—Mutuwhenua:
The Moon Sleeps (1978), The Dream Sleepers, and Other Stories (1980), Potiki (1986)—were
very widely read, especially in schools as part of a broad effort in New Zealand to encourage the
study of Maori writing. And Keri Hulmes The Bone People (1983), winner of Britains Booker
Prize in 1985, probably outsold, both at home and abroad, any other book written during the
postwar period. In the work of these writers, the language is English, the forms (particularly in
fiction) are European, and Maorinessis partly a matter of subject, partly of sensibility, and partly
(as in the case of Hulme, who has only one Maori great-grandparent and who changed her
given name from Kerry to Keri) sympathetic identification.

But, increasingly through the 1980s, there was a tendency to politicize Maori
issues in literature, something seen clearly in Ihimaeras The Matriarch (1986) and in some of
the later fictions of Grace, where the misfortunes of the Maori are laid, sometimes angrily, at
the Pakeha door. A reaction against this came from Maori novelist Alan Duff—author of Once
Were Warriors (1990; film 1994)—who argued that the Maori must take responsibility for their
own failures and find the means somewhat scornfully of his fellow Maori writers, saying that
they sentimentalize Maori life. This polarization within the Maori literary community continued
with the publication of Graces Cousins (1992) and Ihimaeras Bulibasha (1994) on the one hand,
both of which present positive images of a people who were damaged by colonialism and
racism but who are fighting back, and with Duffs What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1996)
on the other hand, in which salvation for the Maori is again seen as lying within integration,
education, and acceptance of individual responsibility. Duffs controversial view was taken
further in his autobiographical Out of the Mist and Steam (1999), in which his abusive Maori
mother seems intended to be seen as typical while his bookish, intellectual Pakeha father
represents a path of escape from the cycle of violence, failure, and despair. In the 1990s, after
more than two decades of marriage and as the father of two daughters, Ihimaera publicly
acknowledged his homosexuality; this added a further dimension not so much to his work itself
but to the way it is read and the kind of interest taken in it.

A different form of politicization has come from Maori poets, some of whom
rediscovered, partly through academic study, the classic forms of Maori poetry and returned to
them in the Maori language. Since there are only a few thousand fluent speakers of the
language (government statistics from 2001 said something over 10,000 adult Maori claimed to
speak the language wellor very well), this has been seen by some as an exercise in self-
limitation, while to others it appears to be a brave assertion of identity; anthologies of New
Zealand poetry now include examples of these new poetswork in Maori with translations into
English. Of the Maori poets writing in English, Robert Sullivan is the one whose work attracted
the most attention at the turn of the 21st century.

Maori character and tradition have also found expression in the theatre, in plays
written predominantly in English but with injections of Maori. Among the best of these works
are Hone Koukas Nga tangata toa (published 1994; The Warrior People) and Waiora (published
1997; Health).

Pakeha (European) Literature

Modern discussions of New Zealand literature have not given much attention to
the 19th century. Immigrant writers were Britishers abroad. Only those born in the newland
could see it as New Zealanders; and even they, for most of the first 100 years of settlement
(1820–1920), had to make conscious efforts to relocate the imagination and adapt the literary
tradition to its new home. It is not surprising, then, that the most notable 19th-century writing
is found not in poetry and fiction but rather in letters, journals, and factual accounts, such as
Lady Mary Anne Barkers Station Life in New Zealand (1870), Samuel Butlers A First Year in
Canterbury Settlement (1863), and, perhaps most notably, Frederick Manings Old New Zealand
(1863).

The best of the 19th-century poets include Alfred Domett, whose Ranolf and
Amohia (1872) was a brave if premature attempt to discover epic material in the new land;
John Barr, a Scottish dialect poet in the tradition of Robert Burns; David McKee Wright, who
echoed the Australian bush ballad tradition; and William Pember Reeves, born in New Zealand,
who rose to be a government minister and then retired to Britain, where he wrote nostalgic
poems in the voice of a colonist. They were competent versifiers and rhymers, interesting for
what they record. But none of the poets stands out until the 20th century, the first being
Blanche Edith Baughan (Reuben, and Other Poems [1903]), followed by R.A.K. Mason (In the
Manner of Men [1923] and Collected Poems [1962]) and Mary Ursula Bethell (From a Garden in
the Antipodes [1929] and Collected Poems [1950]).

New Zealand literature, it might be said, was making a slow and seemly
appearance, but already the whole historical process had been preempted by one brief life—
that of Katherine Mansfield (born Kathleen Beauchamp), who died in 1923 at age 34, having
laid the foundations for a reputation that has gone on to grow and influence the development
of New Zealand literature ever since. Impatient at the limitations of colonial life, she relocated
to London in 1908, published her first book of short stories (In a German Pension [1911]) at age
22, and, for the 12 years remaining to her, lived a life whose complicated threads have, since
her death, seen her reappearing in the biographies, letters, and journals of writers as famous as
T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Bertrand Russell, and D.H. Lawrence. More important, she altered for
good and all(in the words of the British writer Elizabeth Bowen) our idea of what goes to make
a story.Two additional books published in her lifetime (Bliss and Other Stories [1920] and The
Garden Party, and Other Stories [1922]) were followed by posthumously published stories,
collections of poems, literary criticism, letters, and journals. She became for a time a major
figure, faded for two decades, and was rediscovered in the 1970s by feminists and by scholars
examining the Bloomsbury group. It seemed, from any perspective, that Mansfield remained a
New Zealand writer whose best work was that in which she had re-created the country and
family she had grown up in.

Mansfield once wrote, I want to make my own country leap in the eyes of the
Old World—and she did it. She also made the short story respectable, established it as a form
sufficient in itself for a writer’s reputation to rest on, and made it a staple of New Zealand
writing. But she never completed a novel.

The first important New Zealand novels came from two writers whose scene was
northern New Zealand: William Satchell (The Land of the Lost [1902], The Toll of the Bush
[1905], and The Greenstone Door [1914]) and Jane Mander (The Story of a New Zealand River
[1920]). They were followed by John A. Lee, whose Children of the Poor (1934), mixing fiction
and oratory, was drawn from his own experience of childhood poverty in the South Island;
Robin Hyde, who in The Godwits Fly (1938) still wrestled with the sense of colonial isolation;
and John Mulgan, whose Man Alone (1939) held in balance both the colonial romanticism of
the solitary figure in the empty landscape and the leftist romanticism of men moving
togetherto change the world. In the 1930s Ngaio Marsh began publishing the detective novels
for which she became internationally known.

The University Influence

During the decade some significant changes occurred in the literary scene. More and
more, those engaged in literary pursuits began to be associated with academia, rather than
journalism as had previously been the case. Several magazines publishing new writing were
founded by university staff and students; the most prominent of these was Phoenix, an
Auckland University College publication. The influential Christchurch periodical, Tomorrow,
received strong university support.

The Growth of Publishing

It became somewhat easier for New Zealand writers to be published.

Several innovative small publishing enterprises, notably the Caxton Press in
Christchurch and the Unicorn Press in Auckland, provided alternatives to the
mainstream local firms of Whitcombe and Tombs and A.H. & A.W. Reed. The New
Zealand Listener, which developed into an important forum for debate and creative
writing, was established in 1939. The first Labour government's support for
literature and scholarship was shown in funding for a series of historical and critical
publications to mark the country's centennial in 1940; this provided recognition as
well as employment for a number of writers, historians and critics.

The Second World War and beyond

The War Years

In some ways war interrupted the work of New Zealand writers; in others it acted as
a stimulant. For those who joined the armed forces, such as Eric McCormick, Bruce Mason and
Dan Davin, experience of travel and danger provided creative impetus and a new perspective
on their country of birth. From 1941, New Zealand writing gained some international exposure
through John Lehmann's monthly publication, Penguin New Writing. New Zealand New Writing,
a local version produced between 1942 and 1945, was another vehicle for fresh talent.
The belief that New Zealand culture was worthy of serious comment was behind a
burst of critical writing, beginning in 1940 with the publication of Eric McCormick's ground-
breaking survey Letters and art in New Zealand. This was closely followed by a wide-ranging
series of essays by Monte Holcroft, the first of which was entitled the deepening stream.

Post-War Developments

With peace came a sense of renewal and some crucial innovations that helped literature
to flourish. New Zealand universities began to expand rapidly after the war, and once again,
they proved havens for writers. The University of New Zealand began publishing books in 1949.
A controversial but significant move, championed by the influential public servant Joe Heenan,
was the establishment in 1946 of a government Literary Fund to provide writers with financial
assistance.

New Outlets for Writing

Landfall, March 1949

Pre-war publishing enterprises, notably the Caxton Press, were revived, and new ones
began, for instance the Paul's Book Arcade imprint of Blackwood Paul. Once Monte Holcroft
took over the editorship of the Listener in 1949 even more creative writing was featured, and
Māori writers were encouraged by the establishment of Te Ao Hou in the early 1950s. Possibly
the most momentous event was the founding by poet and editor Charles Brasch of Landfall.
This quarterly journal, which first appeared in 1947, came to dominate literary life, though a
number of other small magazines were soon set up in competition with it.

Poetry and Drama

Poetry

A Book of New Zealand Verse (1945; rev. ed. 1951), edited by Allen Curnow, is usually held
to mark the advent of New Zealand literatures postcolonialphase. It was Modernist, nationalist,
and critically sophisticated, and Curnows long, elegant introduction set a new standard for the
discussion of local writing. Curnows own poetry, though not immediately as well received as
that of his contemporaries Denis Glover and A.R.D. Fairburn,
had intensity, precision,
and formal control that
theirs, for all its lyric
ease and vividness of
local reference, could
not match. Curnow
eventually became,
with James K. Baxter (a
younger poet whose
merit Curnow was
quick to recognize), one of
the countrys dominating poetic presences.
 By the end of the 1950s—when his second and more comprehensive anthology, The
Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse (1960), was about to appear—Curnow was already a major
figure on the literary landscape against whom younger poets felt the
need to rebel. The decade of the 1960s, however, was dominated by
Baxters poetry and charismatic presence. Baxter was a very public and
prolific writer whose Collected Poems (1979), which appeared after his
death (in 1972 at age 46), contained more than 600 pages; it was said
that possibly three times as many additional poems remained in
unpublished manuscript. He was effortless and natural in verse—a
modern Byron—while Curnow was all conscious skill and contrivance. It
was in the year of Baxters death that Curnow began publishing again,
extending his reputation at home and, through the 1980s, establishing
a reputation abroad. Curnow received many awards, culminating in the
Queens Gold Medal for Poetry, a rare honour he shared with such
poets as W.H. Auden, Robert Graves, and Ted Hughes.

Other poets whose work came to the fore during the 1950s and 60s
include Kendrick Smithyman, a poet almost as prolific as Baxter but
whose poems are much more densely textured and oblique; Fleur
Adcock, who emigrated to London and established herself among respected British poets; C.K.
Stead, who, in addition to his role as poet, earned an international reputation as a literary critic
with his book The New Poetic (1964); and Vincent OSullivan, who, like Stead, was an academic
as well as a poet and a writer of plays and short stories.
 Among the poets who became known in the 1970s and 80s were several whose
work showed, at least as a general tendency, a shift away from British and toward American
models of Modernism and postmodernism. Two of the most talented
were Ian Wedde, whose energy, formal inventiveness, and stylistic
charm in the use of spoken language extended the range of New Zealand
poetry, and Bill Manhire, a witty understater and unsettler of reality.
Others also appearing then included Murray Edmond, a dour but
resourceful pupil of the American school; Elizabeth Smither, whose
poetic world was sharpened by her sense of ironies and contradictions;
Anne French, who made gossip into high art; and Leigh Davis, a poet and
literary theorist who gave up poetry for higher finance. Lauris Edmond,
who began publishing in middle age, was an anomaly among these
poets, riding high on the feminist tide of those two decades but writing
in a more conventional poetic style that set her apart from her publishing contemporaries.

Gregory OBrien was among the more notable poets who marked out a space for
themselves in the 1990s. OBrien, who was also a painter, sometimes illustrated his semi-surreal
poems with matching iconography. Other poets were Jenny Bornholdt, a warmhearted, clever
observer of the everyday; Andrew Johnston, also a witty poet, who gave language a degree of
freedom to create its own alternative reality; and Michele Leggott, the most scholarly of this
group and the one who took the most, and most directly, from American postmodernists such
as Louis Zukofsky.

Drama

In the 1960s Curnow, Baxter, and Sargeson had all written plays of literary
interest but no great public success; the 1970s and 80s, however, saw significant development
in the writing and production of New Zealand plays. Bruce Mason, whose one-man show The
End of the Golden Weather (published 1962) had been performed hundreds of times all over
the country, continued to write and saw the best of his earlier plays with Maori themes—The
Pohutukawa Tree (published 1960) and Awatea (published 1969)—given professional
productions. Mervyn Thompson wrote expressionist plays mixing elements of autobiography
with social and political comment (O! Temperance! and First Return [both published 1974]).
Greg McGee probed the surface of New Zealands national game,rugby, in the hugely successful
Foreskins Lament (published 1981). Roger Hall wrote clever comedies and satires of New
Zealand middle-class life—Middle Age Spread (published 1978), which was produced in
Londons West End, and Glide Time (published 1977). OSullivans Shuriken (published 1985) used
a riot by Japanese soldiers in a New Zealand prison camp to illustrate how understanding and
sympathy fail to cross cultural boundaries. Drama, the last of the major literary genres to get
started in New Zealand, developed rapidly in the 1980s, and new playwrights (Stuart Hoar,
Michael Lord, Hilary Beaton, Renée [original name Renée Taylor], and Stephen Sinclair, for
example) were finding producers, casts, and audiences as never before.
 Although prominent figures such as Charles Brasch, James
K. Baxter and Frank Sargeson wrote plays, the best-known
playwright of the 1950s was Bruce Mason. He addressed the
question of cultural identity by exploring Māori themes and the
disintegration of traditional values. With professional theatre in its
infancy in New Zealand, Mason pioneered solo performances and
also contributed to the development of radio drama.

Fiction

In postwar fiction the central figure was Frank Sargeson. He had begun publishing
stories in the 1930s, attempting to do for New Zealand what Mark Twain had done for America
and Henry Lawson for Australia—find a language in fiction that represented the New Zealand
voice and character. That Summer, and Other Stories (1946) gathered together the best of his
early stories, and it was followed by the experimental novel I Saw in My Dream (1949).
Although both these books were published in London, Sargeson was seen by New Zealand
writers as something of an inspiration—a man committed to full-time writing and to the life of
literaturein New Zealand.

His most notable younger protégés were Maurice Duggan, whose stories brought a new
level of sophistication into New Zealand fiction, and the novelist Janet Frame, whose fame was
to outstrip that of her mentor. From her first novel, Owls Do Cry (1957), Frames work was
internationally respected though never widely popular. However, with the publication of her
three-volume autobiography (To the Is-Land [1982], An Angel at My Table [1984], and The
Envoy from Mirror City [1985]) and its adaptation (written by
Laura Jones; directed by Jane Campion) into the movie An Angel at
My Table (1990), Frames work received much wider attention,
attracting interest both because of that part of it that draws upon
her younger years, when she was wrongly diagnosed as
schizophrenic and locked away in mental hospitals, and because of
its technical experimentation and linguistic inventiveness.

Sargeson himself continued to write throughout the

postwar period. While respect for his historical importance, both
as a short-story writer and as a mentor to younger writers,
continued to grow, interest in his novels (such as Memoirs of a Peon [1965] and Joy of the
Worm [1969]) had waned by the turn of the 21st century. His three-volume autobiography—
Once Is Enough (1973), More Than Enough (1975), and Never Enough (1977)—is, however, a
lively trilogy equal to Frames in interest and in the quality of the writing.

The 1960s saw the rise to prominence of two young novelists, Maurice Gee and
Maurice Shadbolt, neither of them much interested in technical innovation, both writing
traditional, solid, realistic novels giving New Zealanders a more comprehensive view of
themselves and their society than fiction had previously offered. For a long time Gees best work
was considered to be his Plumb trilogy—Plumb (1978), Meg (1981), and Sole Survivor (1983)—
which tells the story of the Christian leftist George Plumb (based on Gees grandfather) and the
subsequent fortunes of his children and grandchildren. His later novels, however—including
Going West (1992), Crime Story (1994), and Live Bodies (1998)—show a further extension of his
range and ease as a novelist, social historian, and moralist. Shadbolts background and interests
were also of the political left. The typical central character in Shadbolts early work is a product
of a working-class background who finds himself among writers and artists, is involved in love
affairs and marriages, but is always concerned about politics, especially the politics of what it
means to be a New Zealander. Strangers and Journeys (1972) gathers together and restates all
the themes of his early work, after which Shadbolt found a new subject in 19th-century Maori-
Pakeha relations (also explored by Stead in his novel The Singing Whakapapa [1994]). Shadbolts
attention focused especially on the 1860s, the period of the New Zealand Wars, fought
between European colonists and the Maori over control of land. His three novels on that
subject—Season of the Jew (1986), Mondays Warriors (1990), and The House of Strife (1993)—
are possibly his best.

Other notable novelists of the postwar period include Bill Pearson, whose one novel,
Coal Flat (1963), gives a sober, faithful, strongly written account of life in a small mining town
on the West Coast of the South Island; David Ballantyne (Sydney Bridge Upside Down [1968]
and The Talkback Man [1978]), the lost manof those decades whose work deserves more
readers than it has had; and Ronald Hugh Morrieson, whose bizarre, semi-surreal, and rollicking
stories of small-town life, The Scarecrow (1963) and Came a Hot Friday (1964), were largely
ignored when they were published but have since been hailed as unique and valuable. Sylvia
Ashton-Warner, by contrast, wrote an international best seller, Spinster (1958), a success
unmatched by her later novels, but her fine autobiography, I Passed This Way (1979), is the
personal record of a brilliant naturalboth as a writer and as a teacher.

The Novel and the Short Story

Much fiction of the 1940s and 1950s concentrated on the plight of an isolated
individual in a hostile, puritanical society. This theme mirrored the actual struggle of many New
Zealand fiction writers to make a living and achieve acceptance. Among those who produced
significant novels were expatriates Dan Davin and
James Courage, and younger writers including David
Ballantyne, Ruth France and Janet Frame. Although
Frank Sargeson's 'realist' narrative style with its blunt
New Zealand idioms dominated, some fiction writers
experimented with impressionism to convey the
intensity of individual experience. Maurice Duggan
transcended realist conventions in his short stories,
drawing on a wide range of textual models, while
Helen Shaw was one of several women short-story
writers who broke free of the prevailing focus on
masculine concerns and pursuits.

Writing for Children

In the 1940s the School Journals produced

by the School Publications Branch of the
Department of Education changed in character to
focus entirely on high-quality fiction. Many writers
had their first stories published in the Journals, for
which some of the most prominent, including
James K. Baxter, Maurice Duggan and Louis
Johnson, were editors. However, the best-known
children's stories of the 1950s, the Hutu and Kawa
series by Avis Acres, achieved their popularity
largely through enchanting illustrations.

A picture from Hutu and Kawa find an island

Popular Fiction

Nelle Scanlan (1934)

Thrillers, romances and other popular writing presented an interesting counterpoint to the
concerns of 'serious' fiction. Often these genres supported positive stereotypes about New
Zealand and New Zealanders and deliberately avoided analysis of social and political issues in a
calculated attempt to appeal to both local and international audiences. This tradition, which
had taken root in the 1930s with the work of Nelle Scanlan, Rosemary Rees, Mary Scott and
Ngaio Marsh, was carried on by romance novelist Essie Summers and crime novelist Elizabeth
Messenger.

By the end of the 1950s, the environment for New Zealand literature was much more
favourable. The time was ripe for emerging writers to challenge, subvert and transcend the
concepts of nationhood which had been formulated in recent decades.
The turn of the 21st century

The short story continued to be an important form for New Zealand writers
through the last decades of the 20th century. One of its best modern exponents was Owen
Marshall (The Lynx Hunter, and Other Stories [1987], The Divided World [1989]); OSullivan
(Survivals and Other Stories [1985]) was another. OSullivan published both poetry and fiction
(though Hyde and, to some extent, Frame, had done the same before), and this practice of
writing across genres became a feature of the 1980s and 90s. Two well-known novelists, Fiona
Kidman (A Breed of Women [1979], Paddys Puzzle [1983], True Stars [1990], Ricochet Baby
[1996]) and Marilyn Duckworth (Married Alive [1985], Rest for the Wicked [1986], Pulling Faces
[1987], A Message from Harpo [1989], Unlawful Entry [1992], Leather Wings [1995]), also
published collections of poems. Smither, best known as a poet, published several novels,
including Brother-Love, Sister-Love (1986). Wedde extended his range from poetry to the novel
with Symmes Hole (1986). Fiona Farrell, whose novels include The Skinny Louis Book (1992) and
Six Clever Girls Who Became Famous Women (1996), moved back and forth between fiction
and poetry. And Stead, whose political fantasy Smiths Dream (1971) went through many
reprints, continued to write both poetry and fiction in the 1980s and into the next century.
Many of his novels were published simultaneously in New Zealand and Britain, including The
Death of the Body (1986), The End of the Century at the End of the World (1992), Talking About
ODwyer (1999), Mansfield (2004), and My Name Was Judas (2006).

Notable in the final decades of the 20th century was the number of literary
biographies and autobiographies published, as if New Zealanders had become eager to record
and to read about the creators of their national literature. There were full biographies
published of Fairburn, Sargeson, Baxter, Duggan, Glover, and Frame, as well as of the novelist
and short-story writer Dan Davin. In addition to the autobiographies of Duff, Frame, Sargeson,
and Ashton-Warner, Shadbolt (2 vol.), Duckworth, Lauris Edmond (3 vol.), the poet Charles
Brasch, and the poet and novelist Kevin Ireland also published accounts of their lives.

Also frequently remarked upon was the number of younger women novelists
writing in, and largely about, New Zealand while finding a major publisher abroad. These
 include Elizabeth Knox, whose novel The Vintners
Luck (1998) won international acclaim, as well as
Catherine Chidgey, Charlotte Grimshaw, Emily
Perkins, and Sarah Quigley.

A new element entered New

Zealand literature in the writing of recent immigrants, particularly those from the Pacific
Islands, as in the case of the Samoan novelist Albert Wendt (Sons for the Return Home [1973],
Leaves of the Banyan Tree [1979], Black Rainbow [1992]). But also, among these immigrants
were some Kindly
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 LESSON 3 / MODULE 13
THE HINDU AND THE EUROPEAN EPIC

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should able to:

1. Discuss the meaning of epic and its function;

2.Explain the ten famous epics of Ancient India;

3.Appreciate the characteristics of different European epic; and

4.Analyze the poem “The song of Roland”, the France’s national epic.

Definition of Epic
The word epic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective, “epikos”, which
means a poetic story. In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem, which is usually
related to heroic deeds of a person of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In
order to depict this bravery and courage, the epic uses grandiose style.
The hero is usually the representative of the values of a certain culture, race,
nation or a religious group on whose victor of failure the destiny of the whole nation or
group depends. Therefore, certain supernatural forces, deus ex machina, help the hero,
who comes out victor at the end. An epic usually starts with an invocation to muse, but
then picks up the threads of the story from the middle and moves on to the end.
Function of Epic
As the epic poem is the earliest form of poetry, it is the earliest form of entertainment as
well. Epics were written to commemorate the struggles and adventures of kings and
warriors. The main function of epic poetry was to elevate the status of the hero among
the audiences to inspire them to be ready to perform heroic actions. Epic obtained most
of its themes from the exploits performed by legendary characters and their illustrious
ancestors. That is why these exploits became examples for others to follow, and still
lived in books. It is through epics; models of ideal heroic behavior were supplied to the
common people. Moreover, epics also were collections of historical events not recorded
in common history books — the reason that they are read today to be enjoyed and be
informed regarding the past.
The Hindu Epic
 Epic of India
Every culture has its great, foundational texts. Epics, or a Mahakavya, are
known as the specialty of Sanskrit and are also the earliest forms of literature.
Indian literature is thought to be the earliest literature of the world. Literature during
this time largely incorporated art. In this art, the gods portrayed in the story were
depicted and it was grandiose. The art was very detailed and included humans,
animals, scenery, color and much more. The two most famous epics are the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
Classical epics were made by using parts of the two original epics. An epic is
supposed to be divided into chapters, or Sarga. Every chapter is composed in an
individual and specific manner depending on the subject or theme of the Sarga.
Epics are thought of as art as much description is provided besides the main plot.
Imagery is widely used to describe festivals, forests, mountains, seasons, and so on.
Stanzas are composed so they flow with the story line but are also an individual idea
or image.

The two classical epics have to do with ideals and values of human civilization.
The epics highlight the value of truth and the importance of self-sacrifice. Epics have
many moral teachings and are sacred writing to Hindus because of the important
discourses and teaching included in them. Although they are originally written in
Sanskrit, they were performed orally before transferring epics into writing. Tellers of
the stories add and take out parts and pieces of the story and the epics area
changed a bit when translated as well. The main ideas and morals remain intact
even if small details of the epics do change.

The 10 Famous Epics of Ancient India

The earliest works of literature of India were epics, long poems, travelogues,
plays, and collection of stories for children which were written in verse. A large
 number of great Indian epics were created during the first millennium BC. The two
most famous epics are the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

1.MAHABHARATA
The Mahabharata is a famous Indian epic written by Ved Vyasa and is the
longest Sanskrit epic ever written. The epic has more
than 74,000 verses and 18 books. The story is set in
India is about the conflict of a family, the Pandavas
and the Kauravas. The two sides of the family have a
dispute over who is to rule the kingdom but the
Kauravas are exiled after losing a game of gamble.
Later on, they come back and have a war. Krishna is
a great part of the story as he helps Arjuna drive his
chariot. Another very important part of the story is the
conversation that Arjuna and Krishna have about the
Bhagawad Gita. Krishna gives Arjuna a glimpse of his
divine self and reminds Arjuna that he must fulfill his
destiny in life. The Pandavas won the battle and ruled
over Hastinapura for many years. The epic talks
about the importance of fulfilling one’s dharma in life. Other important teachings
of the epic are about lies, deceit, and other vices. The prevailing theme of the
story is that good always triumphs over evil. It also portrays ancient politics and
how a person can let go of his or her principles for selfish desires.
2. RAMAYANA
The Ramayana is the most famous
and read epics of all times. Maharshi
Valmiki is the author of the epic. The
Hindus have such high respect for this
epic, that it is considered a holy book.
All children in India know the story of
the Ramayana and it holds important
values as well as idealistic principles.
There are many local versions written
and printed across India. The
Ramayana takes place in the kingdom
of Ayodhya where there was a noble
king, Dashratha. He has three wives
and was granted four sons. The eldest
son was Rama and because of his
values and outlook, he was considered
the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The king was going to crown Rama but his
second wife became jealous and wanted her son named king after a promise the king
had made her.
Her son was named king and Rama was exiled for fourteen years. He set out with Sita
and Lakshmana but one day, a Demoness saw Rama and was charmed by his
personality. She tried seducing him but Rama ignored her and so she tried seducing
Lakshmana. Lakshmana was disgusted and mad so he cut off her nose. The Demoness
went to her brother Ravana, the Demon king to complain about what happened. Ravana
abducted Sita so they must find her. In the end, Rama wins and they go back to the
kingdom where he is now crowned. The moral of the epic is that good triumphs over
evil, and the values highlighted are the ones demonstrated by Rama.
3. PANCHAT ANTRA
The Panchatantra is a legendary
collection of short stories from India.
Originally composed in the 3rt century
B.C, Panchatantra is believed to be
written by Vishnu Sharma. The ancient
Sanskrit text boasts of various animal
stories in verse and prose, arranged
within a frame story. It is based on
older oral traditions, including “animal
fables that are as old as we are able to
imagine”.
The Panchatantra is the best guide to
enroot moral values in children since its each tale has a moral lesson in its end. The
Panchatantra is a great book where plants and animals can speak and converse with
human beings too.
There are recorded over two hundred different versions known to exist in more than fifty
languages, and three-quarters of these languages are extra-Indian. As early as the
eleventh century this work reached Europe. It has been worked over and over again,
expanded, abstracted, turned into verse, retold in prose, translated into medieval and
modern vernaculars, and re-translated into Sanskrit.

4. Sangam literature
The corpus of poems known as Sangam
literature was produced over six
centuries, from around 300 BC to 300
A.D, by Tamils from very diverse social
backgrounds. The period during which
these poems were composed is called
the Sangam period. These works provide insight into early Tamil culture and into trade
relations between South India and the Mediterranean, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
This collection contains 2381 poems in Tamil composed by 473 poets, some 102 of
whom remain anonymous. These poems were later collected into various anthologies,
edited, and with colophons added by anthologists and annotators around 1000 AD.
Sangam literature fell out of popular memory soon thereafter, until they were
rediscovered in the 19th century by scholars.
5. Abhijnanasakuntalam
Abhijnanasakuntalam is a beautiful
tale of love and romance,
dramatizing the story of
Shakuntala (mother of emperor
Bharata) told in the epic
Mahabharata. Its date is uncertain,
but Kalidasa is often placed in the
period between the 1st century
BCE and 4th century CE. The
Sanskrit title means ‘Of Sakuntala
who is recognized by a token’.
Abhijnanasakuntalam is the first Indian play ever to be translated into western
languages.
6. Kamasutra
The Kama Sutra is the world’s
oldest book on the pleasures of
sensual living. It was originally
compiled in the 3rd century by the
Indian sage Vatsyayana, who lived
in northern India. The title of the
text, Kama Sutra, literally means “a
treatise on pleasure.”
Contrary to western popular
perception, the Kama Sutra is not
exclusively a sex manual, only
20% of Kama Sutra is about sexual
positions. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, making
oneself more attractive and how spouses should treat each other.
7. Shishupala Vadha
Shishupala Vadha is a Sanskrit epic
dealing with the life of Shishupala, a king
of an ancient Indian province, and his death by Krishna. The story is taken from
Mahabharata. It is an epic poem in 20 cantos of about 1800 highly ornate stanzas, and
is considered one of the six Sanskrit mahakavyas, or “great epics”. It is believed to
composed by Māgha in the 7th or 8th century. the epic has been widely acclaimed for
its use of ornate style and poetic techniques.
8. The Kiratarjuniya
The Kiratarjuniya is a Sanskrit epic written in the 6th
century or earlier. It is an epic poem in eighteen
cantos in which the God Shiva tests the strength of
Arjuna, one of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata.
Though Arjuna fails in the competition, he gets an
opportunity to meet the Lord Siva and receive His
blessings. The story has a moral that every human
being should keep in mind that we have to respect
others whatever their status. It expounds the basic of
Indian religious thought that every human being is a
part of the omnipotent.

9. The Arthashastra
The Arthasastra by Chanakya is a 2300-year-old
masterpiece on governance, economics and
politics. This book is a huge work and has fifteen
parts, each dealing with some aspects of the art of
government. Composed, expanded and redacted
between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE,
the Arthashastra was influential until the 12th
century, when it disappeared. It was rediscovered
in 1905 by R. Shamasastry, who published it in
1909.
The title “Arthashastra” is often translated to “the science of politics”, but the book
Arthashastra has a broader scope. It includes books on the nature of government, law,
civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics, markets and trade, the methods for
screening ministers, diplomacy, theories on war, nature of peace, and the duties and
obligations of a king.

10. Buddhacarita
Buddhacharita is a great epic which narrates the
life of Buddha – from his birth to Nirvana.
Buddhacharita, one of the best Sanskrit epics, was written by Asvogosha, a Buddhist
poet in 2nd century AD. This epic is renowned for the details about Buddha’s life which
can be corroborated by available historical records and the facts available in other
chronologies of that period. This epic consists of 28 cantos.
THE EUROPEAN EPIC
In the history of world literature, many ancient countries in ancient Greece, India,
and Europe have excellent long epics. The heroic epic is the leader in the medieval
literary world in Europe. It inherits the tradition of ancient epic depiction and transcends
tradition.
Epic poetry begins with The Epic of Gilgamesh. It is unlikely that any Medieval or
Renaissance European writer had read Gilgamesh. The European epic tradition begins
with Homer in Greece around 800 BC. It is essential that students of English literature
read The Iliad and The Odyssey. The form of the epic poem, its typical characters, its
plot, its tropes, and so forth are all set out in Homer. All epic poets of note read him.
Other epic poets include Hesiod, Apollonius, Ovid, Lucan, and Statius.
Epic of Germany
German literature comprises the written works of the German-speaking peoples
of central Europe.
In Germany, the epic genre had combined the heathen martial spirit with
chivalrous civility without the Christian element so prominent in the French epic,
although the specifically chivalric brand of piety that the historian Adolf Waas labelled
Ritterfrömmigkeit was conspicuously present in the religious epics of biblical inspiration.

Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied, (German: “Song of the Nibelungs”)
Middle High German epic poem written about 1200 by an
unknown Austrian from the Danube region. It is preserved in
three main 13th-century manuscripts, A (now in Munich), B
(St. Gall), and C (Donaueschingen); modern scholarship
regards B as the most trustworthy. An early Middle High
German title of the work is Der Nibelunge Not (“The
Nibelung Distress”), from the last line of the poem. The
superscription on one of the manuscripts from the early 14th
century is “The Book of Kriemhild.”
This fragmented collection of several thousand stanzas was
only rediscovered several centuries after it was written, but
this poem’s scale is so grand that it helped revive Teutonic
mythology in Germany. About the slow but inevitable decline of the Burgundian people
of the North Atlantic, the majority of the poem follows Siegfried, an Achilles-like figure
who fights dragons, conquers Nibelungenland and uses his invisibility cloak to defeat
enemies. 19th century composer Richard Wagner would later use material from this
poem to produce his masterpiece The Ring-Cycle, though later German National
Socialists would use it to propagate erroneous assertions about a “Teutonic race.”

Epic of France
Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in
their sense of identity. As of 2006, French literary people have been awarded more
Nobel Prizes in Literature than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country.
French literature, the body of written works in the French language produced
within the geographic and political boundaries of France. The French language was one
of the five major Romance languages to develop from Vulgar Latin as a result of the
Roman occupation of western Europe.
La Chanson de Roland or The Song of Roland,
is an old French epic poem that is probably the earliest
(c. 1100) chanson de geste and is considered the
masterpiece of the genre. The poem’s probable author
was a Norman poet, Turold, whose name is introduced
in its last line.
France's national epic is namely The Song of Roland,
not just by virtue of its considerable length, but by the
values it promotes. The title character is consistently
presented throughout the poem as a role model for
French manhood, a brave soldier whose loyalty, valor,
and sacrifice make him the first authentically national
hero.

Sample Analysis of the Song of Roland:

1. The source of the epic.
The historical battle of Roncesval which was fought on August 15, 778
AD. There were two sources of this account – one is the historical account of
Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer and the other, the record of the Spanish
scholar Damaso Alonso
2. The plot structures
It is made up of a main plot which centers on the Battle of Roncesval as a
consequence of the treachery of Ganelon and the sub-plot is the subsequent trial
 of Ganelon. The plots are worked on two levels and are unified by the main theme
– the triumph of Christian justice, the zeal of Christian militancy, and the
punishment of treachery.
3. Mode of plot development.
The unification of the plot is based on the parallelism of the main and
special themes. The main theme is the heroism of Roland and the justice of
Charlemagne as especially revealed in the battle of Roncesval; the special theme
deals with the power and symbol of the horn, the sword, and the lance as
universal representation of the union of the spiritual and mundane militancy of the
Christians. Here, the triumph of Christianity over the forces of evil is clearly
illustrated.
4. Process of unfolding the action of the story.
The action is unfolded and developed through episodic representations of
the action where the main and the sub-plot are artistically integrated.
a. Episode 1 – is made up of three incidents. Incident 1 deals with the successful
campaign of Charlemagne against the Spanish Moors, the peace treaty between
Charlemagne and Marsilla, and Charlemagne’s return to France but with a fourth of his
army left behind to guard his men. Incident 2 consists of Marsilla’s council and the plan
for treachery concocted by Ganelon and Marsilla, of Charlemagne’s council to choose
the emissary to be sent to the court of Marsilla to negotiate a treaty between the two
monarchs. Incident 3 consists of Roland’s nomination of Ganelon as envoy to the
Saracen Marsilla. Ganelon’s root cause of revenge stems from his deep-seated
personal spite, jealousy, rage, public shame, and self-pity. Incident 4 speaks of
Ganelon’s preparation to go alone to Marsilla to accomplish his dastardy deed of
treachery; hence his rejection of all offers of other knights to accompany him on his
mission. The purpose of this incident is to reveal the betrayal of Charlemagne and of
Roland.
b. Episode 2 – is made up of four incidents. Incident 1 illustrates the march of
Charlemagne’s troops back home to France and the decision to put Roland and the
twelve peers at the rear of the army in order to guard it from sporadic attacks of the
Moors. Incident 2 demonstrates the betrayal of Ganelon and the battle at Roncesval.
The Saracens start their surprise attack and Roland, the twelve peers (Oliver at its
head) and all the men under them fight bravely. Here, the poet dramatizes the
greatness of Roland and his heroic stature as a Christian warrior. Incident 3 relates the
event dealing with the last stand of Roland and his men. Roland finally blows the horn
after several pleadings from Oliver now that he realizes the futility of their struggles
against the overwhelming odds of the onslaught of the infidels but Ganelon purposefully
deters Charlemagne’s attempt to go to Roland’s rescue by saying that Charlemagne is
only having a delusion of hearing the sound of Roland’s horn. Incident 4 depicts the
death of Roland and his comrades. The rescue comes too late and the poet vividly
describes the terrific combat between Charlemagne and Baligant where the Christian
crusaders completely rout the Moors.
c. Episode 3 – is made up of three incidents. Incident 1 portrays the return home of
Charlemagne’s troops and the convening of the Court of Justice in order to try Ganelon
for his betrayal of the cause of the Christians. Incident 2 demonstrates the trial by
combat between Pinabel, representing Ganelon and Thierry, representing Roland.
Incident 3 speaks of the execution of Ganelon and all his relatives as the result of the
judgment of the Court of Justice, an outcome of the victory of Thierry over Pinabel in the
trial by combat.

5. Devices used in the development of the plot.

In unfolding the main and sub-plots, the poet utilized the following devices:

a. The poet uses an impersonal mode of narration – an omniscient point of view.

This is indicated in the way the characters were introduced.

b. The medias res technique is used in developing the action, the action begins in
the middle.

c. Song of Roland has parallelism of situations – Marsilla’s council and

Charlemagne’s council. Contrast of characters is emphasized in order to give credibility
to their respective personalities.

d. The poet uses metrical pattern that shows the interlocking of ideas. Also, the poet
uses the dream device (Charlemagne’s dream foreshadowing the death of Roland) to
show the workings of the supernatural element too.

Characterization:

1. ROLAND – he is brave to a point of rashness, provocative, arrogant with a naïve

form of egotism, loyal to his liege lord, tender and loving to his mother; he is also open
and honest in his dealings with his friends and comrade. He upholds to the highest
degree the chivalric code of honor and is a zealous fighter of the cause of Christianity.

Roland’s sins or flaws of character are: his heroic pride and his fear of public opinion,
the vice of human respect, his fear of betraying Charlemagne’s trust in him, and his
strong sense of honor prevented him from blowing the horn, an act that led him and his
men to death.

Lastly, his over confidence in his prowess as a warrior in the battlefield also brought
about his own downfall.

2. OLIVER – like Roland, he was brave but unlike Roland, he was prudent yet blunt
in his manner of speaking and action.

3. GANELON – he is portrayed as cunning, greedy for power and money, and

egotistical. He places much value on his manly honor and reputation and would do
anything to preserve them. He has a warped mind which sees things in the wrong and
rationalizes the wrong as right. He is vindictive and is full of envy, a trait so baleful that it
festered into his soul and made him so conscienceless as to sell Roland for a paltry
sum of gold just as Judas sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver.
Epic of Spain
One of the great Spanish epics of the Middle
Ages is El Cid, or more fully El cantar de mío Cid.
Written or copied in 1207 by Per Abbat, it is the
story of the conquest of Valencia by Rodrigo Díaz
de Vivar, who lived during the time of the Norman
Invasion (the end of the Old English period).
Cantar de Mio Cid, (English: “Song of My Cid”)
also called Poema De Mio Cid, Spanish epic poem
of the mid-12th century, the earliest surviving
monument of Spanish literature and generally
considered one of the great medieval epics and one
of the masterpieces of Spanish literature.
The poem tells of the fall from royal favor and
the eventual vindication of the Castilian 11th-century
noble and military leader Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043–99), popularly known as the Cid,
who became Spain’s national hero. The original manuscript of the poem, believed to
have been composed about 1140, has been lost; the earliest existing copy, called
Poema del Cid, dates from 1307.
Distinguished for its realistic tone and treatment of the historical setting and the
topographical detail as well as for its imaginative poetic artistry, the poem caught the
popular imagination and lived on in epic, chronicle, ballad, and drama. The theme, with
many additions and variations, inspired numerous writers in Spain and elsewhere and
helped to fix the popular conception of the Spanish character. Its best-known non-
Spanish treatment is Pierre Corneille’s play Le Cid (1637), a landmark of French
Neoclassical drama.

Epic of Italy
The Divine Comedy (Epic of Italy)
Medieval epic poems are plentiful, though
rarely read. Each nation or state produced its great
epic poets. Italy has not only Virgil, but also Dante,
among others. Dante's great epic is The Divine
Comedy. It has inspired poets and artists for
centuries. T. S. Eliot is said to have carried a
volume of Dante in his coat pocket. Gustave Doré
illustrated The Divine Comedy in the nineteenth
century.
The Divine Comedy is one of the greatest
monuments of human genius. It is the Christian
epic. The story is related as a vision; it is the story
of humanity itself.
The poem begins with Dante being lost in a
forest (representing worldliness or sin) near a hill,
the Mount of Joy or Salvation. He wishes to ascend the hill but is prevented from doing
so by a leopard (representing violence and ambition) and a she-wolf (representing lack
of self-restraint). Trembling with fear at the threatening and ferocious appearance of the
beasts, Dante is saved by Virgil (who becomes his guide), sent by Beatrice to help him.
With Virgil, Dante descends into hell. Beatrice herself is his guide as he makes the
ascent to heaven.
Virgil and Dante enter the gates of hell (Inferno) and enter that dismal region of
eternal suffering and punishment. Hell is shaped like an inverted cone with nine circles,
each circle lower and narrower than the preceding one. In each circle the wicked are
punished, and the punishment grows more severe at each lower circle. The punishment
is always in proportion to the sinner’s guilt. At the pit of hell are two arch-sinners: Satan,
the rebel against God, and Judas of Kerioth, the betrayer of Christ.
As the poets pass through the gates of hell, cries of anguish deafen their ears.
Dante sees the first of the souls in torment. The first group of sinners is the ordinary
type – those souls who, when they lived were neither good nor evil but lived only for
themselves. They race round and round, pursuing a wavering banner that runs forever
through polluted air. As they run, they are stung by wasps and hornets.
 As Dante and Virgil descend farther down, they see that each of the different
ledges in Hell is reserved for sinners having committed the same sins. There seems to
be no movement from one ledge to another. The gluttons are punished by a rain of foul-
smelling, dirty, decaying food full of worms, food not even fit for pigs. The spendthrifts
and the misers (who abused the gifts of God) are punished by rolling large boulders
upon a hill with their shoulders. They are on opposite sides of the hill; the boulders clash
and fall and the pair of sinners begin again from the bottom, rolling the boulders
painfully up the hill. The murderers are immersed in a river of boiling blood, and when
they come up to breathe, monsters hit them on the head and they go down into the river
of blood again.

After leaving hell, Dante and Virgil ascend to Purgatory where they find the
immense zone divided into seven sections of a circular ascending stairway. This is the
Mountain of Purgatory; each ledge or circle of the stairway is devoted to the expiation of
each of the seven deadly sins. The proud sinners bend and groan, carrying heavy
weights; the envious are covered with garments of coarse horsehair; the hot-tempered
are suffocated with smoke; the lazy are compelled to run around continuously; the
gluttons suffer from hunger and thirst. The sins punished in hell are the same sins
punished in purgatory; but while the sufferings in hell are endless, the sufferers in
purgatory are given a chance to repent of and expiate their sins and are allowed to rise
to the top of the mountain of Purgatory until they reach the Terrestrial Paradise or the
Garden of Eden. From there they can ascend to Paradise. The inhabitants of hell and
purgatory are all sinful souls. The difference lies in the fact that those in hell did not feel
sorry or repent for their sins while those in purgatory were sorry for, and tried to avoid,
sin when they were on earth.
When Dante reaches paradise, Beatrice, who was the object of his early and
constant love, meets him and becomes his guide to heaven. She leads him upward
through the nine heavens and acquaints him with great men, among them the saints
who by their virtuous lives have deserved to enjoy the vision of God in paradise.
Absorbed in the beatific vision of God, Dante falls into a faint and awakens on earth.
Dante’s Divine Comedy is both an epic and an allegory. In grandeur and scope,
it is an epic since Dante’s pilgrimage takes him from earth, to hell, to paradise, to
heaven, and back to earth again. However, the poem has an allegorical meaning. It is,
in fact, an extended metaphor. The allegorical meaning is hidden under the literal one.
Dante, traveling through the invisible world, is mankind who tries to find temporal and
eternal happiness. The forest typifies the will and religious confusion of society deprived
of two heads – the temporal leader (the emperor) and the spiritual leader (the pope).
The three beasts typify the strongest obstacles to man’s achieving happiness. Virgil
acting as guide on the journey typifies reasons, which should come to help man in this
journey through life. Beatrice typifies the supernatural help which man also needs in his
journey through this life. Without these two aiding him, man cannot attain his true end,
which is happiness.

References
Definition and functions of epic
 https://literarydevices.net/epic/

Epic of India
 https://ancientcivilizationsapwh.weebly.com/classical-indian-
epics.html#:~:text=The%20two%20most%20famous%20epics%20are%20the
%20Mahabharata%20and%20the%20Ramayana.&text=The%20epics
%20highlight%20the%20value,and%20teaching%20included%20in%20them.
 https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2010/12/27/india-epics
 https://www.themysteriousindia.net/famous-epics-of-ancient-india/

Epic of Germany
 https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?
docId=ft4j49p00c&chunk.id=d0e5369&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e5245&brand=uc
press
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nibelungenlied
 https://qwiklit.com/2013/09/10/the-20-greatest-epic-poems-of-all-time/

Epic of France
 https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/The-Middle-Ages
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-Chanson-de-Roland
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-this-song-well-known-national-
epic-france-280547
 https://sites.google.com/site/sirrheynanong/classroom-pictures

Epic of Spain
 https://www.webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/ART2L/AISALLC
%202019/AISALLC19019.pdf
 https://people.umass.edu/eng2/genre/epic.html
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cantar-de-Mio-Cid

Epic of Italy
 https://sites.google.com/site/sirrheynanong/classroom-pictures
 LEARNING TASK

THE HINDU AND EROUPEAN EPIC

A. Briefly discuss the following:

1. What is the importance of epic? Why it is important to learn and understand

epics from different countries?

2. In your own words, define the Hindu epic and what makes it unique from the
other epics?

B. Make an analysis of at least 2 epics from the following:

1. Ramayana
2. The Mahabharata
3. Nibelungenlied
4. Divine Comedy
5. The Divine Comedy
 LESSON 4 / MODULE 14
THE EUROPEAN LITERATURE

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should able to:
1. Discuss the background of literature from different European country;
2. Explain the key features to understand European Literature;
3. Appreciate the characteristics of different European Literature; and
4. Analyze the poem “Demain, dès l’aube” by Victor Hugo

DEFINITION AND BACKGROUND

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 is
bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the
south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the
Black Sea and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. To the
east, Europe is generally divided from Asia by the water divide of the Ural Mountains,
the Ural River, and by the Caspian Sea.
 European literature refers to the literature of Europe.
 European literature is a part of world literature
 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.
 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.

LITERATURE OF ENGLAND
 Literature of England is also known as the English literature. English literature is
the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the
British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. Being the
origin of the English language, England has yielded many noteworthy literary
works and authors. While each of these is unique, they represent England’s
 literature as a cohesive body. Over the ages, different styles and approaches to
literature have become evident.
HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
The Old English language or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The
period is a long one and it is generally considered that Old English was spoken from
about A.D. 600 to about 1100. Many of the poems of the period are pagan, in particular
Widsith and Beowulf.
The greatest English poem, Beowulf is the first English epic. The author of
Beowulf is anonymous. It is a story of a brave young man Beowulf in 3182 lines. In this
epic poem, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a band of warriors to save the King of
Denmark, Hrothgar. Beowulf saves Danish King Hrothgar from a terrible monster
called Grendel. The mother of Grendel who sought vengeance for the death of her son
was also killed by Beowulf. Beowulf was rewarded and became King. After a
prosperous reign of some forty years, Beowulf slays a dragon but in the fight he himself
receives a mortal wound and dies. The poem concludes with the funeral ceremonies in
honor of the dead hero. Though the poem Beowulf is little interesting to contemporary
readers, it is a very important poem in the Old English period because it gives an
interesting picture of the life and practices of old days.
The difficulty encountered in reading Old English Literature lies in the fact that
the language is very different from that of today. There was no rhyme in Old English
poems. Instead they used alliteration. Besides Beowulf, there are many other Old
English poems. Widsith, Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, The Wanderer, The Seafarer,
Wife’s Lament, Husband’s Message, Christ and Satan, Daniel, Andreas, Gathas, The
Dream of the Rood, The Battle of Maldon etc. are some of the examples. Two important
figures in Old English poetry are Cynewulf and Caedmon. Cynewulf wrote religious
poems and the four poems, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles, Christ and Elene are
always credited with him. Caedmon is famous for his Hymn. Alfred enriched Old English
prose with his translations especially Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Aelfric is another
important prose writer during Old English period. He is famous for his Grammar,
Homilies and Lives of the Saints. Aelfric’s prose is natural and easy and is very often
alliterative.

Middle English Literature

Geoffrey Chaucer
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340 in London, England. In 1357 he became a
public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the
British court throughout his lifetime. The Canterbury Tales became his best known and
most acclaimed work. He died in 1400 and was the first to be buried in Westminster
Abbey’s Poet’s Corner. Chaucer’s first major work was ‘The Book of the Duchess’, an
elegy for the first wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Other works include ‘Parlement of
Foules’, ‘The Legend of Good Women’ and ‘Troilus and Criseyde’. In 1387, he
began his most famous work, ‘The Canterbury Tales’, in which a diverse group of
people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
William Langland, (born c. 1330—died c. 1400), presumed author of one of the
greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers
Plowman, an allegorical work with a complex variety of religious themes. One of the
major achievements of Piers Plowman is that it translates the language and conceptions
of the cloister into symbols and images that could be understood by the layman. In
general, the language of the poem is simple and colloquial, but some of the author’s
imagery is powerful and direct.

PERIODS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DRAMA

In Europe, as in Greece, the drama had a distinctly religious origin. The first
characters were drawn from the New Testament, and the object of the first plays was to
make the church service more impressive, or to emphasize moral lessons by showing
the reward of the good and the punishment of the evil doer. In the latter days of the
Roman Empire the Church found the stage possessed by frightful plays, which debased
the morals of a people already fallen too low. Reform seemed impossible; the corrupt
drama was driven from the stage, and plays of every kind were forbidden. But mankind
loves a spectacle, and soon the Church itself provided a substitute for the forbidden
plays in the famous Mysteries and Miracles.

MIRACLE AND MYSTERY PLAYS

In France the name miracle was given to any play representing the lives of the
saints, while the mystère represented scenes from the life of Christ or stories from the
Old Testament associated with the coming of Messiah. In England this distinction was
almost unknown; the name Miracle was used indiscriminately for all plays having their
origin in the Bible or in the lives of the saints; and the name Mystery, to distinguish a
certain class of plays, was not used until long after the religious drama had passed
away.
The earliest Miracle of which we have any record in England is the Ludus de
Sancta Katharina, which was performed in Dunstable about the year 1110. It is not
known who wrote the original play of St. Catherine, but our first version was prepared by
Geoffrey of St. Albans, a French schoolteacher of Dunstable. Whether or not the play
was given in English is not known, but it was customary in the earliest plays for the chief
actors to speak in Latin or French, to show their importance, while minor and comic
parts of the same play were given in English.
For four centuries after this first recorded play the Miracles increased steadily in
number and popularity in England. They were given first very simply and impressively in
the churches; then, as the actors increased in number and the plays in liveliness, they
overflowed to the churchyards; but when fun and hilarity began to predominate even in
the most sacred representations, the scandalized priests forbade plays altogether on
church grounds. By the year 1300 the Miracles were out of ecclesiastical hands and
adopted eagerly by the town guilds; and in the following two centuries we find the
Church preaching against the abuse of the religious drama which it had itself
introduced, and which at first had served a purely religious purpose. But by this time the
Miracles had taken strong hold upon the English people, and they continued to be
immensely popular until, in the sixteenth century, they were replaced by the Elizabethan
drama.
The early Miracle plays of England were divided into two classes: the first, given
at Christmas, included all plays connected with the birth of Christ; the second, at Easter,
included the plays relating to his death and triumph. By the beginning of the fourteenth
century all these plays were, in various localities, united in single cycles beginning with
the Creation and ending with the Final Judgment. The complete cycle was presented
every spring, beginning on Corpus Christi day; and as the presentation of so many
plays meant a continuous outdoor festival of a week or more, this day was looked
forward to as the happiest of the whole year.
Probably every important town in England had its own cycle of plays for its own
guilds to perform, but nearly all have been lost. At the present day only four cycles exist
(except in the most fragmentary condition), and these, though they furnish an interesting
commentary on the times, add very little to our literature. The four cycles are the
Chester and York plays, so called from the towns in which they were given; the
Towneley or Wakefield plays, named for the Towneley family, which for a long time
owned the manuscript; and the Coventry plays, which on doubtful evidence have been
associated with the Grey Friars (Franciscans) of Coventry. The Chester cycle has 25
plays, the Wakefield 30, the Coventry 42, and the York 48. It is impossible to fix either
the date or the authorship of any of these plays; we only know certainly that they were
in great favor from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The York plays are generally
considered to be the best; but those of Wakefield show more humor and variety, and
better workmanship. The former cycle especially shows a certain unity resulting from its
aim to represent the whole of man’s life from birth to death. The same thing is
noticeable in Cursor Mundi, which, with the York and Wakefield cycles, belongs to the
fourteenth century.
After these plays were written according to the general outline of the Bible
stories, no change was tolerated, the audience insisting, like children at “Punch and
Judy,” upon seeing the same things year after year. No originality in plot or treatment
was possible, therefore; the only variety was in new songs and jokes, and in the pranks
of the devil. Childish as such plays seem to us, they are part of the religious
development of all uneducated people. Even now the Persian play of the “Martyrdom of
Ali” is celebrated yearly, and the famous “Passion Play,” a true Miracle, is given every
ten years at Oberammergau.

THE MORAL PERIOD OF THE DRAMA

The second or moral period of the drama is shown by the increasing prevalence
of the Morality plays. In these the characters were allegorical personages, –Life, Death,
Repentance, Goodness, Love, Greed, and other virtues and vices. The Moralities
may be regarded, therefore, as the dramatic counterpart of the once popular allegorical
poetry exemplified by the Romance of the Rose. It did not occur to our first, unknown
dramatists to portray men and women as they are until they had first made characters of
abstract human qualities. Nevertheless, the Morality marks a distinct advance over the
Miracle in that it gave free scope to the imagination for new plots and incidents. In Spain
and Portugal these plays, under the name auto, were wonderfully developed by the
genius of Calderon and Gil Vicente; but in England the Morality was a dreary kind of
performance, like the allegorical poetry which preceded it.
To enliven the audience the devil of the Miracle plays was introduced; and
another lively personage called the Vice was the predecessor of our modern clown and
jester. His business was to torment the “virtues” by mischievous pranks, and especially
to make the devil’s life a burden by beating him with a bladder or a wooden sword at
every opportunity. The Morality generally ended in the triumph of virtue, the devil
leaping into hell-mouth with Vice on his back.
The best known of the Moralities is “Everyman,” which has recently been revived
in England and America. The subject of the play is the summoning of every man by
Death; and the moral is that nothing can take away the terror of the inevitable summons
but an honest life and the comforts of religion. In its dramatic unity it suggests the pure
Greek drama; there is no change of time or scene, and the stage is never empty from
the beginning to the end of the performance. Other well-known Moralities are the “Pride
of Life,” “Hyckescorner,” and “Castell of Perseverance.” In the latter, man is represented
as shut up in a castle garrisoned by the virtues and besieged by the vices.
Like the Miracle plays, most of the old Moralities are of unknown date and origin.
Of the known authors of Moralities, two of the best are John Skelton, who wrote
“Magnificence,” and probably also “The Necromancer”; and Sir David Lindsay (1490-
1555), “the poet of the Scotch Reformation,” whose religious business it was to make
rulers uncomfortable by telling them unpleasant truths in the form of poetry. With these
men a new element enters into the Moralities. They satirize or denounce abuses of
Church and State, and introduce living personages thinly disguised as allegories; so
that the stage first becomes a power in shaping events and correcting abuses.

THE INTERLUDES
It is impossible to draw any accurate line of distinction between the Moralities
and Interludes. In general, we may think of the latter as dramatic scenes, sometimes
given by themselves (usually with music and singing) at banquets and entertainments
where a little fun was wanted; and again, slipped into a Miracle play to enliven the
audience after a solemn scene. Thus, on the margin of a page of one of the old Chester
plays we read, “The boye and pigge when the kinges are gone.” Certainly, this was
no part of the original scene between Herod and the three kings. So also, the quarrel
between Noah and his wife is probably a late addition to an old play. The Interludes
originated, undoubtedly, in a sense of humor; and to John Heywood (1497 -1580), a
favorite retainer and jester at the court of Mary, is due the credit for raising the Interlude
to the distinct dramatic form known as comedy.
Heywood’s Interludes were written between 1520 and 1540. His most famous is “The
Four P’s,” a contest of wit between a “Pardoner, a Palmer, a Pedlar and a Poticary.”
The characters here strongly suggest those of Chaucer. Another interesting Interlude is
called “The Play of the Weather.” In this Jupiter and the gods assemble to listen to
complaints about the weather and to reform abuses. Naturally everybody wants his own
kind of weather. The climax is reached by a boy who announces that a boy’s pleasure
consists in two things, catching birds and throwing snowballs, and begs for the weather
to be such that he can always do both. Jupiter decides that he will do just as he pleases
about the weather, and everybody goes home satisfied.
All these early plays were written, for the most part, in a mingling of prose and
wretched doggerel, and add nothing to our literature. Their great work was to train
actors, to keep alive the dramatic spirit, and to prepare the way for the true drama.

ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND PROSE

After the death of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400, a century has gone without great
literary outputs. This period is known as Barren Age of literature. Even though there
are many differences in their work, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey are often
mentioned together. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced the Sonnet in England whereas
Surrey wrote the first blank verse in English.
Thomas Wyatt followed the Italian poet Petrarch to compose sonnets. In this
form, the 14 lines rhyme abbaabba (8) + 2 or 3 rhymes in the last six lines. The Earl of
Surrey’s blank verse is remarkable. Christopher Marlow, Shakespeare, Milton and many
other writers made use of it.
 Tottel’s Songs and Sonnets (1557) is the first printed anthology of English
poetry. It contained 40 poems by Surrey and 96 by Wyatt. There were 135 by other
authors. Some of these poems were fine, some childish.
In 1609, a collection of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets was printed. These sonnets
were addressed to one “Mr. W.H.”. The most probable explanation of the identity of
“W.H.” is that he was William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Other people mentioned in
the sonnets are a girl, a rival poet, and a dark-eyed beauty. Shakespeare’s two long
poems, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece are notable.
One of the most important poets of Elizabethan period is Edmund Spenser
(1552-1599). He has been addressed “the poets’ poet”. His pastoral poem, The
Shepeard’s Calendar (1579) is in 12 books, one for each month of the year. Spenser’s
Amoretti, 88 Petrarchan sonnets celebrate his progress of love. The joy of his marriage
with Elizabeth Boyle is expressed in his ode Epithalamion. His Prothalamion is written in
honor of the double marriage of the daughters of the Earl of Worester. Spenser’s
allegorical poem, The Faerie Queene is his greatest achievement. Spenser invented a
special metre for The Faerie Queene. The verse has nine lines and the rhyme plan is
ababbcbcc. This verse is known as the ‘Spenserian Stanza’.
Sir Philip Sidney is remembered for his prose romance, Arcadia. His critical
essay Apology for Poetry, sonnet collection Astrophel and Stella are elegant.
Michael Drayton and Sir Walter Raleigh are other important poets of Elizabethan
England. Famous Elizabethan dramatist Ben Jonson produced fine poems also.
The University Wits John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, George Peele, Thomas Lodge,
Robert Green, Christopher Marlow, and Thomas Nash also wrote good number of
poems. John Lyly is most widely known as the author of prose romance entitled
Euphues. The style Lyly used in his Euphues is known as Euphuism. The sentences
are long and complicated. It is filled with tricks and alliteration. Large number of similes
are brought in.
John Donne’s works add the beauty of Elizabethan literature. He was the chief
figure of Metaphysical Poetry. Donne’s poems are noted for its originality and striking
images and conceits. Satires, Songs and Sonnets, Elegies, The Flea, A Valediction:
forbidding mourning, A Valediction: of weeping etc. are his famous works.
Sir Francis Bacon is a versatile genius of Elizabethan England. He is
considered as the father of English essays. His Essays first appeared in 1597, the
second edition in 1612 and the third edition in 1625. Besides essays, he wrote The
Advancement of Learning, New Atlantis and History of Henry VII. Bacon’s popular
essays are Of Truth, Of Friendship, Of Love, Of Travel, Of Parents and Children,
Of Marriage and Single Life, Of Anger, Of Revenge, Of Death, etc.
 Ben Jonson’s essays are compiled in The Timber or Discoveries. His essays
are aphoristic like those of Bacon. Jonson is considered as the father of English
literary criticism.
Many attempts were carried out to translate Bible into English. After the death of
John Wycliff, William Tyndale tried on this project. Coverdale carried on the work of
Tyndale. The Authorized Version of Bible was published in 1611.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA
The English dramas have gone through great transformation in Elizabethan
period. The chief literary glory of the Elizabethan age was its drama. The first regular
English comedy was Ralph Roister Doister written by Nicholas Udall. Another
comedy “Gammar Gurton’s Needle”, is about the loss and the finding of a needle with
which the old woman Gammar Gurton mends clothes. The first English tragedy was
Gorboduc, in blank verse. The first three acts of Gorboduc written by Thomas Norton
and the other two by Thomas Sackville.
The University Wits contributed hugely for the growth of Elizabethan drama. The
University Wits were young men associated with Oxford and Cambridge. They were
fond of heroic themes. The most notable figures are Christopher Marlow, Thomas Kyd,
Thomas Nash, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, and George Peele.
Christopher Marlow was the greatest of pre-Shakespearean dramatist. Marlow
wrote only tragedies. His most famous works are Edward II, Tamburlaine the Great,
The Jew of Malta, The Massacre at Paris, and Doctor Faustus. Marlow popularized
the blank verse. Ben Jonson called it “the mighty line of Marlow”.
Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy is a Senecan play. It resembles
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Its horrific plot gave the play a great and lasting popularity.
The greatest literary figure of English, William Shakespeare was born at
Stratford-on-Avon on April 26, 1564. He did odd jobs and left to London for a career. In
London, he wrote plays for Lord Chamberlain’s company. Shakespeare’s plays can be
classified as the following:
1.The Early Comedies: in these immature plays the plots are not original. The
characters are less finished and the style lacks the genius of Shakespeare. They are full
of wit and word play. Of this type are The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
2.The English Histories: These plays show a rapid maturing of Shakespeare’s
technique. His characterization has improved. The plays in this group are Richard II,
Henry IV and Henry V.
3. The Mature Comedies: The jovial good humour of Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night,
the urban worldly-wise comedy of Touchstone in As You Like It, and the comic scenes
in The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing etc. are full of vitality. They contain
many comic situations.
4.The Sombre Plays: In this group are All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure,
and Trolius and Cressida. These plays show a cynical attitude to life and are realistic in
plot.
5. The Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear are the climax of
Shakespeare’s art. These plays stand supreme in intensity of emotion, depth of
psychological insight, and power of style.
6. The Roman Plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus etc. follow the
great tragic period. Unlike Marlow, Shakespeare is relaxed in the intensity of tragedy.
7. The Last Plays: The notable last plays of Shakespeare are Cymbeline, The Winter’s
Tale, and The Tempest.

The immense power and variety of Shakespeare’s work have led to the idea that
one man cannot have written it all; yet it must be true that one man did. Thus,
Shakespeare remains as the greatest English dramatist even after four centuries of his
death.
Another dramatist who flourished during the Elizabethan period is Ben Jonson.
He introduced the “comedy of humours’’, which portrays the individual as dominated
by one marked characteristic. He is best known for his Every Man in his Humour. Other
important plays of Jonson are Every Man out of his Humour, Volpone or the Fox,
and The Alchemist,
John Webster’s The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are important
Elizabethan dramas. Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Heywood, Beaumont
and Fletcher etc. are other noted Elizabethan playwrights.

John Milton and His Time

John Milton (1608- 1674) was born in London and educated at Christ’s College,
Cambridge. After leaving university, he studied at home. Milton was a great poet,
polemic, pamphleteer, theologian, and parliamentarian. In 1643, Milton married a
woman much younger than himself. She left Milton and did not return for two years. This
unfortunate incident led Milton to write two strong pamphlets on divorce. The greatest of
all his political writings is Areopagitica, a notable and impassioned plea for the liberty of
the press.
Milton’s early poems include On Shakespeare, and On Arriving at the Age of
Twenty-three. L’Allegro (the happy man and Il Penseroso (the sad man) two long
narrative poems. Comus is a masque written by Milton when he was at Cambridge.
 His pastoral elegy Lycidas is on his friend, Edward King who drowned to death
on a voyage to Ireland. Milton’s one of the sonnets deals with the theme of his
blindness.
Milton is remembered for his greatest epic poem Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost
contained twelve books and published in 1677. Milton composed it in blank verse.
Paradise Lost covers the rebellion of Satan (Lucifer) in heaven and his expulsion.
Paradise Lost contains hundreds of remarkable lines. Milton coined many words in this
poem.
Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes are other two major poems of Milton.
Milton occupies a central position in English literature. He was a great Puritan and
supported Oliver Cromwell in the Civil War. He wrote many pamphlets in support of
parliament.

LYRIC POETS DURING MILTON’S PERIOD (THE CAVALIER POETS)

Milton’s period produced immense lyric poetry. These lyrical poets dealt chiefly
with love and war.
Richard Lovelace’s Lucasta contains the best of his shorter pieces. His best-
known lyrics, such as To Althea, from Prison and To Lucasta, going in the Wars, are
simple and sincere.
Sir John Suckling was a famous wit at court. His poems are generous and witty.
His famous poem is Ballad upon a Wedding.
Robert Herrick wrote some fresh and passionate lyrics. Among his best-known
shorter poems are To Althea, To Julia, and Cherry Ripe.
Philip Massinger and John Ford produced some notable in this period.
Many prose writers flourished during Milton’s age. Sir Thomas Browne is the
best prose writer of the period. His ReligioMedici is a curious mixture of religious faith
and scientific skepticism. Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors is another important
work.
Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, Thomas Fuller’s The History of the Holy War are
other important prose works during this period. Izaac Walton’s biography of John Donne
is a very famous work of Milton’s period. His Compleat Angler discusses the art of river
fishing.

RESTORATION DRAMA AND PROSE

The Restoration of Charles II (1660) brought about a revolution in English literature.
With the collapse of the Puritan Government there sprang up activities that had been so
long suppressed. The Restoration encouraged levity in rules that often resulted in
immoral and indecent plays.
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Dryden is the greatest literary figure of the Restoration. In his works, we have an
excellent reflection of both the good and the bad tendencies of the age in which he
lived. Before the Restoration, Dryden supported Oliver Cromwell. At the Restoration,
Dryden changed his views and became loyal to Charles II. His poem Astrea Redux
(1660) celebrated Charles II’s return. Dryden’s Annus Mirabilis (Miracle Year) describes
the terrors of Great Fire in London in 1666. Dryden appeared as the chief literary
champion of the monarchy in his famous satirical allegory, Abasalom and Achitophel.
John Dryden is now remembered for his greatest mock-heroic poem, Mac Flecknoe.
Mac Flecknoe is a personal attack on his rival poet Thomas Shadwell. Dryden’s other
important poems are Religions Lacie, and The Hind and the Panther.

John Dryden popularized heroic couplets in his dramas. Aurengaxebe, The Rival
Ladies, The Conquest of Granada, Don Sebastian etc. are some of his famous plays.
His dramatic masterpiece is All for Love. Dryden polished the plot of Shakespeare’s
Antony and Cleopatra in his All for Love. As a prose writer, Dryden’s work, An Essay on
Dramatic Poesie is worth mentioning.
John Bunyan’s greatest allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Holy War.

Comedy of Manners
Restoration period produced a brilliant group of dramatists who made this age
immortal in the history of English literature. These plays are hard and witty, comic and
immoral. It was George Etheredge who introduced Comedy of Manners. His famous
plays are She Would if She Could, The Man of Mode and Love in a Tub.
William Congreve is the greatest of Restoration comedy writers. His Love for
Love, The Old Bachelor, The Way of the World and The Double Dealer are very
popular.
William Wycherley is another important Restoration comedy playwright. His
Country Wife, and Love in a Wood are notable plays.
Sir John Vanbrugh’s best three comedies are The Provoked Wife, The Relapse
and The Confederacy.
ENGLISH POETS, 1660-1798
ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744)
Alexander Pope was the undisputed master of both prose and verse. Pope wrote
many poems and mock-epics attacking his rival poets and social condition of England.
His Dunciad is an attack on dullness. He wrote An Essay on Criticism (1711) in heroic
couplets. In 1712, Pope published The Rape of the Lock, one of the most brilliant
poems in English language. It is a mock-heroic poem dealing with the fight of two noble
families.
An Essay on Man, Of the Characters of Women, and the translation of Illiad and
Odyssey are his other major works.
Oliver Goldsmith wrote two popular poems in heroic couplets. They are The
Traveller and The Deserted Village.
James Thompson is remembered for his long series of descriptive passages
dealing with natural scenes in his poem The Seasons. He wrote another important
poem The Castle of Indolence.
Edward Young produced a large amount of literary work of variable quality. The
Last Day, The Love of Fame, and The Force of Religion are some of them.
Robert Blair’s fame is chiefly dependent on his poem The Grave. It is a long
blank verse poem of meditation on man’s morality.
Thomas Gray (1716-1771) is one of the greatest poets of English literature. His
first poem was the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Then after years of
revision, he published his famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Its popularity
had been maintained to the present day. Other important poems of Thomas Gray are
Ode on a Favourite Cat, The Bard and The Progress of Poesy.
William Blake (1757-1827) is both a great poet and artist. His two collections of
short lyrics are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. His finest lyric is The
Tiger.
Robert Burns is known as the national poet of Scotland. A Winter Night, O My
Love is like a Red Red Rose, The Holy Fair etc. are some of his major poems.
William Cowper, William Collins, and William Shenstone are other notable poets
before the Romanticism.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PROSE

DANIEL DEFOE (1659-1731)
 Daniel Defoe wrote in bulk. His greatest work is the novel Robinson Crusoe. It
is based on an actual event which took place during his time. Robinson Crusoe is
considered to be one of the most popular novels in English language. He started a
journal named The Review. His A Journal of the Plague Year deals with the Plague in
London in 1665.
Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison worked together for many years.
Richard Steele started the periodicals The Tatler, The Spectator, The Guardian, The
English Man, and The Reader. Joseph Addison contributed in these periodicals and
wrote columns. The imaginary character of Sir Roger de Coverley was very popular
during the eighteenth century.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is one of the greatest satirists of English literature.
His first noteworthy book was The Battle of the Books. A Tale of a Tub is a religious
allegory like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. His longest and most famous work is
Gulliver’s Travels. Another important work of Jonathan Swift is A Modest Proposal.
Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is very much famous for his Dictionary
(1755). The Vanity of Human Wishes is a longish poem by him. Johnson started a
paper named The Rambler. His The Lives of the Poets introduces fifty-two poets
including Donne, Dryden, Pope, Milton, and Gray. Most of the information about
Johnson is taken from his friend James Boswell’s biography Life of Samuel Johnson.
Edward Gibbon is famous for the great historical work, The Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire. His Autobiography contains valuable material concerning his life.

Edmund Burke is one of the masters of English prose. He was a great orator
also. His speech On American Taxation is very famous. Revolution in France and A
Letter to a Noble Lord are his notable pamphlets.
The letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Earl of Chesterfield, Thomas Gray
and Cowper are good prose works in Eighteenth century literature.

The Birth of English Novel

The English novel proper was born about the middle of the eighteenth century.
Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) is considered as the father of English novel. He
published his first novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded in 1740. This novel is written in the
form of letters. Thus, Pamela is an ‘epistolary novel’. The character Pamela is a poor
and virtuous woman who marries a wicked man and afterwards reforms her husband.
Richardson’s next novel Clarissa Harlowe was also constructed in the form of letters.
Many critics consider Clarissa as Richardson’s masterpiece. Clarissa is the beautiful
daughter of a severe father who wants her to marry against her will. Clarissa is a very
long novel.
 Henry Fielding (1707-1754) is another important novelist. He published Joseph
Andrews in 1742. Joseph Andrews laughs at Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. His
greatest novel is Tom Jones. Henry Fielding’s last novel is Amelia.
Tobias Smollett wrote a ‘picaresque novel’ titled The Adventures of Roderick
Random. His other novels are The Adventures of Ferdinand and Humphry Clinker.
Laurence Sterne is now remembered for his masterpiece Tristram Shandy
which was published in 1760. Another important work of Laurence Sterne is A
Sentimental journey through France and Italy. These novels are unique in English
literature. Sterne blends humour and pathos in his works.
Horace Walpole is famous both as a letter writer and novelist. His one and only
novel The Castle of Otranto deals with the horrific and supernatural theme.
Other ‘terror novelists’ include William Beckford and Mrs. Ann Radcliffe.

EARLY NINTEENTH CENTURY POETS (THE ROMANTICS)

The main stream of poetry in the eighteenth century had been orderly and
polished, without much feeling for nature. The publication of the first edition of the
Lyrical Ballads in 1798 came as a shock. The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the beginning of the romantic age. They
together with Southey are known as the Lake Poets, because they liked the Lake district
in England and lived in it.

William Wordsworth ((1770-1850) was the poet of nature. In the preface to the
second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth set out his theory of poetry. He
defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions”. His
views on poetical style are the most revolutionary. In his early career as a poet,
Wordsworth wrote poems like An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. The Prelude
is the record of his development as a poet. It is a philosophical poem. He wrote some of
the best lyric poems in the English language like The Solitary Reaper, I Wandered
Lonely as a Cloud, Ode on the Itimations of Immorality, Resolution and Independence
etc. Tintern Abbey is one of the greatest poems of Wordsworth.
Samuel Tylor Coleridge (1772-1814) wrote four poems for The Lyrical Ballads.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the most noteworthy. Kubla Khan, Christabel,
Dejection an Ode, Frost at Midnight etc. are other important poems. Biographia Literaria
is his most valuable prose work. Coleridge’s lectures on Shakespeare are equally
important.
 Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage was based on his travels. Don Juan
ranks as one of the greatest of satirical poems. The Vision of Judgment is a fine political
satire in English.
PB Shelley (1792-1822) was a revolutionary figure of Romantic period. When
Shelley was studying at Oxford, he wrote the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism which
caused his expulsion from the university. Queen Mab, The Revolt of Islam and Alastor
are his early poems. Prometheus Unbound is a combination of the lyric and the drama.
Shelley wrote some of the sweetest English lyrics like To a Skylark, The Cloud, To Night
etc. Of his many odes, the most remarkable is Ode to the West Wind. Adonais is an
elegy on the death of John Keats.
John Keats (1795-1821) is another great Romantic poet who wrote some
excellent poems in his short period of life. His Isabella deals with the murder of a lady’s
lover by her two wicked brothers. The unfinished epic poem Hyperion is modelled on
Milton’s Paradise Lost. The Eve of St Agnes is regarded as his finest narrative poem.
The story of Lamia is taken from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. Endymion, Ode to a
Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Psyche, Ode on Melancholy and Ode to
Autumn are very famous. His Letters give a clear insight into his mind and artistic
development.
Robert Southey is a minor Romantic poet. His poems, which are of great bulk,
include Joan of Arc, Thalaba, and The Holly-tree.

LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY POETS (Victorian Poets)

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) is a chief figure of later nineteenth century
poetry. His volume of Poems contains notable poems like The Lady of Shalott, The
Lotos-Eaters, Ulysses, Morte d’ Arthur.The story of Morte d’ Arthur is based on Thomas
Malory’s poem Morte d’ Arthur. In Memoriam (1850) caused a great stir when it first
appeared. It is a very long series of meditations upon the death of Arthur Henry Hallam,
Tennyson’s college friend, who died at Vienna in 1833. In Memoriam is the most deeply
emotional, and probably the greatest poetry he ever produced. Maud and Other Poems
was received with amazement by the public. Idylls of the King, Enoch Arden, Haroldetc.
are his other works.
Robert Browning (1812-89) is an English poet and playwright whose mastery of
dramatic monologues made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. He popularized
‘dramatic monologue’. The Ring and the Book is an epic-length poem in which he
justifies the ways of God to humanity Browning is popularly known by his shorter
poems, such as Porphyria’s Lover, Rabbi Ben Ezra, How They Brought the Good News
from Ghent to Aix, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin. He married Elizabeth Barrett,
another famous poet during the Victorian period. Fra Lippo Lippi Andrea Del Sarto and
My Last Duchess are famous dramatic monologues.
 Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked
as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of
Rugby School. Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with
Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. Arnold valued natural scenery for its peace
and permanence in contrast with the ceaseless change of human things. His
descriptions are often picturesque, and marked by striking similes. Thyrsis, Dover
Beach and The Scholar Gipsy are his notable poems.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator in
the late nineteenth century England. Rossotti’s poems were criticized as belonging to
the ‘Fleshy School’ of poetry. Rossetti wrote about nature with his eyes on it.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wife of Robert Browning wrote some excellent
poems in her volume of Sonnets from the Portuguese.
AC Swinburne followed the style of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Swinburne’s famous
poems works are Poems and Ballads and tristram of Lyonesse.
Edward Fitzgerald translated the Rubaiyat of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam.
Fitzgerald’s translation is loose and did not stick too closely to the original.
Rudyard Kipling and Francis Thompson also wrote some good poems during
the later nineteenth century.

Nineteenth Century Novelists (Victorian Novelists)

Jane Austen 1775-1817 is one of the greatest novelists of nineteenth century
English literature. Her first novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) deals with the life of middle-
class people. The style is smooth and charming. Her second novel Sense and
Sensibility followed the same general lines of Pride and Prejudice. Northanger Abbey,
Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion are some of the other famous works. Jane
Austen’s plots are skillfully constructed. Her characters are developed with minuteness
and accuracy.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is considered as one of the greatest English
novelists. Dickens has contributed some evergreen characters to English literature. He
was a busy successful novelist during his lifetime. The Pickwick Papers and Sketches
by Boz are two early novels. Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Hard
Times, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations are some of the most famous
novels of Charles Dickens. No English novelists excel Dickens in the multiplicity of his
characters and situations. He creates a whole world people for the readers. He
sketched both lower- and middle-class people in London.
William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta and sent to England for
education. William Thackeray is now chiefly remembered for his novel The Vanity Fair.
While Dickens was in full tide of his success, Thackeray was struggling through neglect
and contempt to recognition. Thackeray’s genius blossomed slowly. Thackeray’s
characters are fearless and rough. He protested against the feeble characters of his
time. The Rose and the Ring, Rebecca and Rowena, and The Four Georges are some
of his works.

The Brontës
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were the daughters of an Irish clergy man Patrick
Brontë, who held a living in Yorkshire. Charlotte Brontë’s first novel, The Professor
failed to find a publisher and only appeared after her death. Jane Eyre is her greatest
novel. the plot is weak and melodramatic. This was followed by Shirley and Villette. Her
plots are overcharged and she is largely restricted to her own experiments. Emily
Brontë wrote less than Charlottë. Her one and only novel Wuthering Heights (1847) is
unique in English literature. It is the passionate love story of Heathcliff and Catherine.
Anne Bronte’s two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are much
inferior to those of her sisters, for she lacks nearly all their power and intensity.
George Eliot (1819-1880) is the pen-name of Mary Ann Evans. Adam Bede was her
first novel. Her next novel, The Mill on the Floss is partly autobiographical. Silas Manner
is a shorter novel which gives excellent pictures of village life. Romola, Middle March
and Daniel Deronda are other works of George Eliot.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) published his first work Desperate Remedies
anonymously. Under the Greenwood Tree, one of the lightest and most appealing of his
novels established him as a writer. It was set in the rural area he was soon to make
famous as Wessex. Far from the Madding Crowd is a tragi-comedy set in Wessex. The
rural background of the story is an integral part of the novel, which reveals the
emotional depths which underlie rustic life. The novel, The Return of the Native is a
study of man’s helplessness before the mighty Fate. The Mayor of Casterbridge also
deals with the theme of Man versus Destiny. Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the
Obscure aroused the hostility of conventional readers due to their frank handling of sex
and religion. At the beginning Tess of the D’Urbervilles was rejected by the publishers.
The outcry with the publication of Jude the Obscure led Hardy in disgust to abandon
novel writing. Thomas Hardy’s characters are mostly men and women living close to the
soil.
Mary Shelley, the wife of Romantic poet PB Shelley is now remembered as a
writer of her famous novel of terror, Frankestein. Frankestein can be regarded as the
first attempt at science fiction. The Last Man is Mary Shelley’s another work.
Edgar Allan Poe was a master of Mystery stories. Poe’s powerful description of
astonishing and unusual events has the attraction of terrible things. Some of his major
works are The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Fall of the
House of Usher and The Mystery of Red Death. Besides poetry collections like The
Lady of the Last Ministrel, Marmion, The Lady of the Lake, and The Lord of the Isles, Sir
Walter Scott produced enormous number of novels. Waverly, Old Mortality, The Black
Dwarf, The Pirate, and Kenilworth are some of them. He was too haste in writing novels
and this led to the careless, imperfect stories. He has a great place in the field of
historical novels.
Frederick Marryat’s sea novels were popular in the nineteenth century. His
earliest novel was The Naval Officer. All his best books deal with the sea. Marryat has a
considerable gift for plain narrative and his humour is entertaining. Peter Simple, Jacob
Faithful and Japhet in Search of His Father are some of his famous works.
R.L. Stevenson’s The Treasure Island, George Meredith’s The Egoist, Edward
Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii, Charles Reade’s Mask and Faces, Anthony
Trollope’s The Warden, Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone, Joseph Conard’s Lord Jim,
Nathaniel Hawthrone’s The Scarlet Letter etc. are some of other famous works of
nineteenth century English literature.

Other Nineteenth Century Prose

Charles Lamb is one of the greatest essayists of nineteenth century. Lamb
started his career as a poet but is now remembered for his well-known Essays of Elia.
His essays are unequal in English. He is so sensitive and so strong. Besides Essays of
Elia, other famous essays are Dream Children and Tales from Shakespeare. His wife,
Mary Lamb also wrote some significant essays.
William Hazlitt’s reputation chiefly rests on his lectures and essays on literary
and general subjects. His lectures, Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays, The English
Poets and The English Comic Writers are important.

Thomas De Quincey’s famous work is Confessions of an English Opium Eater.

It is written in the manner of dreams. His Reminiscences of the English Lake Poets
contain some good chapters on Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Thomas Carlyle is another prose writer of nineteenth century. His works
consisted of translations, essays, and biographies. Of these the best is his translation of
Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, his The Life of Schiller, and his essays on
Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
Thomas Macaulay (Lord Macaulay) wrote extensively. He contributed for The
Encyclopedia of Britannica and The Edinburgh Review. His History of England is filled
with numerous and picturesque details.
 Charles Darwin is one of the greatest names in modern science. He devoted
almost wholly to biological and allied studies. His chief works are The Voyage of the
Beagle, Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man.
John Ruskin’s works are of immense volume and complexity. His longest book
is Modern Painters. The Seven Lamps of Architecture, and The Stones of Venice
expound his views on artistic matters. Unto this Last is a series of articles on political
economy.
Samuel Butler, the grandson of Dr. Samuel Butler was inspired by the Darwinian
theory of evolution. Evolution Old and New, Unconscious Memory, Essays on Life, Art
and Science, The Way of All Flesh etc. rank him as one of the greatest prose writers of
nineteenth century. He was an acute and original thinker. He exposed all kinds of
religious, political, and social shams and hypocrisies of his period.
Besides being a great poet, Mathew Arnold also excelled as an essayist. His
prose works are large in bulk and wide in range. Of them all his critical essays are
probably of the greatest value. Essays in Criticism, Culture and Anarchy, and Literature
and Dogma have permanent value.
Lewis Carroll, another prose writer of nineteenth century is now remembered for
her immortal work, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Ever since its publication, this
novel continues to be popular among both the children and adult readers.

TWENTIETH-CENTURY NOVELS AND OTHER PROSE

The long reign of Queen Victoria ended in 1901. There was a sweeping social
reform and unprecedented progress. The reawakening of a social conscience was
found its expression in the literature produced during this period.

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay but soon moved to Lahore. He worked as
a news reporter in Lahore. Kipling was a prolific and versatile writer. His insistent
proclamation of the superiority of the white races, his support for colonization, his belief
in the progress and the value of the machine etc. found an echo on the hearts of many
of his readers. His best-known prose works include Kim, Life’s Handicap, Debits and
Credits, and Rewards and Fairies. He is now chiefly remembered for his greatest work,
The Jungle Book.
E.M Forster wrote five novels in his life time. Where Angels Fear to Tread has
well-drawn characters. Other novels are The Longest Journey, A Room with a View,
Howards End, and A Passage to India. A Passage to India is unequal in English in its
presentation of the complex problems which were to be found in the relationship
between English and native people in India. E.M Forster portrayed the Indian scene in
all its magic and all its wretchedness.
 H.G Wells began his career as a journalist. He started his scientific romances
with the publication of The Time Machine. The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds,
The First Men in the Moon and The Food of the Gods are some of his important science
romances. Ann Veronica, Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly are numbered among his
sociological novels.
D.H Lawrence was a striking figure in the twentieth century literary world. He
produced over forty volumes of fiction during his period. The White Peacock is his
earliest novel. The largely autobiographical and extremely powerful novel was Sons and
Lovers. It studies with great insight the relationship between a son and mother. By
many, it is considered the best of all his works. Then came The Rainbow, suppressed
as obscene, which treats again the conflict between man and woman. Women in Love
is another important work. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a novel in which sexual
experience is handled with a wealth of physical detail and uninhibited language.
Lawrence also excelled both as a poet and short story writer.
James Joyce is a serious novelist, whose concern is chiefly with human
relationships- man in relation to himself, to society, and to the whole race. He was born
in Dublin, Ireland. His first work, Dubliners, is followed by a largely autobiographical
novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It is an intense account of a developing
writer. The protagonist of the story, Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce himself. The
character Stephen Dedalus appears again in his highly complex novel, Ulysses
published in 1922. Joyce’s mastery of language, his integrity, brilliance, and power are
noticeable in his novel titled Finnefan’s Wake.
Virginia Woolf famed both as a literary critic and novelist. Her first novel, The
Voyage Out is told in the conventional narrative manner. A deeper study of characters
can be found in her later works such as Night and Day, Jacob’s Room, To the
Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando. In addition to her novels, Virginia Woolf wrote a
number of essays on cultural subjects. Woolf rejected the conventional concepts of
novel. She replaced emphasis on incident, external description, and straight forward
narration by using the technique “Stream of Consciousness”. James Joyce and Virginia
Woolf popularized this writing technique.
George Orwell became a figure of outstanding importance because of Animal
Farm. It is a political allegory on the degeneration of communist ideals into dictatorship.
Utterly different was Nineteen Eighty-Four on the surveillance of state over its citizen.
Burmese Days and The Road to Wigan Pier are other works.
William Golding deals with man’s instinct to destroy what is good, whether it is
material or spiritual. His best-known novel is Lord of the Flies. The Scorpion God, The
Inheritors and Free Fall are other notable works.
Somerset Maugham was a realist who sketched the cosmopolitan life through his
characters. The Moon and Sixpence, Mrs. Craddock and The Painted Veil are some of
his novels. His best novel is Of Human Bondage. It is a study in frustration, which had a
strong autobiographical element.
Kingsly Amis’s Lucky Jim, Take a Girl like You, One Fat Englishman, and Girl are
notable works in the twentieth century.

Twentieth Century Drama

After a hundred years of insignificance, drama again appeared as an important
form in the twentieth century. Like the novelists in the 20th century, most of the
important dramatists were chiefly concerned with the contemporary social scene. Many
playwrights experimented in the theatres. There were revolutionary changes in both the
theme and presentation.
John Galsworthy was a social reformer who showed both sides of the problems
in his plays. He had a warm sympathy for the victims of social injustice. Of his best-
known plays The Silver Box deals with the inequality of justice, Strife with the struggle
between Capital and Labour, Justice with the meaninglessness of judiciary system.
George Bernard Shaw is one of the greatest dramatists of 20th century. The
first Shavian play is considered to be Arms and the Man. It is an excellent and amusing
stage piece which pokes fun at the romantic conception of the soldier. The Devil’s
Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra, and The Man of Destiny are also noteworthy. Man, and
Superman is Shaw’s most important play which deals the theme half seriously and half
comically. Religion and social problems are again the main topics in Major Barbara. The
Doctor’s Dilemma is an amusing satire. Social conventions and social weaknesses were
treated again in Pygmalion, a witty and highly entertaining study of the class distinction.
St Joan deals with the problems in Christianity. The Apple Cart, Geneva, The
Millionaire, Too True to be Good and On the Rocks are Shaw’s minor plays.

J M Synge was the greatest dramatist in the rebirth of the Irish theatre. His plays
are few in number but they are of a stature to place him among the greatest playwrights
in the English language. Synge was inspired by the beauty of his surroundings, the
humour, tragedy, and poetry of the life of the simple fisher-folk in the Isles of Aran. The
Shadow of the Glen is a comedy based on an old folktale, which gives a good romantic
picture of Irish peasant life. It was followed by Riders to the Sea, a powerful, deeply
moving tragedy which deals with the toll taken by the sea in the lives of the fisher-folk of
the Ireland. The Winker’s Wedding and The Well of the Saints are other notable works.
Samuel Beckett, the greatest proponent of Absurd Theatre is most famous for
his play, Waiting for Godot. It is a static representation without structure or
development, using only meandering, seemingly incoherent dialogue to suggest despair
of a society in the post-World War period. Another famous play by Beckett is Endgame.
Harold Pinter was influenced by Samuel Beckett. His plays are quite short and
set in an enclosed space. His characters are always in doubt about their function, and in
fear of something or someone ‘outside’. The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter, A Night
Out, The Homecoming and Silence are his most notable plays.
James Osborne’s Look Back in Anger gave the strongest tonic to the concept of
Angry Young Man. Watch it Come Down, A Portrait of Me, Inadmissible Evidence etc.
are his other major works.
T.S Eliot wrote seven dramas. They are Sweeney Agonistes, The Rock, Murder
in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk and
The Elder Statesman. Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, and The Silver
Tassie marked Sean O’Casey out as the greatest new figure in the inter-War years. His
own experience enabled him to study the life of the Dublin slums with the warm
understanding.
Another leading playwright of 20th century was Arnold Wesker. Wesker
narrated the lives of working-class people in his plays. Roots, Chicken Soup with Barley
and I’m Talking about Jerusalem are his famous works.
Bertolt Brecht, J.B Priestley, Somerset Maugham, Christopher Fry, Peter
Usinov, Tom Stoppard, Bernard Kops, Henry Livings, Alan Bennett et al are other
important playwrights of twentieth century English literature.

Twentieth Century Poetry

The greatest figure in the poetry of the early part of the Twentieth century was
the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Like so many of his contemporaries, Yeats was
acutely conscious of the spiritual barrenness of his age. W.B Yeats sought to escape
into the land of ‘faery’ and looked for his themes in Irish legend. He is one of the most
difficult of modern poets. His trust was in the imagination and intuition of man rather
than in scientific reasoning. Yeats believed in fairies, magic, and other forms of
superstition. He studied Indian philosophy and Vedas. An Irish Seaman Foresees His
Death, The Tower, The Green Helmet etc. are his major poems. With possible
exception of Yeats, no twentieth century poet has been held in such esteem by his
fellow-poets as T.S Eliot. Eliot’s first volume of verse, Prufrock and Other Observations
portrays the boredom, emptiness, and pessimism of its days. His much-discussed poem
The Waste Land (1922) made a tremendous impact on the post-War generation, and it
is considered one of the important documents of its age. The poem is difficult to
understand in detail, but its general aim is clear. The poem is built round the symbols of
drought and flood, representing death and rebirth. The poem progresses in five
movements, “The Burial of the Dead”, “The Game of the Chess”, “The Fire Sermon”,
“Death by Water”, and “What the Thunder Said”. Eliot’s poem Ash Wednesday is
probably his most difficult. Obscure images and symbols and the lack of a clear, logical
structure make the poem difficult.
W.H Auden was an artist of great virtuosity, a ceaseless experimenter in verse
form, with a fine ear for the rhythm and music of words. He was modern in tone and
selection of themes. Auden’s later poems revealed a new note of mysticism in his
approach to human problems. He was outspokenly anti-Romantic and stressed the
objective attitude.
Thomas Hardy began his career as a poet. Though he was not able to find a
publisher, he continued to write poetry. Hardy’s verses consist of short lyrics describing
nature and natural beauty. Like his novels, the poems reveal concern with man’s
unequal struggle against the mighty fate. Wessex Poems, Winter Words, and Collected
Poems are his major poetry works.
G.M Hopkins is a unique figure in the history of English poetry. No modern poet
has been the centre of more controversy or the cause of more misunderstanding. He
was very unconventional in writing technique. He used Sprung-rhythm, counterpoint
rhythm, internal rhythms, alliteration, assonance, and coinages in his poems.
Dylan Thomas was an enemy of intellectualism in verse. He drew upon the
human body, sex, and the Old Testament for much of his imagery and complex word-
play. His verses are splendidly colourful and musical. Appreciation of landscape,
religious and mystical association, sadness and quietness were very often selected as
themes for his verses.
Sylvia Plath and her husband Ted Hughes composed some brilliant poems in
the 20th century. Plath’s mental imbalance which brought her to suicide can be seen in
her poetry collections titled Ariel, The Colossus, and Crossing the Water. Ted Hughes
was a poet of animal and nature. His major collection of poetry is The Hawk in the Rain,
Woodwo, Crow, Crow Wakes and Eat Crow.

R.S Thomas, Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, Peter Porter, Seamus Heaney et al are
also added the beauty of 20th century English poetry.
War Poets
The First World War brought to public notice many poets, particularly among the
young men of armed forces, while it provided a new source of inspiration for writers of
established reputation. Rupert Brooke, Slegfried Sassoon, and Wilfred Owen are the
major War poets. Rupert Brooke’s famous sonnet “If I should die, think only this of me”
has appeared in so many anthologies of twentieth century verse. Brooke turned to
nature and simple pleasures for inspiration. Sassoon wrote violent and embittered
poems. Sassoon painted the horrors of life and death in the trenches and hospitals.
Wilfred Owen was the greatest of the war poets. In the beginning of his literary career,
Owen wrote in the romantic tradition of John Keats and Lord Tennyson. Owen was a
gifted artist with a fine feeling for words. He greatly experimented in verse techniques.

LITERATURE OF FRANCE
French literature, one of the world's most brilliant, has been for centuries an
impressive facet of French civilization, an object of national pride, and a principal focus
for feelings of national identity. Because the French are a literate people, passionately
interested in questions of language and in the exploration of ideas, the influence of
French intellectuals on the course of French history during the last three centuries has
been great, and remains so today. A high proportion of European literary trends have
originated in France. The continuing prestige of literature in France is evidenced today
by the innumerable private societies devoted to individual authors and by the large
number of literary prizes awarded each year. A knowledge of French literature, in short,
is the key to an understanding of the French people.

History of French Literature

The history of French literature has developed over the year. Continuous work is
also being carried out by French literary writers to improve on the progress made by
previous French authors. The history of French literature could be grouped under the
medieval period, the sixteenth century, seventeenth century, eighteenth century,
nineteenth century, twentieth century and contemporary.

Medieval French Literature

The medieval French literature was written in early middle and old French
languages. Medieval French literature was the literary works carried out between the
11th century and the 15th century. This period saw different genres of creative work
carried out by poets, clercs, jongleurs and writers. Some of the first works in Old French
language were Eulalie and Canticle of Saint. Forms of poetic works by medieval French
poets include Jeu Parti, Aube, Chant royal and Chanson, while genres of theater
include Passion play, miracle play, morality play and mystery play.

French Renaissance Literature

French Renaissance literature or sixteenth century literature is literary works
carried out between 1494 and 1600. The years 1515 to 1559 are reputed to be the
pinnacle of French Renaissance. The literal meaning of Renaissance in English is
Rebirth. Jules Michelet, a French historian was the first person to define and use the
word. In the creation of French literary works, the 16th century is regarded as a
remarkable period. The Middle French language was in use and the introduction of
printing press made it easier to print the literatures.

Seventeenth Century
The seventeenth century saw French literary work carried out all through
France’s Grand Siecle. The period was also significant for France as it led Europe in
cultural and political development. The writers of this period featured good taste,
proportion, clarity and order of classical ideals in their work. Popular France writers in
this period include Madame de La Fayette and Jean Racine.
Eighteenth Century
The eighteenth century in French literary work was between 1715 and 1798. This
was the period when the modern period of French history began, with a conclusion of
the French revolution and the assumption of power by the consulate. Great French
playwrights during the period include Corneille, Racine and Moliere, who were also
prominent in the seventeenth century.

Nineteenth Century
The nineteenth century French history centered between 1799 and 1940. The
period saw the end of Empire and monarchy as well as the development of democracy
in France. French literature enjoyed huge international success and prestige in this
period. Some popular styles during the period include symbolism, Parnassian poetry
and naturalism.

Twentieth Century
The twentieth century French history spanned from 1900 to 1999. There were
several developments in French literary works during the period. Some notable events
that influenced literature during the period were Algerian independence war, Far East
and the Pacific, Imperialism in Africa and French colonialism as well as Dreyfus affairs.

Contemporary French literature

The contemporary French literature covers from year 2000 up till now. Some
events during this period that has influenced French literature include racism,
unemployment, immigration, violence and terrorism. Contemporary French authors
include Tristan Garcia and Christophe Fiat.

10 FAMOUS FRENCH AUTHORS AND THEIR INCREDIBLE LIVES

French authors have left a lasting imprint on world literature. Many of their books
became legendary, such as The Little Prince or Les Misérables, and the incredible
stories they shaped, together with the innovative language they used, have changed the
lives of generations of readers. But on top of writing extraordinary novels and poems,
French writers have also lived truly extraordinary lives, which are often not well known
by the general public. In this article, you’ll get to dive into the works and biographies of
these giants.
Here are 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about famous French authors:
1. Victor Hugo lived on a street named after him

“He who opens a school door, closes a

prison.”
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is one of the best-
known French writers and the author of The
Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Misérables, and
The Last Day of a Condemned Man. As a leading
figure of the Romantic movement, he created the
"Cénacle" in 1827, a literary coterie gathering
young authors and whose seat was his apartment.
Widely considered a literary genius at an early age,
he was elected to the French Academy in 1841.

Known for writing novels, poems and plays with a cause, Victor Hugo engaged in
several political battles, like the one against the death penalty or the Second Empire led
by Napoleon III. This last combat got him exiled to Jersey in 1848, then to Guernsey for
about 20 years, where he produced the richest part of his literary work. Upon his return
to France in 1870, Victor Hugo was welcomed as the symbol of Republican resistance
to the Second Empire.
On his 80th birthday, 600,000 admirers cheered him in front of his house, located
on Eylau avenue in Paris. The same year, the avenue was renamed after him, “avenue
Victor Hugo”, while he was still living there. “I saw for the first time my boulevard”, wrote
Hugo in his collection of biographical notes and essays, Things Seen. Therefore, Victor
Hugo lived in a street called “Victor Hugo” and letters were addressed to him as follows:
“To Mr. Victor Hugo, In his avenue, in Paris".
2. Emile Zola changed the course of the Dreyfus Affair ("J’accuse!")
"One day, France will thank me for
having helped to save her honor."
Already in his lifetime, Emile Zola
(1840-1902) was considered one of
the most popular French authors and
journalists who ever lived. A leader
and theorist of the movement of
Naturalism in literature, his novels,
such as L'Assommoir, Germinal, The
Ladies’ Paradise, Nana or The
Monomaniac, display a methodic,
almost scientific description of his
era. He uncompromisingly analyzed
the men of his time and never
ceased to engage in social causes - the most famous of which being the Dreyfus Affair.
It started in 1894, in a France marked by a stiff revival of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus, a
French officer of Jewish origin, was falsely convicted of passing military secrets to
France’s archenemy, Germany, and subsequently expelled from the army and
sentenced to life imprisonment in Devil’s Island.
Committed to fighting injustice, Zola decided to defend the disgraced officer. On
January 13, 1898, in the newspaper L’Aurore, he published an open letter addressed to
the President of France, Félix Faure, entitled “J’accuse!” (“I Accuse!”), in which he
destroyed the false accusations against Dreyfus. This pamphlet came as a bombshell. It
divided France and the French people into two irreconcilable parts: the “Dreyfusards”
(Dreyfus’ supporters) and the “anti-Dreyfusards”. The French author was condemned
for defamation, and had to flee to England to avoid imprisonment.
It’s only in 1906, after countless twists and turns, that Alfred Dreyfus was finally
rehabilitated and reintegrated into the army -
an outcome that Zola, who died four years
earlier, never got to know. Nonetheless, his
commitment and relentlessness resulted in
the denunciation of anti-Semitic practices
and the release of an innocent man.
3. Albert Camus: The absurd death
“The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the
unreasonable silence of the world.”
Born in French Algeria, Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a philosopher, author and
journalist. From his involvement in the Resistance during World War II to his
denunciation of the Soviet Union, Camus demonstrated a constant political activity
throughout his life. Philosophically, he stayed on the margins of the main movements of
his time, opposing both Marxism and Existentialism, and fighting any overarching
ideology aimed at dissociating men from their human condition. He was also involved in
the defense of North African Muslims and antifascist Spanish refugees.
His books are steeped in his existential anxieties and his endless questioning
about human condition. His views contributed to the rise of Absurdism, a philosophy
inviting to embrace the inability to find any purpose in a fundamentally absurd human
existence. This theme inspired Camus’ “absurd cycle”, a series of novels, plays and
essays including The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus, Caligula and The
Misunderstanding.
In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the
second-youngest recipient in history. Three years later, while returning to Paris after
celebrating New Year’s Eve with his family in his home in Lourmarin, he died in a car
accident after the driver, his friend Michel Gallimard, crashed into a tree. The French
author was 47 years old.
4. Guy de Maupassant hated the Eiffel Tower
“I left Paris and even France,
because the Eiffel Tower ended up
boring me too much.”
Henry-René-Albert-Guy de
Maupassant, commonly known as
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893),
was a journalist and writer of novels
and short stories (such as Bel Ami,
The Horla, Une Vie) that brilliantly
mixed realism with fantasy. Most of
his works have a pessimistic
consonance, as Maupassant insisted
on portraying the cruelty, stupidity
and selfishness of the human race.
Although he lived for several
years in Paris, Maupassant has repeatedly admitted to hating the Eiffel Tower. Like
many fellow authors and artists, he thought of the iron monument to be a desecration of
the beauty of the French capital. Ironically enough, he often had lunch in one of the
restaurants located on its first floor. After a journalist asked him why he would eat in the
Eiffel Tower if he disliked it so much, the French writer replied: "It is the only place in the
city where I do not see it".
He ended up leaving Paris, and eventually France, because of the iconic tower:
“It could not only be seen from all over, but it could be found everywhere, made of all
sorts of known matters, exhibited in all the shops and show windows, an inevitable and
racking nightmare. It was not the only thing, though, that created in me an irresistible
desire to be alone for a while, but everything that has been made in and over it, and
even around it”, he wrote in The Wandering Life.
5. Romain Gary is the only person to win the Goncourt Prize twice
“With maternal love, life makes a
promise at dawn that it can never
hold.”
Born Roman Kacew in Vilnius,
Lithuania, Romain Gary (1914-1980)
emigrated to France at the age of 14.
He studied law and was later enlisted in
the Free French Air Force during the
Second World War. After the war, he
joined the diplomatic career, during
which he wrote many of his most
famous books. Haunted by the war and the angst of aging, the French writer described
the complexity and turmoil inherent to human relationships in emblematic books such as
Promise at Dawn and The Dance of Gengis Cohn.
In 1956, he received the Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious literary award in
France, for The Roots of Heaven, the story of a crusading environmentalist who fights to
save elephants from extinction.
In 1974, in search of renewal, he decided to write a new series of novels using a
pseudonym. In 1975, without knowing the real identity of the writer, the jury of the
académie Goncourt awarded its prestigious prize to Emile Ajar for The Life Before Us,
the story of a Muslim orphan boy living under the care of an old Jewish woman, in post-
war Paris. This is how Gary became the first and only writer in history to win the
Goncourt twice.
6. Honoré de Balzac who was addicted to
coffee
“Many people claim coffee inspires them,
but, as everybody knows, coffee only
makes boring people even more boring. “
 Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was one of the initiators of Realism in literature.
In 1834, he had the idea of grouping all of his novels in an organized whole, which
would eventually turn into one of the most fantastic efforts in the history of literature: the
Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy), a masterpiece gathering more than 2,000
characters in 91 different works, in which he aimed to paint the “social species” of his
time.
As you could already guess, Honoré de Balzac was a hard worker, and like many
hard workers, a huge fan of coffee. He wouldn’t let anyone prepare his beverage
because he followed a very precise recipe, mixing three varieties of coffee beans -
Bourbon Island, Martinique and Yemen mocha - before boiling the decoction for hours
in order to obtain a caffeine concentrate capable of keeping him awake all night. He
even wrote about the effects of coffee in his Treatise on Modern Stimulants.
During the last years of his life, the French author actually slept very little. He
would spend entire nights writing and drinking coffee. Legend has it that Honoré de
Balzac could sometimes drink up to 25 coffees a day! We can say that Balzac was, in a
way, the Georges Clooney of the 20th century.
7. Marcel Proust wrote an 856 word-long sentence

“We are all of us obliged, if we are to

make reality endurable, to nurse a few
little follies in ourselves.”
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel
Proust (1871-1922) is widely regarded as
one of the most influential novelists of all
times. His immense work, In Search of Lost
Time, comprising seven volumes published
between 1913 and 1927, is based on a
deep psychological reflection on the
relationship between literature, memory and
time.
Early on, he suffered from asthma
attacks which forced him to take long rest periods. This seclusion prompted him to write
down his thoughts and feelings, which he expressed through long sentences that
stretched over entire paragraphs. This method has often been interpreted as a way for
the author to fight the destruction occasioned by the passing time, and to express in
writing what he could not say orally because of his breathing impairment.
In Sodom et Gomorrah, published in 1921, he wrote one of the longest
sentences in French literature, made of 858 words. Hard to believe, isn’t it? You can
read it here (in French).
08. Paul Verlaine committed a crime of passion
“Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and
branches, and then here is my heart
that beats only for you.”
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) is the author
of some of the most well-known poetry
books in French literature, such as
Poèmes saturniens, Fêtes galantes and
Romances sans paroles - the latter, written
during his years of relationship with Arthur
Rimbaud. It’s in 1871 that Verlaine met
with Rimbaud, who was sixteen and had
just moved to Paris. Verlaine fell in love
with him and soon left his wife Mathilde
Mauté to follow the young poet on his trips
across Europe. What followed were two years of a stormy relationship, marked by
recurring dramas and high consumption of opium, absinthe and hash.

On the night of July 8, 1873, Rimbaud joined Verlaine in Brussels. The few days
spent together were stormy, Verlaine thinking of returning to London and Rimbaud
refusing to go with him. On July 10, Verlaine drank excessively and went out to buy a
six-shot revolver with a box of cartridges. After yet another argument during which
Rimbaud told him that he wanted to leave him, Verlaine shot his lover twice after
shouting at him, "That's it for you, since you're leaving!" One bullet struck Rimbaud
above the left wrist joint, the other touched the wall. On August 8, 1873, Verlaine was
sentenced for serious injury to two years in prison and a 200-francs fine.
In 2016, more than 140 years later, the revolver used by Verlaine against his
companion was sold at auction for a whopping €434,500. Fortunately, this gun has
caused more ink than blood to flow.
09. Georges Perec wrote a 300-page
novel without the letter “e”
“To write: to try meticulously to
retain something, to cause
something to survive; to wrest a few
precise scraps from the void as it
grows, to leave somewhere a
furrow, a trace, a mark or a few
signs.”
 Georges Perec (1936-1982) was one of the most remarkable French writers of
the twentieth century. He reached literary fame in 1965, after the publication of Things:
A Story of the Sixties, in which he described in a very meticulous way the mundane
events of his daily life. Perec was particularly fond of literary devices and experiments,
from constrained writing to plays of words, from endless lists to absurd classifications.
They enabled him to tackle with grace some very heavy, recurring topics, such as
disappearance and the quest for identity, tracing back to Perec’s trauma who lost all of
his family in the Holocaust when he was a child.
In 1969, he took up an unprecedented literary challenge: a 300-page
lipogramatic novel entitled A Void, made of regularly built sentences, but using only
words that do not include the letter “e” - the most frequent vowel in the French
language. In an interview (in French) about this incredible literary endeavor, Perec said:
“When we write, we usually pay attention to the sentences, we try to modulate our
sentences. We pay attention to the words; we pick our words. But we hardly pay
attention to the letters, that is to say the graphic supports of writing. If we decide to
deprive ourselves, to make an element disappear in this alphabet, and instead of 26
letters, we decide to only have 25, a real catastrophe is meant to occur, as soon as the
letter we choose is important”.
10. Guillaume Apollinaire coined the word “surrealism”
“It is high time to relight the stars.”
Guillaume Albert Vladimir Alexandre
Apollinaire de Kostrowitzky, commonly
known as Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-
1918), was one of the most influential
poets of the early 20th century (Alcools,
Caligrammes), as well as a calligraphist
and author of erotic short stories. Theorist
of the “New Spirit”, he was a good friend of
Pablo Picasso, with whom he shared a
passion for the emerging Cubist
movement.
In 1916, while fighting with the French army, he was injured by shrapnel that hit
his right temple. After a long and painful recovery, he published the collection Les
Mamelles de Tiresias, which he qualified as a “surrealist drama”. He used the term
“surrealism” for the first time in a letter to Paul Dermée, a Belgian writer and friend of
his, in which he tried to name the new literary movement he was initiating: “All things
considered, I believe indeed that it is better to adopt surrealism than supernaturalism
that I had first employed. The word “surrealism” does not yet exist in dictionaries, and it
will be more convenient to handle than supernaturalism already used by MM. the
philosophers”.
 This marked the beginning of Surrealism. If Apollinaire coined the term, it is only
a few years later that André Breton, with his Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), would lay
the conceptual groundwork of the movement. Deeply influenced by the works of Freud,
surrealist authors would develop unconventional literary techniques and explore all of
the facets of the unconscious mind in search for creativity. The word “surreal” appeared
in the English language in the 1930s as a backformation of “surrealist”. It is still widely
used today, almost a century later, as a slang for “weird” or “irrational”.

Famous French Literatures

1. The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is a long epic poem considered to be the oldest surviving
epic in the French Literature. It is a war epic and revolves around the Battle of
Roncevaux. The Song of Roland was written over a period of several decades during
which additions were being made to it. It follows the literary form called “chanson de
geste” which flourished during the middle and high medieval times in Europe.

2. Demain, dès l’aube by Victor Hugo

Demain, dès l’aube is one of the most famous poems by Victor Hugo, who is best-known in the
English-speaking world for his novels Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables. This particular
poem was based on Hugo’s mourning for the death of his daughter Léopoldine, who
accidentally drowned with her husband in September 1843. Hugo wrote it four years after the
tragedy and it was later included in his poem collection Les Contemplations, which he divided
into Autrefois (“In the Past”) and Aujourd’hui (“Today”). The mark between the two is the
moment of Léopoldine’s death.

Demain, dès l’aube Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre

aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains
Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la croisées,
campagne, Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends. nuit.
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus
longtemps. Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers
Harfleur,
Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes Et, quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
pensées,
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en I will walk, eyes set upon my thoughts,
fleur. Seeing nothing around me and hearing no
sound,
Alone, unknown, back bent, hands crossed,
Tomorrow at Dawn (English Translation) Sorrowful, and for me, day will be as night.

Tomorrow, at dawn, when the countryside I will not watch the evening gold fall,
brightens, Nor the distant sails going down to Harfleur,
I will depart. You see, I know that you wait And, when I arrive, I will put on your grave
for me. A bouquet of green holly and heather in
I will go through the wood, I will go past the bloom.
mountains.
I cannot remain far from you any longer.

3. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary is one of the most famous French novels ever written. It was the
debut novel of Gustave Flaubert and published in the 1850s.
The lead character, Madame Bovary, is a woman who always wants more –
she’s read too many French romance novels and has an idealized vision of what her
life and marriage will be like. She’s constantly striving for a higher social status, for
grand romantic gestures, for beautiful objects and more. She hopes that this is what
her marriage to Charles Bovary will give her but he falls flat of expectations and
consequently so does her life.
This is one of the greatest French novels and one that anyone wanting to dive
into French literature should pick up. Flaubert is seen to be one of the most
influential French novelists, indeed one of the most influential writers ever, and his
novel gives a fascinating insight into nineteenth-century French society. Realism and
romanticism are mixed together in this novel, which may be of interest to those more
attuned to literary style rather than plot.

LITERATURE OF GERMANY
GERMANY
• A federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe
• The most populous member state in the European Union
• The major economic and political power of the European continent and a historic
leader in many theoretical and technical fields
• Known for its rich cultural and political history, Germany has been the home of many
influential philosophers, music composers, scientists, and inventors
 • German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23
official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the
European Commission
The term literature in German respectively German literature indicates the
literature works in German language of the German-speaking area of the past and
present. Please read in Wikipedia how the single epochs in German literature distance
from each other. We present in the following some sources and authors specially
interested if you are interested in learning German.

TIME PERIODS OF GERMAN LITERATURE

MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE
• German literature begins in the Carolingian period, first in Latin and then in Old High
German
• Hildebrandslied – (The most famous work in OHG) a short piece of Germanic
alliterative heroic verse which is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral
tradition
Other important works are:
• The Evangelienbuch (Gospel harmony) of Ottfried von Weissenburg, the short but
splendid Ludwigslied
• In the northern dialect of Old Saxon, a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic, known
as the Heliand
Some authors and works of the high Middle Ages include:
• Herzog Ernst • Konrad von Würzburg
• Heinrich von Freiberg • Heinrich Frauenlob
• Ulrich von Türheim • Reinmar der Alte
• Rudolf von Ems

THE BAROQUE PERIOD

• The Baroque period was one of the most fertile times in German literature
• Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the Thirty Years' War, in poetry and
prose
• Grimmelshausen's adventures of the young and naïve Simplicissimus, in the
eponymous book, became the most famous novel of the Baroque period
Some of the writers during this period who wrote about tragedies:
Andreas Gryphius and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein
THE PERIOD OF ENLIGHTENMENT
• The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is
often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason
• This movement's leaders viewed themselves as a courageous, elite body of
intellectuals who were leading the world toward progress, out of a long period of
irrationality, superstition, and tyranny which began during a historical period they called
the Dark Ages
• It is matched by the high baroque era in music, and the neo-classical period in the
arts.
“STURM UND DRANG “STORM AND STRESS”
• A Germany literary movement that developed during the latter half of the 18th century
• Most commonly characterized as having lasted from 1767 – 1785
The writers during this period:
• Goethe – wrote German’s first major drama, Götz von Berlichingen (1773) and
German’s most sensational and representative novel, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
(The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774)
• Schiller – wrote the play Die Räuber and other early plays which were preludes to
Romanticism.
Klopstock, J. M. R. Lenz and Friedrich Müller are other authors during this period.
ROMANTICISM
• It was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century
Western Europe
• It stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom within or even from classical notions
of form in art
• It is also noted for its elevation of the achievements of what it perceived as heroic
individuals and artists
YOUNG GERMANY “JUNGES DEUTSCHLAND”
• A group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850
• The movement produced poets, thinkers and journalists, all of whom reacted against
of Romanticism
NATURALISM
• A movement in theatre and film
• In theatre, it developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• It refers to theatre that tries to create a perfect illusion of reality, a non-poetic literary
style that reflects the way real people speak
EXPRESSIONISM
• Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for emotional effect
• Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, film,
architecture and music
DADAISM “DADA”
• A post-World War I cultural movement in visual art as well as literature (mainly poetry),
theatre and graphic design
• The movement was, among other things, a protest against the barbarism of the War
and what Dadaists believed was an oppressive intellectual rigidity in both art and
everyday society; its works were characterized by a deliberate irrationality and the
rejection of the prevailing standards of art
GERMAN WRITERS
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe (August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832) – leaves a legacy as statesman,
critic, natural philosopher, but Goethe was mostly renowned for his writing. From the
very young age of 25, he achieved fame as a writer. In 1774 he wrote the book which
would bring him worldwide acclaim, The Sorrows of Young Werther. Soon after, he was
invited to the court of Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, becoming the
Duke’s friend and chief adviser. Goethe spent most of his long life in Weimar. From
theatre, poetry to novels, his literary genius makes Goethe one of the most influential
authors of all times. Faust was Goethe’s masterpiece, which took him 60 years to
complete. A philosophical drama that inspired intellectuals, such as, Nietzsche, Beckett
and Kafka.
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann – (June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955) After his father’s death in
1891, Mann moved to Munich, where he lived until 1933. Around 1930, Thomas Mann
already started lecturing against Fascism and attacked Nazi policy. He expressed
sympathy for communist and socialist ideals as the principles that guaranteed
humanism and freedom. While in Switzerland in 1933, he was warned not to return to
Munich. He lived in the US for over 10 years, but returned to Zurich in 1952, refusing to
settle back in Germany. Many of his works reflect the cultural crisis of his times.
Buddenbrooks (1924) earned Mann the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. Death in
Venice (1912) and The Magic Mountain (1924) also received prizes and honors.
Michael Ende
Michael Ende – (November 12, 1929 – August 28, 1995) was a German author
whose rise to fame was due to his children’s fiction novels. Best known for The Never-
ending Story (1979), Momo (1973) and Jim Button (1960-62), he also wrote books for
adults. It was his children’s fiction, however, that sold millions of copies and adapted as
motion pictures. Born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ende moved to Munich when he was
6 years old due to his father’s artistic career. In 1936, his father’s paintings were labeled
“degenerate” and were banned by the Nazi party. Edgar Ende was forced to work in
secret. Michael Ende was 16 years old when German youths were drafted and sent to
war. Ende threw his draft papers in the trash. Instead, he joined a Bavarian resistance
movement intended to sabotage the SS’s intention to defend Munich.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke (December 4, 1875 – December 29, 1926) – poet and
novelist, Rilke was born in Prague, Bohemia, formerly part of the Austro-Hungary
empire. It seems his early childhood was not a particularly happy one. After a
fragmented and misguided education, his uncle finally helped him settle into an
educational career path more suited to his interests. It was clear from an early age that
he would dedicate his life to literature. Even before completing High School, Rilke had
already published his first volume of poetry: Life & Songs (1894). His travels throughout
Europe influenced his writing, with Russia, France and Switzerland having had the
greatest impact on his writing. He is recognized as one of the most lyrically intense
German-language poets. He became internationally famous for his works: Duino
Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus.
Herman Hesse
Hermann Hesse – (July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) was born in a small village on
the edge of the Black Forest. His parents as well as his grandfather were missionaries
in India. Early on, Hesse was exposed to religious influences of Protestantism, as well
as Eastern religions and philosophies. They became integral to his being and were a
constant reflection in his writings. As a child, Hesse disliked the rigidness of the German
educational system of his time. To such an extent, that he expressed his disgust in his
novel Unterm Rad (1906; Beneath the Wheel). It tells the story of an overly diligent
student that is driven to self-destruction, as a consequence of such an oppressive
atmosphere. Beneath the Wheel is similar to his own. At the age of 13, Hesse considers
suicide before leaving the school that causes him so much stress. Much of his work will
reflect his life experiences. His divorce, his criticism against German nationalism, his
travels and his search for enlightenment are at the core of his writing. His most
recognized books of literature are Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf (1927) and The
Glass Bead Game (1943). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.
Alfred Döblin
Alfred Döblin – (Aug. 10, 1878, Stettin, (at the time Germany, now Poland) –
June 26, 1957, West Germany) When Döblin was just 10 years old, his father’s love
affair broke the family up. His mother decided to move with her five children to Berlin.
Like most of the famous German authors of the time, Döblin was no exception when it
came to school performance. Although bright, his grades declined as a response to his
opposition to the militaristic style of education. Regardless, he went on to become a
doctor, practicing Psychiatry in the worker’s district of Alexanderplatz in Berlin. He is
best known for his novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), which earned him global fame.
The following years marked the high point in his career, until the Nazi’s rise to power.
His Jewish ancestry and socialist views made him a target and he was therefore forced
to flee to France in 1933 and then again to the US in 1940. He returned to Germany in
1945, but resettled in Paris in the 1950’s. Unfortunately, his final years were met with
failing health and financial trouble. It is often said that Döblin was under-recognized at
the time. He is now considered one the most talented narrative writers of the German
Expressionist movement.

Sophie von La Roche

Sophie von La Roche (December 6, 1731 – February 18, 1807) is considered to
be the first financially independent professional German author. She was raised in an
extremely pious household, which was reflected in her literary works. The spirit of the
Enlightenment Period and women’s education permeates through her writing. Initially
engaged to Christoph Wieland, she instead married Georg von La Roche, which
surprised her former fiancé. Sophie went on to have 8 children with La Roche, 5 of
whom survived. Her family lived at court at her father-in-law’s castle Warthausen, near
Biberach. Sophie’s husband was then appointed supervisor of the Bönningheim estates,
whom she followed in 1770. It was there that she completed her novel The History of
Lady Sophia Sternheim, published by Wieland in 1771. This was to become her most
famous work. During her 9 years at Koblenz, Sophie held a literary salon in her home.
Many influential writers of the time attended and even Goethe mentions it in his Poetry
and Truth. The death of her husband in 1788 and the French Revolutionary occupation
of the left bank of the Rhine in 1794 was a turning point for La Roche. She was forced
to secure her income through writing. She continued to do so until her passing. A small
portion of her writings have been translated.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)
Schiller was one of the most influential German poets of the Sturm und Drang
era. He ranks high up in German people’s eyes, alongside with Goethe. There’s even a
monument depicting them side by side in Weimar. Schiller was successful in his writing
from his very first publication on - Die Räuber (The Robbers) was a play written while he
was at a military academy and quickly became renowned throughout Europe. Initially
Schiller had first studied to become a pastor, then became a regimental doctor for a
short period, before finally devoting himself to writing and teaching as a professor of
history and philosophy at the University of Jena. Later moving to Weimar, he founded
with Goethe Das Weimar Theater, a leading theatre company at the time.
Schiller became part of a German Enlightment period, die Weimarer Klassik (the
Weimar Classism), later on in his life, of which also famous writers such as Goethe,
Herder and Wielandt were a part. They wrote and philosophized about aesthetics and
ethics; Schiller having penned an influential work entitled Über die ästhetische
Erziehung des Menschen on the Aesthetic Education of Man. Beethoven famously set
Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy" in his ninth symphony.
Günther Grass (1927)
Gunter Grass is one of Germany’s most notable writers currently living, whose
work has garnered him a Nobel Prize of Literature. His most renowned work is his
Danzig Trilogy Die Blech trommel (The Tin drum), Katz und Maus (Cat and Mouse),
Hundejahre (Dog Years), as well as his most recent one Im Krebs gang (Crabwalk).
Born in the Free City of Danzig Grass has worn many hats: he’s been also a sculptor,
graphic artist and illustrator. Further, throughout his life, Grass has always been
outspoken about European political affairs, receiving the'2012 European of the Year'
award from the European Movement Denmark. In 2006 Grass has received much
attention from the media involving his participation in the Waffen SS as a teenager.
Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908)
Wilhelm Busch is known as a pioneer of the comic strip, due to his caricature
drawings that accompanied his verse. Among his most popular works are Max and
Moritz, a children’s classic that recount the mischievous pranks of the aforesaid boys, a
ballad that is often read and dramatized in German schools.
Most of Busch’s works are a satirical spin on practically everything in society! His
works were often a parody of double standards. He poked fun at the ignorance of the
poor, the snobbery of the rich, and in particular, the pomposity of clergymen. Busch was
anti-Catholic and some of his works greatly reflected this. Scenes such as in Die
fromme Helene, where it is hinted that the married Helene had an affair with a
clergy man or the scene in Der Heilige Antonius von Padua where the catholic Saint
Antonius is being seduced by the devil clad in ballet attire made these works by Busch
both popular and offensive. Due to such and similar scenes, the book Der Heilige
Antonius von Padua was banned from Austria until 1902.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Heinrich Heine was one of the most influential German poets in the 19th century that
German authorities tried to suppress because of his radical political views. He is also
known for his lyrical prose which was set to music of classical greats such as
Schumann, Schubert and Mendelssohn in the form of Lieder form.
Heinrich Heine, a Jew by birth, was born in Düsseldorf, Germany and was known
as Harry until he converted to Christianity when he was in his twenties. In his work,
Heine often ridiculed sappy romanticism and over exuberant portrayals of nature.
Though Heine loved his German roots, he often critiqued Germany's contrasting sense
of nationalism.

LITERATURE OF ITALY
Italian literature, the body of written works produced in the Italian language that
had its beginnings in the 13th century. Until that time nearly all literary work composed
in Europe during the Middle Ages was written in Latin. Moreover, it was predominantly
practical in nature and produced by writers trained in ecclesiastical schools. Literature in
Italian developed later than literature in French and Provençal, the languages of the
north and south of France, respectively. Only small fragments of Italian vernacular verse
before the end of the 12th century have been found (although a number of Latin legal
records contain witness testimonies in an Italian dialect vernacular), and surviving 12th-
and 13th-century verse reflects French and Provençal influence.

10 Famous Italian Writers and Their Notable Works

Dante Alighieri
Also known simply as Dante, this late Middle Ages poet was ahead of his time in
a number of ways.
Dante wished to push forward the boundaries of Italian writing further than the
contemporary Latin works. His knowledge of the wide range of Italian dialects formed
his desire to open up the possibilities of creating a more united literary language than
was available in other works of the time. As well as pre-empting the Renaissance
movement of wider, detailed literature, Dante also acted as a forerunner of the 15th
century trends of his detailed knowledge of Rome's ancient past.
In terms of being ahead of his time, Dante proved his mettle in his best-known
work, the ambitious Divine Comedy. In contrast to its title, The Divine Comedy is a
serious Middle Ages era poem that chronicles Dante's three-stage journey through Hell
(Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso).
Regarded as one of the most important literary works, Dante's Divine Comedy
spans a broad church of themes and styles from the dark, distinctive images presented
in his version of Hell to the lyrical mysticism and theology of Paradise. It's still read,
discussed and analyzed all around the world.
Francesco Petrarca
Petrarch is a familiar name that I remember from my university days. I studied his
works in my second year of English, and as a multi-tasking poet, humanist, scholar, he's
regarded as one of the most important Italian writers of his time.
His poems include The Trionfi (The Triumphs), and The Canzoniere (The
Songbook). A number of Petrarca's works are about the enigmatic Laura – thought to
possibly be Laura de Noves, who was the wife of Count Hugues de Sade. This would
tally with her refusal of Petrarca in his Secretum work as a result of her being married.
His love poems speak of her grace, beauty and modesty.
As well as his poetry, Petrarca is also recognized for his Latin-written works. As
well as poems written in Latin, these also included letters, essays and educational
pieces. His Latin works cover a wide spectrum of subjects including a contemplation of
solitary life (De Vita Solitaria), an imaginary personal confessional talk with Augustine of
Hippo (Secretum Meum) and a hugely popular self-help book (De Remediis Utriusque
Fortunae).
Giovanni Boccaccio
Like his contemporary, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio is regarded as an important
Italian writer, poet and humanist.
Boccaccio stood out from the pack in that he did his own thing in his writings,
opting for a distinctive realistic writing style in his dialogue. He also showed a flair for
creative literature, generally written in Italian vernacular as well as various works written
in Latin.
His poems include La caccia di Diana, as well as Il Filostrato, Teseida, and the
50-canto allegory, Amorosa visione. One of his most famous works is The Decameron,
which was originally mostly completed by the mid-1300s, and ultimately rewritten and
revised by 1371.
The mid-1350s would see a shift in Boccaccio's writing style. Some attribute this
to Petrarca's influence. Others put this down to Boccaccio's own personal experiences
including his deteriorating strength and health and bad luck in love (his works dealing
with love would take a more cynical turn than his earlier, optimistic pieces). Returning to
another writer in this list, Boccaccio would also provide a number of lectures about
Dante at the Santo Stefano church. These proved to be the inspiration for his last main
work called Esposizioni sopra la Commedia di Dante.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
A familiar term to describe someone as corrupt or unscrupulous is
'Machiavellian', which is named after the Renaissance-era writer, Niccolò di Bernardo
dei Machiavelli.
 In particular, the phrase is linked with one of Machiavelli's best-known (and
controversial) works called Il Principe (The Prince). This political-themed book depicts,
and even seems to advocate poor behavior as a means of getting ahead, attaining and
keeping hold of power. Politically, lack of honesty, enforcement of brute force, and the
killing of innocent people lack a certain moral fibre. The book has received decidedly
mixed reviews, and managed to get itself banned by the Catholic Church.
The other familiar Machiavelli work is the Discourses on the First Ten Books of
Titus Livy, which takes in the classical history of ancient Rome and also lessons and
encouragement of the advent of republicanism.
Ludovico Ariosto
Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto is also regarded as the man who came up with the
Humanist concept, which stresses the aim of focusing on humans' own strength as
opposed to submitting to a Christian God.
He also wrote the plays Cassaria and I suppositi in the early 1500s (the latter of
which would be performed in the Vatican). Ariosto is best known however for his 1516
epic poem, Orlando Furioso, which depicts the battle between Charlemagne, Orlando,
the Franks and the Saracens.
It's a work that's characterized by Ariosto's penchant for narrative detours. When
writing a canto's events, Ariosto then goes off on another train of thought to only resume
the plot point later on in another canto. Dubbed 'Cantus Interruptus', Ariosto's narrative
method has divided critics as to the intentions of this trick.
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni's most famous (and best regarded) novel is 1827's The
Betrothed. Manzoni deserves a place in the list because of the way in which The
Betrothed brought together a unified Italy. Regarded as symbolizing the Italian
Risorgimento, The Betrothed is big on patriotism and is also a key work with respect to
developing the modern, united language of Italy.
It's a novel that promotes Manzoni's values of Christianity, seen in characters
such as the main heroine Lucia, friar Padre Cristoforo, and the Cardinal of Milan.
However, his message is nicely counterpointed by his carefully observed and detailed
portraits of everyday Italian folk. Written with a wry humour and engaging, unique style,
Manzoni's Betrothed remains a cornerstone of Italian literature.
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia's wide repertoire of work is a notable example of Italian fiction in
the 20th century. Many of his novels revolve around specific themes such as
existentialism, detachment from society, and also sexuality.
 His first novel Gli indifferenti is still one of his best-known works. At the time in
1929, Moravia actually published the novel himself out of his own pocket. While the
publishing costed Moravia 5000 lira, Gli indifferenti was applauded by critics, reacting
warmly to the depiction of a middle-class family's lack of morals.
Moravia's standing in the writing community can be seen in the fact that a good
number of his works were adapted for the big screen. These include Agostino (adapted
in 1962 by Mauro Bolognini), La Noia (filmed the following year by Damiano Damiani
and renamed The Empty Canvas upon its American release in 1964), and one of
Moravia's most acclaimed works, the anti-fascist work, Il Conformista (which would be
the springboard for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist movie of 1970).
Primo Michele Levi
Using his experiences as a prisoner in an Auschwitz concentration camp, Primo
Michele Levi wrote the highly acclaimed If This Is A Man.
Levi had been arrested at the end of 1943, and began his imprisonment at
Auschwitz in the following February, where he remained for just under a year. In 1946,
Levi elected to put his thoughts of his ordeal to paper. Intensely working over a 10-
month period, he wrote down his experiences, ultimately resulting in a completed
manuscript at the end of the year. While the end product needed further editing and
amending, If This Is A Man was ultimately released to great acclaim. A striking element
of the book is its calm, measured tone, which is at odds with the horror that Levi
endured – the author later explained that such a tone meant that the readers got to
judge for themselves.

Levi was also a chemist, and this formed the backdrop for his equally revered
Periodic Table. Published in 1975, Il Sistema Periodico collates a series of short stories
depicting Levi's experiences as both an Italian-Jewish man and a chemist during the
eras of war, fascism and later in the aftermath. Each of the 21 stories are named after
and linked with a chemical element.
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino shares a number of connections with other writers in this list. Like
Alberto Moravia, Calvino was a journalist as well as an author. Like Primo Levi, he drew
upon his wartime experiences for inspiration – the anthology of stories, Ultimo viene il
corvo (The Crow Comes Last), came out four years after the end of the Second World
War to the applause of the critics.
But Calvino also possessed a unique style, melding real-world concerns with
elements of fantasy and fable. The best example of this is 1952's Cloven Viscount (Il
visconte dimezzato), which dealt with Calvino's political disillusionment and the
concerns over the Cold War.
 Even in his later years, Calvino was still going strong, with 1979's If On A
Winter's Night A Traveler proving immensely popular. Calvino's worldwide success was
seen in the fact that by the time he passed away, he was the most translated Italian
author around the globe.
Umberto Eco
As well as a novelist, Eco was a university professor, semiotician and
philosopher. His academia and interest in semiotics held him in good stead for one of
his most famous works, The Name Of The Rose. This 1980-published murder mystery
draws in both semiotics (the study of communication) and various literary tips of the hat
such as Arthur Conan Doyle (the Franciscan friar's called William of Baskerville) and
also Arabian Nights (the inspiration for the mystery).
While not the most prolific of authors (seven novels in 35 years), Eco's novels
were still rapturously received by critics and the public. These include Il pendolo di
Foucault (Foucault's Pendulum), which deals with three editors concocting a sham
conspiracy theory involving a domination plan by a clandestine order descended from
the Knights Templar. L'isola del giorno prima (The Island of the Day Before) takes a
more introspective approach, following the thoughts of a marooned man on a ship in the
17thcentury.
Even in the 2010's Eco's novels were still proving massively popular. 2010's
Prague Cemetery was a big hit in the book charts, tackling the growing rise of
antisemitism in the modern world. Meanwhile, in 2015 (the year before his passing),
Numero Uno saw Eco's attention switched towards the issues of Fascism and a satirical
take on kickbacks and bribery.
LITERATURE OF SPAIN
Spanish literature, the body of literary works produced in Spain. Such works fall
into three major language divisions: Castilian, Catalan, and Galician.
The history of Spain has been marked by all types of events, wars, conquests,
marriages, deaths... and literature has played an important part in it. From the epic tale
of the "Cantar del Mio Cid" to the surrealism present in some of Cela's works; from the
amazing adventures of Don Quixote to the many books recounting the horrors of the
Spanish Civil War, Spanish literature has had its own way of influencing history.
Literature is a very important subject in all Spanish schools, and this site is a guide to
the evolution of Spanish literature across the centuries.
Spanish Literature - The beginnings
The history of Spanish literature starts with "El Cantar del
Mio Cid" (12th century), an epic narrative that was transmitted
orally through the story tellers. However, the first written
testimonies of Spanish literature begin in the 13th century with
the Middle-Ages literature, which cultivated all the genres in prose, poetry and theatre.
The end of the Middle Ages (sometimes known as pre-Renaissance period) is a very
prolific time for Spanish literature, with the development of works like "Coplas a la
muerte de mi padre" (Jorge Manrique) and "La Celestina" (Fernando de Rojas).
During the Renaissance the influence of Italy in Spain was very strong, and thus
the religious influence. During this period there's a big production of religious works with
authors such as Fray Luis de Leon or San JUan de la Cruz. Pastoral or didactic novels
were also quite popular, and the picaresque genre became popular with "Lazarillo de
Tormes"
Spanish Literature - Baroque period
The Spanish Baroque coincides with the Golden
Age of Spanish literature, called that way because of the great
number of excellent literary productions that appeared in the
period. Miguel de Cervantes is, without doubt, the ultimate
Baroque author. His masterpiece, the adventures of the mad
knight "Don Quixote", is considered the most important book of
the Spanish literature and one of the most important in the
Universal literature. Other important authors in this period are the
poet Quevedo and the play writer Lope de Vega.

Spanish Literature - Enlightenment period

The Enlightenment period in Spanish literature can be divided in three different
periods: the post-Baroque period, the Neo-Classical period and the pre-Romanticism
period. The Enlightenment wants a break with the old concept of authority, and thinks
reason is more important than feeling or emotions. This is why this period doesn't have
a strong poetry group. In prose, essays and didactic texts are the most popular types of
works, especially among literates. Newspapers help to spread the knowledge of other
European countries around Spain.
Spanish Literature - Romanticism and Realism
Romanticism appears as a reaction against the strict rules of the Enlightenment,
and in opposition to it, it places more importance in feelings than reason. Romanticism
can be divided into two different movements: traditional Romanticism (defends the
traditional values represented by the Church and State) and liberal Romanticism (fights
the established order, religion, art and politics, and claims the rights of individuals to
society and the laws).
Realism appears when literates have grown tired of the subjectivism of
Romanticism and are looking for something more real. They were tired of the
imaginative and colorful, and sought to observe the people, society and contemporary
traditions objectively. Its goal was to present the truest portrait of society.
Spanish Literature - 20th century
The 20th century is a century of great
change in Spain. There's not a specific
movement. Rather, every author develops
his or her own personal style. Novels
become the most popular genre, and social
themes are very common, especially those
related to life in Spain during the Spanish
Civil War and the following dictatorship.
There are three important generations of
writers during the 20th century that configure the Spanish literature of the
period: Generation of '98, Generation of '14 and Generation of '27.

REFERENCES
EUROPEAN LITERATURE DEFINITION AND BACKGROUND
 https://www.slideshare.net/king_1041968/european-literature-presentation

LITERATURE OF ENGLAND
 https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature
 https://www.englandforever.org/literature-and-authors.php
 https://literariness.org/2018/07/18/a-brief-history-of-english-literature/

LITERATURE OF FRANCE
 https://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Literature/DF_literature.shtml
 https://www.wix.com/wordsmatter/blog/2020/06/french-authors
 https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-music/medieval-
songs/song-of-roland/
 https://thefrenchdesk.com/2020/02/21/famous-french-poems/
  https://whatshotblog.com/classic-french-novels/

LITERARTURE OF GERMANY
 https://www.slideshare.net/babylovezeiah/german-literature
 https://www.learn-german-online.net/en/learning-german-
resources/german_literature_en.htm
 https://www.thoughtco.com/popular-german-writers-1444578
 https://www.citystarlings.com/2020/05/29/10-most-popular-german-authors-
18-to-20-century/

LITERATURE OF ITALY
 https://www.britannica.com/art/Italian-literature
 https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/10-famous-italian-writers-
and-their-notable-works

LITERATURE OF SPAIN
 https://www.britannica.com/art/Spanish-literature
 https://www.classicspanishbooks.com/
 LEARNING ACTIVITY
EUROPEAN LITERATURE
A. Make a 300-word essay for the topic: What is the impact of the different
European Literature in today’s literature?
Write your answer here:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
Analyze the poem of Victor Hugo “Demain, dès l’aube”. Write at least two-
page analysis of the given poem.

Demain, dès l’aube Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la

campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends. Tomorrow at Dawn (English Translation)
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus
longtemps. Tomorrow, at dawn, when the countryside
brightens,
I will depart. You see, I know that you wait
Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes for me.
pensées, I will go through the wood, I will go past the
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre mountains.
aucun bruit, I cannot remain far from you any longer.
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains
croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la I will walk, eyes set upon my thoughts,
nuit. Seeing nothing around me and hearing no
sound,
Alone, unknown, back bent, hands crossed,
Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe, Sorrowful, and for me, day will be as night.
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers
Harfleur,
Et, quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe I will not watch the evening gold fall,
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en Nor the distant sails going down to Harfleur,
fleur. And, when I arrive, I will put on your grave
A bouquet of green holly and heather in
bloom

LESSON 5 / MODULE 15
THE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA LITERATURE

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should able to:

1. Discuss the background of American Literature;

2. Explain the key features to understand the North and South American
Literature; and
3. Appreciate the characteristics of different the North and South
American Literature.

Literature has existed in the Americas for as long as the people who lived there
have been telling stories. Native American cultures have a rich history of oral literature.
Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the
country that produced it.

LITERATURE OF U.S.A (NORTH)

 American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language
in the United States. American literature begins with the orally transmitted myths,
legends, tales, and lyrics (always songs) of Indian cultures. There was no written
literature among the Indian cultures. The earliest American writings were concerned
directly with the dream of a new world, and mostly accounts of pioneering motives and
settlements were published.

Regional literature has always been important in the United States. Until the end
of the 19th century, American literature was dominated by the works of New
Englanders, such as Cotton Mather. Sermons and religious tracts provided the greatest
part of the writing. The Puritan definition of good writing was that which brought home a
full awareness of the importance of worshipping God and of the spiritual dangers that
the soul faced. Puritan style varied enormously -- from complex metaphysical poetry to
homely journals and religious history.

The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an

emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning
religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment
thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the
natural rights of man. Benjamin Franklin, whom the Scottish philosopher David Hume
called America's "first great man of letters," embodied the Enlightenment ideal of
humane rationality.

The Romantic movement reached America around the year 1820. In America as
in Europe, fresh new vision electrified artistic and intellectual circles. Yet there was an
important difference: Romanticism in America coincided with the period of national
expansion and the discovery of a distinctive American voice. The solidification of a
national identity and the surging idealism and passion of Romanticism nurtured
masterpieces by authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

In the second half of the 19th century, the United States was transformed into a
modern, industrial nation. As industrialization grew, so did alienation. Characteristic
American novels of the period, for example by Stephen Crane and Jack London, depict
the damage of economic forces and alienation on the weak or vulnerable individual.
Survivors, like Mark Twain's Huck Finn, endure through inner strength involving
kindness, flexibility, and, above all, individuality.
 Although American prose between the two World Wars experimented with
viewpoint and form, Americans such as Ernest Hemingway, wrote more realistically, on
the whole, than did Europeans. William Faulkner set his powerful southern novels firmly
in Mississippi heat and dust. The importance of facing reality became a dominant theme
in the 1920s and 1930s: Writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald repeatedly portrayed the
tragedy awaiting those who live in flimsy dreams.
Narrative since World War II resists generalization: It is extremely various and
multifaceted. It has been vitalized by international currents such as European
existentialism and Latin American magical realism. The biggest transformation has been
the ascendancy of a new generation of highly ambitious writers who are attuned to our
collective arrival in a hypercomplex and polyglot info-culture. The best known of these is
probably novelist Jonathan Franzen, whose The Corrections, rode the 2001 best-seller
lists for many months.
The poetry scene is configured by a similar plurality of modes, but what feels like
abundance and variety in the world of fiction feels to many poets like a frustrating
balkanization. A few years ago, the major division of camps was between the
"formalists" and exponents of various kinds of "free" verse. The situation feels
somewhat different now, with the split coming more between poets who use language in
referential ways -- pointing out at our common world -- and those for whom language is
its own self-created realm.

The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to nine Americans: Sinclair
Lewis, Eugene O'Neill, Pearl Buck, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John
Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Toni Morrison.

LITERATURE OF CANADA (NORTH)

The term “Canadian Literature in English” refers to that which is written in what is
now territorially Canada or written by Canadians abroad (see also Literature in French).

Writers have described Canada in many ways; for example, as a French or

English colony, a “fifty-first state,” a Pacific Rim country, an Arctic giant, a friendly
territory or an uninhabitable wilderness. Canadian literature has often had to deal with
such differences in attitude, not just because many Canadian authors were born
elsewhere and brought outsiders’ expectations with them, but also because popular
attitudes often perpetuated stereotypes of Canada. Three pervasive stereotypes portray
Canada as (1) a physical desert, (2) a cultural wasteland and (3) a raw land of
investment opportunity and resource extraction. These distortions have created an
audience for stereotypes, which Canadian writers sometimes reinforced by writing
romantic adventures of the frozen North, in which everything local was savage or hostile
and “civilization” was imported. But over time, they sought to record local experience
and to use literature to shape their own culture rather than to imitate or defer to the
presumptions of another society.

Insofar as Canadian culture continues to be shaped by a range of languages in

use and by wide variations in geography, social experience, Indigenous cultures,
immigration patterns and proximity to Europe, Asia and the USA, the “Canadian voice”
is not uniform. Nevertheless, however much their aesthetic practices and political
commitments may differ, Canadian writers bring many shared perspectives to their
representations of nature, civility and human interaction, whether at home or abroad.
Some critical approaches to Canadian literature have attempted to identify national or
regional characteristics in literature. Other criticism (see Literature in English: Theory
and Criticism) has fastened on language and formal strategies, theories of knowledge
and meaning, ethics (variously defined) and the politics and psychology of race, gender,
sexuality, ethnicity, identity and environment. “Canadian literature” does not therefore
restrict itself to a particular set of topics, terms or even Canadian settings, nor does any
set of topics and terms constitute a required ingredient in a Canadian book.

Motifs and Patterns

Although the national character is not always the subject of Canadian literature,
the culture’s social attitudes and values can be seen in the language and forms it uses
(see Literature in English: Language and Literary Form). For instance, communication is
often achieved through tone as much as through direct statement. Irony is a dominant
mode, litotes (the negative positive: not unappreciated) is a common speech pattern,
trickster (rather than hero) figures recur, and a sense of humor (understatement,
parody, mimicry, wry satire) punctuates much serious literary work. Some
commentators have interpreted Canadian tendencies toward literary indirectness
politically and psychologically, finding in it a sign of national insecurity and a group
feeling of inferiority. Others argue that indirectness is a healthy demonstration of the
culture’s ability to adapt an inherited tongue to its own purposes. Irony, for example, can
undercut as much as apologize, and the quiet demeanor of an onlooker figure in a
narrative can effectively undermine positions of ostensible power.

Several specific narrative patterns recur in Canadian writing, especially evident in

fiction and life writing: (1) a community walls itself off from the wilderness (the “garrison
mentality”); (2) a person leaves the homeland, adjusts to the new world, then finds the
new “homeland” to be “alien”; (3) a person born in Canada feels like a permanent
stranger in his or her own home; (4) people arrive in the new home only to find that they
are excluded from power; (5) a person attempts to recover from the past the secret or
suppressed life of a previous generation; (6) a woman struggles to come to terms with
her own creativity and the inhibitions of her cultural upbringing (often told as conflict
between colony and empire); (7) an apparently passive observer, surrounded by
articulate tricksters and raconteurs, turns out to be able to tell both their story and his or
her own, often ironically; (8) an adventurer turns failure into a form of grace; (9) a child
grows up to inherit a world of promise, or a world of loss, frequently both at once; (10) a
subjective historian meditates on place and memory; (11) characters celebrate space
and wilderness, usually after a struggle to learn to accept that the wilderness provides
spiritual therapy only on its own terms; (12) characters, adrift in a maze of words or a
fog of ambiguity and anonymity, shape “acceptable fictions” into a workable life.

Writing about their society, many writers of short fiction, the novel, autobiography
or memoir, biography, poetry and drama have recurrently portrayed particular historical
figures, both to reveal their intrinsic interest and implicitly to suggest how they epitomize
certain cultural attributes or qualities of character. Such figures include Samuel Hearne,
Louis Riel, Susanna Moodie, Sir John A. Macdonald, Emily Carr and William Lyon
Mackenzie. In the retelling, sometimes transposed from their own time into the present,
each possesses a vision but remains an ordinary human being, one with frailties, not a
conventional hero. Characteristically, Canadian writing resists the binaries associated
with perfectionism (right-wrong, good-evil, hero-villain), embracing notions of multiple
alternatives, working pluralities, multi-voicedness and negotiated or evolving resolution
instead. In narrative, violence generally functions as an instigation of action and as a
penultimate event rather than as a solution or act of closure. Repeatedly, individual
rights balance against community responsibilities. In more recent drama, poetry, and
prose—even in much popular genre writing (see Popular Literature in English)—open
endings predominate over conventional strategies of closure, inviting readers/listeners
to participate in the play of alternatives and possibilities.

Settings
Settings often possess a symbolic dimension. Catholic Québec recurrently
figures in anglophone writing as a land of mystery, attractive but enthralling and morally
dangerous; Ontario as an enigmatic blend of moral uprightness and moral evasiveness;
Atlantic Canada as a repository of old values; the North as a land of vision; the Prairies
as a land of isolation and acquisition; and the West Coast as a dream of the future in
which people often mistakenly believe. Europe often appears as the home of
refinement, deceit, and discrimination; the United States as a land of crass achievement
and tangible success; and Africa as the embodiment of all that seems “other” to
Protestant rationalism. In recent writing, Latin America and Asia (both East and South)
are frequently configured as sites of political entanglement, which is expressed through
inheritance and family ties or embodied in the complexities of larger communities.
Within Canada, the land itself is recurrently associated with power, whether as property,
region, a hostile force, a godly gift, the basis for resource extraction, the site of
communication, the contested territory of competing cultural claims, the border or the
ecological medium in which human life integrates with all other living beings in Nature.

Although most Canadians live in cities, until recently writers used rural and small-
town settings more frequently than urban ones, and to the degree that they adapted
conventional adventure and pastoral formulas to Canadian settings, they seldom
questioned unstated assumptions about status and race. From early on in Canadian
literature, however, essayists (see Essay in English) and travel writers (see Travel
Literature) analyzed and challenged as well as celebrated Canadian political life. Often,
women writers used fiction and autobiography to reveal social divisions within Canada
that male adventure writers ignored or underplayed, and to suggest reforms. Recent
writing by both women and men focuses more directly and fully on urban life as well as
on social issues (ethnicity, gender, poverty, health, education) that transcend setting.

“Regional” writing also conveys political stances. The term is used in two ways:
to refer to places ruled by a real or imagined center, and to configure the variant parts
that make up a collective unit or community. By rejecting a single definition of “Canada,”
writing about regional distinctiveness sometimes declares separatist claims on identity
and power and in other instances asserts the viability of a nation with a plural character
(see Regionalism in Literature). Increasingly, Indigenous writers and writers who draw
on backgrounds other than western European ones have examined the political
opportunities of Canadian pluralism, but also the social limitations of local convention.
History
A rough chronological guide to changes and developments in Canadian writing
should not be equated with a simple chart of “progress”; each age (Colonial, Early
National, Interwar and Postwar, Contemporary) reveals differing conventions,
preoccupations and accomplishments. Hence, as fashions and critical tastes change
over time, so do determinations of value and significance.

Canadian literature in English can be said to begin in the early 17th century with
Jacobean poetry in Newfoundland; in the decades that followed with numerous
explorers writing narratives of contact (see Exploration Literature); or in the mid-18th
century with the epistolary fiction of the English garrison community in Québec. After
1776, in the Loyalist settlements of Upper Canada and the Maritimes, many writers
turned to political verse satire (see Humorous Writing in English; Literature and Politics).
Newly founded newspapers and magazines (see also Literary Magazines in English)
became venues for political commentary, both conservative and reform-minded, as well
as for literary expression, which in the 19th century generally followed Romantic,
Sentimental and Orientalist fashions in Britain. Some scathing satire emerged in Nova
Scotia. Novels and dramas followed historical romance and Gothic paradigms, as did
most long poems. Mid-19th century autobiographies set in present day Ontario provide
insight into daily life: Susanna Moodie’s Roughing It in the Bush (1852), Catharine Parr
Traill’s The Backwoods of Canada (1836) and Anna Brownell Jameson’s Winter Studies
and Summer Rambles in Canada (1838) highlight British women’s various attitudes
toward settlement, while the Nishnaabe missionary George Copway’s memoir The Life,
History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh (1847) both celebrates Christianity and
emphasizes the value of Indigenous law, land use and religion. Short personal sketches
of persons and places formed the basis for much travel writing and for the short fiction
that emerged as a new genre during the 19th century. Folksong and folktale survive, but
Native oral literature received scant literary attention until the later 19th century.
Early National
In the years leading up to Confederation and during the five decades following,
much attention turned to literacy and political organization. Schools and universities
opened, as did several Carnegie Libraries, part of a network of public libraries across
North America financed by the fortune of Pittsburgh steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
Writers celebrated their newfound nationalism and were drawn variously to such
enterprises as the Mechanics’ Institutes, the Institute Canadian, the Royal Society of
Canada, the Canada First Movement and Imperial Federation (see Imperialism).
Philosophical and scientific writing flourished, encouraging thoughtful discourse across
language lines. Travel (within Canada and abroad) encouraged other kinds of contact,
and with it both impressionistic and reportorial writing. By the end of the 19th century,
writers like Edith Maude Eaton (Sui Sin Far) addressed racism against Chinese North
Americans, while proponents of Women’s Suffrage and Prohibition wrote stories and
essays that focused on issues of social change.

Many other social assumptions nevertheless remained largely unexamined.

While attention turned to First Nations’ oral tales, writers treated them (despite the
emergence of First Nations writers publishing in English) as “simple” texts, suitable in
translation (if expurgated) mainly to entertain children. Tales and poems about
“Indians,” such as Duncan Campbell Scott’s “The Onondaga Madonna” (1894), largely
assumed that First Nations people were “a dying race” and their several complex
cultures unsophisticated. Poet and performer E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) drew
on her Mohawk and British heritage to challenge these stereotypes and address the
relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canadians. Nevertheless, the romance of
the “Indians” was matched by a continuing romance of Empire. Ontario- and Maritime-
based Canadian culture remained dominantly Celtic and Anglocentric. Early creative
narratives from the Prairies and the West Coast, while recurrently probing the real-life
travails of immigrants and the exigencies of farm and forest management, were largely
overshadowed in the popular imagination by Ontario romances of Presbyterian
conversion.

By the early 20th century, many Canadian books won widespread international
popularity, notably L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Of Green Gables (1908), a humorous tale
of an orphan’s life in Prince Edward Island. C.G.D. Roberts’s and E.T. Seton’s
seemingly realistic animal tales provide other examples, as do the comic sketches of
Stephen Leacock, which parodied literary stereotypes and dealt ironically with social
platitudes. In poetry, the Confederation group (William Wilfred Campbell, Bliss Carman,
Archibald Lampman, Charles G.D. Roberts, Duncan Campbell Scott and Fredrick
George Scott) produced the most important writings of the late 19th century; committed
to closely observed details, they variously reshaped how the lyric represented nature,
winter and the Canadian landscape.
Interwar and Postwar
Cultural and social attitudes changed during and after the First World War. One
creative generation was lost but another emerged, objecting both to imperial
assumptions of militarism and the language associated with it (see The First World War
in Canadian Literature). New magazines affirmed the independence of Canadian
thought. New prizes were established to recognize Canadian literary accomplishment.
In the fiction of the 1920s, while some popular family chronicles continued to affirm
conventional class distinctions, antiwar novels and class critiques began to appear, a
trend magnified during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many writers focused on
uprooted or marginalized individuals and the troubled lives of non-English-speaking
immigrants. Novelists championed industrial workers’ rights and sought fresh, more
direct forms of speech, spurning the sentimental romance in favor of a more “realistic”
(some called it a more “violent”) vocabulary. American literary practice—and the
international avant-garde of postwar Paris—drew writers such as John Glassco and
Morley Callagham; the short story genre thrived, espousing forms that resisted narrative
closure.

Young writers also rejected received social values by mounting left-wing agitprop
drama, writing dramas that satirized nationalist pageantry, publishing erotica, finding
inspiration in the Group of Seven painters, and embracing the modernist dicta of the
poet T.S. Eliot and others. Chief among emerging Canadian poets at this time were
those associated with the “McGill” (or “Montreal”) Group, especially F.R. Scott for his
commitment to social justice and Abraham Klein for his passionate embrace of his
Jewish heritage. Over succeeding decades Dorothy Livesay became the voice of
socialist feminism and Scott, with the poet-critic A.J.M. Smith, became an influential
anthologist, shaping the early teaching of Canadian literature.
 In the wake of the Second World War came a mix of propaganda, pacifist
rhetoric, parodies of military ineptitude, and a new wave of progressivist writers, by
turns humanist, anticlerical, community-minded and intellectually anarchist. Notable
names include Irving Layton, Earle Birney, Gabrielle Roy (who remains one of the best-
known francophone writers in translation), P.K. Page and George Woodcock. In the
1940s and 1950s, social policies were being drafted that would shape a Canadian
sense of community for decades to come. New Literary Periodicals demanded a
sharper, more locally grounded language. Radio technology also served this end. Public
radio, established in 1932, led to a wave of cross-country spoken-word broadcasts,
talks, dramas, readings of short stories and children’s programs, all reconfirming the
sounds of Canadian speech as a literary medium, especially from 1943 on. Novelists
such as Hugh MacLennan and Sinclair Ross turned again to local settings, rendering
the prairies, the Maritimes and Montreal as sites of personal and political trauma. Critics
now praise more highly the innovative stylistic practice of Ethel Wilson for her insights
into women’s lives; Malcolm Lowry for his symphonies of despair and transient joy;
Sheila Watson for her rendering of life as an elliptical mythology; and in a career that
would last for half a century, Mordecai Richler for his frank and animated cultural
politics.
Contemporary: Three Generations
Several social developments markedly changed Canadian society in the years
following 1960. The large “baby-boom” generation matured, with the vocal “X” and “Y”
generations following; immigration policies were altered to allow greater numbers of
new citizens from Asia, Africa and Latin America; startling technological developments
(from radio to the Internet) collapsed notions of space and sped up communication. All
these changes had an impact on literary topics and techniques. Cross-border and
cross-cultural contacts validated notions of cultural “hybridity” as a social norm,
challenging conventional definitions of “ethnic purity” and “fixed identity.” Family
biographies shifted focus from single lives onto lives-in-context. Multimedia
presentations challenged conventions regarding the unity of literary form. Bilingual texts,
triptychs (in fiction and drama), and discontinuous narratives in fiction and poetry all
deliberately disrupted conventional linearity as a literary technique. Numerous
integrated (but discontinuous) collections of short fiction appeared called sequences,
cycles or “composite narratives.” Some of the major writers of these decades had just
been emerging in the 1950s: Richler and two of the world’s foremost authors of short
fiction, Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant, whose stories embed more than announce,
reveal more than parade. They would be joined by Alistair MacLeod, Clark Blaise and
numerous others.
 The number of Canadian universities, small presses, accessible academic and
literary periodicals (from Canadian Literature to Geist), courses in Canadian literature
and creative writing schools also increased, in part because of the recommendations of
the Massey Commission and the emergence of the Canada Council in the 1950s.
Further government policies led to such social developments as the Charter Of Rights
and Freedoms in 1982, but a sudden shift to policies that favored fiscal restraint and
cultural cutbacks occurred in the early 21st century and have persisted; the publishing
industry, libraries, public media and scholarship were all affected. New technologies
opened up opportunities for local (and frequently more innovative) publishing (including
experiments in syllabic and concrete poetry, mixed-media presentations, performance
poetry and other formats), yet they did not guarantee access to publicity and sales.
Coteries came and went; so did scores of journals and papers. Newspapers faced
hardships, and some stopped publishing print editions; this was due in part to a
readership that had shifted to online news sources. Publishers of formula fiction
remained monetarily successful. Some writers of mystery and science fiction achieved
international stardom and praise for their literary achievements, as in the case of
William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1986), Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring (1998)
and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy (2003, 2009 and 2013). But publishing
houses that had thrived in the 1960s when American control over the information
industry was resisted faced closure in the 2010s with the increasing influence of
electronic publishing and multinational corporations. The CBC’s annual Canada Reads
contest, which began in 2002, pits a selection of books against one another, each with
its own celebrity endorsement. The event promotes Canadian writing and emphasizes
the importance of a reading public yet simplifies literature and contributes to a
competitive literary culture. Likewise, a plethora of prizes, often with corporate
sponsorship, began to construct literature as spectacle. Many bookstores nevertheless
closed.

Throughout the decades from 1960 onward, while there has been some evidence
of a literary return to older forms of expression and fundamentalist redefinitions of
ethics, writers more characteristically in each generation embraced social justice and
reformist causes: for women’s rights (see Women’s Movement), for gay and lesbian
equality (See Homosexuality), against colonialism and against increasing poverty.
Children’s literature, an enterprise that flourished at this time, ranging from nonsense
verse to problem-centered novels for young adults, addressed some of these same
issues of race, gender, alcohol, drug abuse and social identity. Science writing, social
history, life writing, environmental inquiry and other forms of “creative nonfiction” also
frequently combined discovery with protest. Critiques of social arrogance in one decade
(foreign wars, napalm, racism) morphed into critiques of other disparities in the next
(discrimination by sex, gender, ethnicity, economics). Margaret Atwood embraced the
new nationalism of the 1960s and 1970s (with the Centennial celebrations in 1967) but
later tempered her observations in dystopias such as The Handmaid’s Tale (1985),
which challenges government control over women’s bodies. Robertson Davies’s
Jungian novels expressed one pervasive understanding of myth and psychology;
Robert Kroetsch’s poems and tales deconstructed such conventions and rerouted the
epic in everyday vernacular experience. Language and literary form again became
subjects for analysis and theoretical discussion, as in the work of Marshall McLuhan
and Northrop Frye, as well as territories for dispute, as when Nicole Brossard’s critiques
of French grammar influenced feminist writers in English, or when, in much of 21st-
century fiction, conventional vulgarities became normative (and therefore potentially
radical, culturally upsetting) speech.
The Writers Union of Canada formed in 1973, reflecting writers’ numbers and
endeavoring to help deal with the challenges they face.
Other writers addressed cultural, social, and political alternatives in Canadian
society, some of which were longstanding, others deriving from more recent changes in
population, technology, language and communication. Many of these writers sought a
balance between criticism of social practice (racism, passive dismissal, restrictive
legislation) and celebration of social potential. A great number of Métis and First Nations
writers have provided important commentary, variously critiquing colonialism and
celebrating Indigenous life. More specifically (although authors address multiple topics
in each work), Maria Campbell’s Half-Breed (1973), Lee Maracle’s Bobbi Lee (1973)
and Jeannette Armstrong’s Slash (1985) depict journeys toward political consciousness;
Ruby Slipperjack’s Honor the Sun (1987), Richard Van Camp’s The Lesser Blessed
(1996), and Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach (2000) represent childhood and
adolescence; Thomas King’s The Truth about Stories (2003) highlights the value of
Indigenous creation stories; Marie Clements’s Burning Vision (2003) and Drew Hayden
Taylor’s Motorcycles and Sweetgrass (2010) consider environment and land use;
Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road
(2005) and Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse (2012) address the residential school
system, which has been further investigated in the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada (2008–15). The poet Robert Bringhurst translated some of the
great classic Haida oral tales, Al Purdy created poetry out of the rhythms of ordinary
speech, Jack Hodgins turned Vancouver Island idiosyncrasy into a comedy of human
aspiration, George Elliott Clarke and Wayde Compton called attention to Black writing in
Canada, and increasing numbers of writers (including Rohinton Mistry, Michael
Ondaatje and Wayson Choy) drew on their Asian heritage both to reflect on adaptations
to difference and to dramatize the challenges and rewards of a fractured or shared
history.

Developments in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including the North
American Free Trade Agreement, the “war on terror,” and climate change awareness
underscored global interconnectedness. While regions and places continued to provide
inspiration for contemporary fiction, as in David Adams Richards’ Mercy Among the
Children (2001) and André Alexis’s Pastoral (2014), stress was often laid on
globalization’s impact on specific locales, as in Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief
(1999) and Lisa Moore’s February (2009). Environmental concerns were made central
in Hiromi Goto’s The Kappa Child (2001), Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being
(2013), Thomas King’s The Back of the Turtle (2014), and Rita Wong’s Forage (2008)
and undercurrent (2015), which share concerns about the global ramifications of
overconsumption, waste disposal and polluted water. With a similar planetary focus,
Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy (2003, 2009 and 2013) explores the frailty of
national borders in the wake of climate change.

Globalization notwithstanding, literary interest in the nation-state persisted.

Canadian writers’ attention to the United States increased after the September 11th
terrorist attacks and Canada’s subsequent involvement in the “war on terror.” Dionne
Brand’s encyclopedic Inventory (2006) and Douglas Coupland’s apocalyptic narrative
Player One (2010) respond to the violence generated by terrorism and war. Historical
narratives have provided an alternative way of engaging with Canada’s southern
neighbor: Patrick DeWitt’s The Sisters Brothers (2011) and Alix Hawley’s All True Not a
Lie in It (2015) reinterpret myths of the American west, whereas characters’ movement
between American and Canadian settings in Guy Vanderhaeghe’s A Good Man (2011)
suggests that the two countries have a shared history, in some respects at least.
Perspectives on contemporary human migration, in the form of refugees and illegal
immigrants, is provided in John Vaillant’s The Jaguar’s Children (2015) and Lawrence
Hill’s The Illegal (2015), thereby giving pause to literal and metaphoric borders, as well
as the complex and multiple networks that connect people, places, environments and
countries in a globalized era.

LITERATURE OF MEXICO (LATIN)

The dramatic history and political upheaval of Mexico has always played a major
role in the fluctuation of Mexican writers. The original literature of Mexico dates back to
the indigenous settlements of Mesoamerica, but with the arrival of the Spanish many
baroque writers couldn’t help but capture a more localized view on Mexican culture. As
a result, many writings include a hybrid and mixed tone of these two cultures.
Today we know that most of the pre-Columbian stories and folklore were mostly
captured through verbal interpretations; however, Spanish priests helped preserve
some of the writings of the Nahuatl speaking peoples by transcribing some of these
works using the Latin alphabet. Due to this process, we now have some of these lyrical
works preserved and passed down to us. This has given us access to works of people
such as Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl who lived from 1402 to1472 as well as others from
that time. To date, this translation is considered to be one of the largest samples of pre-
Columbian works and philosophical lyrics that have been preserved for posterity.
 As we move forward in time, the political instability in the nineteenth century led
to further changes in all forms of art in Mexico and this included writing. Once more the
Mexican Revolution changed the course of literature in Mexico as novels and plays of
the civil conflict were written. This also led to such literary movements as
“Estridentistas” and “Los Contemporáneos,” which were groups of individuals committed
to the modernization of literature and Mexican culture in the first half of the 20th century.
Many writers in Mexico are considered to be the voice for society and are heavily
relied upon to speak on social and economic issues which plague the country. As in
many countries, these writers and journalists have continued to lead and comment on
political occurrences; however, in recent years political arena analysts and economists
have also begun taking on that role.

An Introduction to Mexican Literature In 10 Works

The world of Mexican literature is sometimes underrated in comparison to the
literary strength of South America, which is dominated by authors like Gabriel García
Márquez, Paulo Coelho and Isabel Allende. However, Mexican authors are a force to be
reckoned with; with big-hitters like Octavio Paz and Juan Rulfo, as well as often lesser
known poets like Rosario Castellanos, here’s our introduction to Mexican literature in 10
key texts.
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
The unrivalled classic of Mexican literature,
Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo (1955) received a
lukewarm reception upon its initial release, before
becoming the critically acclaimed novel that it is
today. Pedro Páramo, which details the journey of
protagonist Juan Preciado as he goes in search of
his father following the death of his mother, is
widely considered to be based in the real Mexican
town of Comala, Colima. Notable not just for its
excellent plot but for being a pre-cursor to magical
realism as a whole, this novel hugely influenced
Gabriel García Márquez.
Como agua para chocolate by
Laura Esquivel
Another equally, and perhaps
more globally, recognised Mexican
novel is Como agua para
chocolate (1989). A more developed
example of magical realism than the
above text, Laura Esquivel’s debut
novel follows Tita as she tries to unite
with the love of her life, Pedro.
However, due to various familial
interferences and complications,
things don’t quite work out as
planned. Cooking is a key factor
throughout the text, and each chapter
begins with a recipe. There is also a
1992 film based on the book.
Cartucho by Nellie Campobello
A non-linear, short and semi-autobiographical
novel by the author Nellie Campobello, who is
incidentally perhaps better known as a
ballet dancer who founded the Mexican National
Ballet and directed the Mexican National School
of Dance for a period. Cartucho (1931) is most
important due to its status as one of the only
female visions of the Mexican revolution, and its
favourable presentation of Pancho Villa and his
supporters. Critics even suggest the impact of
Campobello’s accounts influenced later Mexican
authors like Elena Poniatowska and Juan Rulfo.

Los
ingrávidos by Valeria Luiselli
One of Mexico’s brightest contemporary
talents, Valeria Luiselli has so far published
three texts – Papeles falsos (2013) is a
collection of essays, whereas Los
ingrávidos (2012) and La historia de mis
dientes (2015) are novels. Having been mentored by Mario Bellatín, the works of Luiselli
are essential reading for anyone interested in the world of Mexican literature,
contemporary or otherwise and her debut is arguably the best place to start. She’s
widely translated into other languages too.

Salón de belleza by Mario Bellatín

This Peruvian-Mexican writer is the author of
another key Mexican text; Salón de belleza (1994).
If you’re short on time, yet still want to dive into the
world of Mexican literature, the haunting Salón de
belleza is the place to begin. In just 60 pages,
Bellatín narrates a parable-like tale that ruminates
elegantly on life, death and the ousting of the
unwanted from the care of society. It also has,
peculiarly, an intriguing focus on tropical fish which
forms a core part of the novella’s message.

Poemas (1953-1955) by Rosario

Castellanos
A notable poet of the 20th century,
forming part of the Generation of 1950,
Rosario Castellanos also has both a cultural
centre and a park in Mexico City named in
her honour. Poemas (1953-1955) (1957) is
a great starting point to get to know this
poet, whose poem ‘Valium 10’ is widely
considered as great a work as Sylvia Plath’s
‘Daddy’. She regularly wrote on feminist
topics and despite her early death, left an
impressive legacy that warrants her
inclusion on our introduction to Mexican
literature.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra

Cisneros
Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros
first published her seminal, brief text, The House
on Mango Street, in English. Even so, it definitely
ranks as one of the must-read books for a true introduction to the country’s literary
heritage, written as it is by a Chicana and about Chicano culture. Based in Chicago, the
birthplace of Cisneros herself, it’s a slight, coming-of-age story which follows the tale of
Esperanza Cordero and is now regularly included on school syllabuses across the US.

El laberinto de la soledad by Octavio Paz

 Octavio Paz is almost certainly one of the first authors who comes to mind when
you think of Mexican literature, so the inclusion of his essay El laberinto de la
soledad (1950) is practically a given. Easily his
most famous text, despite his broad repertoire of
essays, novels and literature, El laberinto de la
soledad primarily focuses on Mexican identity,
honing in on particular events or traditions, such
as the Revolution, the 1968 student massacre
and the Day of the Dead. A stand out element of
this essay is Paz’s examination of the Mexican
phrase la chingada.

La noche de Tlatelolco by Elena Poniatowska

Another author that wrote about the horrific
events of 1968 was Elena Poniatowska, in her seminal text La noche de
Tlatelolco (1971). In this text, the French-born Mexican author collated testimonies
about what happened in the run-up to the brutal killings in Mexico City, as well as
provided eyewitness accounts of the actual events themselves. A holistic account of the
tragic and supposedly government ordered murders, it makes for essential, if unsettling,
reading. Similarly, her 1988 text Nada, nadie. Las voces del temblor is equally
important.

La muerte de Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes’ 1962 novel La muerte de
Artemio Cruz cannot be underestimated. Not just
considered one of Mexico’s seminal texts, but one of
Latin America’s as a whole, La muerte de Artemio
Cruz narrates the fictional accounts of protagonist
Artemio Cruz’s experiences during the Mexican
Revolution and the ultimately corrupting influence that
power can have even over revolutionaries.

LITERATURE OF CHILE (LATIN)

Chile has a remarkable record of artistic and literary achievement considering its
relatively small population. Social and political circumstances have had a strong impact
on Chilean society and culture inspiring groups of artists to protest against policies of
the regime and rousing strong emotions which translated into works of art and cultural
achievement in different fields. Art in Chile works as a reflection that safeguards the
cultural heritage of the country.
The conquest of Chile by the Spanish and the immigration of Europeans brought
new artistic forms to Chile, all of which followed classic European styles. These artistic
expressions were influenced by the local culture, especially folk arts and crafts as the
Mapuche were skilled crafters.
Literature
It is generally accepted that Chilean literature began with Alonso de Ercilla y
Zuñiga, a Spanish conquistador who arrived in Chile in 1557. He wrote an epic poem,
La Araucana published in three parts in 1569, 1578 and 1589. La Araucana is a major
part of Chile’s cultural heritage depicting the heroism and bravery of both the Spanish
and the American Indian, two distinct cultures that molded a new nation. Even though
Ercilla y Zuñiga was fighting the Mapuches he recognized and appreciated their bravery
and strength.
The 20th century saw the development of four remarkable writers: Gabriela
Mistral (1889-1957) who was awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1945, Vicente
Huidobro (1893-1948), Pablo de Rokha (1894-1968) and Pablo Neruda, who was
awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1971. By mid-20th century there was another
generation of fine Chilean writers, among them: Jose Donoso (1924-1966), Jorge
Edwards, Gonzalo Rojas, Isabel Allende, Antoni Skármeta and Ariel Dorfman.
Though it’s known as the country of poets, there are plenty of top-tier novelists
out of Chile that have made noteworthy contributions to the world’s literary scene.
Discover the beauty and tragedy of this forgotten Latin American country by checking
out some of Chilean literature’s most important novels.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
This moving novel by prolific Chilean novelist Isabel
Allende launched her career when it was published in
1982. The book is mainly told through the perspectives of
Esteban Trueba and his granddaughter Alba, and follows
the tumultuous lives of four generations in the Trueba
family. Using
elements of
magical
realism,
Allende
explores the social and political unrest
occurring in her home country of Chile and
the lives impacted by these events.
Curfew by José Donoso
 Curfew, by famous Chilean author José Donoso, offers an authentic and detailed
look at the suffocating Chilean military dictatorship in 1985. The story occurs over the
course of just 24 hours, starting immediately after the death of Matilde Neruda, the wife
of celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Donoso’s characters, representing the
various political ideologies of the time, stand to gain political and social momentum from
Matilde’s death. The reader is left with a detailed look at life in Santiago during this
complicated moment of Chile’s history.

Seeing Red by Lina Meruane

One of Chile’s leading female authors, Lina Meruane, mixes
autobiography and fiction to explore the limitations of the
body and human relationships in Seeing Red. An unsettling
exploration of the inner life of a Chilean woman who finds
herself going blind in a new city, the book follows the
protagonist’s impediments and subsequent rage with
poignant eloquence.

My Tender Matador by Pedro

Lemebel
Written by Chile’s most prolific queer novelist Pedro
Lemebel, My Tender Matador gives its readers a unique
perspective on life in Santiago during the transformative
mid-eighties. The book takes place around the time the
military dictator Augusto Pinochet was nearly fatally
attacked and anti-regime protest movements gained
momentum. In a Santiago working-class barrio, the gay and
aging Queen of the Corner offers up his home to the young,
attractive Carlos to use as a gathering space for the
resistance.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

This 1998 novel by Roberto Bolaño is divided into
three different parts, with frequent changes in
narrator. The book follows two decades of
adventures of realist poets Arturo Belano and
Ulises Lima, from Chile and Mexico, respectively.
As the poet’s cross continents in search of the poet
Cesárea Tinajero, who has mysteriously disappeared, they encounter a diverse array of
characters that each add a unique perspective to this lively novel.

The Postman by Antonio Skarmeta

Ardiente Paciencia, released in English-langu age
markets as The Postman, is a treasured romantic
novel set in the years leading up to Chile’s military
dictatorship. The protagonist Mario Jiménez is a shy
teenager working as a postman in the Chilean town
Isla Negra, where Chilean poet Pablo Neruda also
lives. After delivering Neruda his letters, Jiménez
befriends the famous poet who subsequently educates the youth and helps him woo the
daughter of the local bartender.
The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal
As Ana María lies dead in her coffin, her transition into the
afterlife is haunted with vivid mem ories and surreal sensory
experiences. Surrounded by the people closest to her that
mourn her death, the protagonist relives some of her most
defining moments as the reader slowly discovers her complex
relationships and identities.

Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra

Alejandro Zambra writes exquisitely about life in
Chile during and after the country’s 17-year
military dictatorship in Ways of Going Home, a
tall order in a country that tends to keep quiet
about Pinochet’s rule. Told from the persp ective
of a Chilean author who creates a fictitious
narrator to discuss the realities of the dictatorship, Zambra uses metafiction to explore
the phantoms of Chile’s dark past and how they haunt the country’s increasingly stable
present.
The Absent Sea by Carlos Franz
This striking novel by Carlos Franz includes vivid
details of the brutality experienced during Chile’s
1973 military coup. The book’s protagonist – the
youthful and passionate judge Laura – is forced to
flee her hometown in northern Chile after
enduring unspeakable acts of violence. The story continues with Laura’s homecoming
twenty years after her exile.

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis

Sepulveda
Set in a small town in the Ecuadorian jungle, Chilean
author Luis Sepulveda’s captivating novel follows
protagonist Antonio José Bolívar, who takes solace in
romantic literature. However, no matter how much he
reads, Antonio ultimately finds it impossible to ignore the
outsiders slowly disrupting the town’s isolated harmony.
REFERENCES
THE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN LITERATURE
 https://www.britannica.com/art/American-literature

LITERATURE OF U.S.A
 https://usa.usembassy.de/arts-literature.htm?
fbclid=IwAR2iS9TaO9PfZO5tokBgbEIeWyfvzp9o_2PJVA1H0lZisJjY-
62Q4jZQAD4
LITERATURE OF CANADA
 https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/literature-in-english?
fbclid=IwAR1kIjGzHxXsYiEXegkTQHplr7NOZ5Ug0R-
KScwSL3cvRQzheIXRGJM2lE8
LITERATURE OF MEXICO
 http://thelatinoauthor.com/countries/literature/mexican-literature/
 https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/an-introduction-to-
mexican-literature-in-10-works/
LITERATURE OF CHILE
 http://www.chileculture.org/arts-and-literature/
 https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/chile/articles/an-introduction-to-chilean-
literature-in-10-books/
 LEARNING ACTIVITY

THE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN LITERATURE

Make a 300-word essay for each of the following topic:

1. What is the difference between the North and South American Literature?
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2. Why does American literature is important to learn?

Write your answer here:

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