A HISTORY OF

EUROPEAN LITERATURE
B R I T TA N Y AV E S
 PERIODS OF LITERATURE:

• Renaissance: 1400’s-1600’s
• Enlightenment: 1650- 1800
• Romanticism: 1798 – 1870
• Realism/Naturalism: 1850-1914
• Victorian Period: 1832- 1901
• Modernism: 1870’s – 1965
• Post-Modernism: 1965- Present
(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)
 RENAISSANCE (1400’S-1600’S)

• The Renaissance was a period of transition that left behind the

medieval ways of the past and launched society towards a modern
world.
• At this time, people were concerned with individualism, as well as
self and societal improvement.
• Many writers produced pieces that catered to wealthy patrons who
commissioned their work.
• Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in 1440, allowing for
mass production of pamphlets and novels.
• This gave people an increased opportunity to read publications of
various authors like Petrarch and Boccaccio.
(Wheeler, Kagan)
 RENAISSANCE WORKS OF NOTE

• Petrarch: Canzoniere, Trionfi

• Giovanni Boccaccio: The Decameron
• Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince
• John Milton: Paradise Lost
• Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
• Dante Alighieri: Divina Commedia
• Sir Thomas More, Utopia
• William Shakespeare: King Lear,
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
• Christopher Marlowe: Doctor Faustus

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)

"Paradise Lost," Stanford University Libraries
 RENAISSANCE

• Authors of Renaissance literature presented many revolutionary

ideas during this period in history (1485- 1680 C.E.) that focused on
the central topics of humanism, classicism and secularism.
• Humanism: People were intrigued by the idea of human power.
Humanistic works focused on human traits and abilities.
• Classicism: Authors drew on antiquity, were inspired by the works
of the philosophers in ancient Greece and Rome.
• Secularism: Dealt with issues of politics and personal concern
outside of the realm of religion.

(Wheeler, Kagan)
 RENAISSANCE MEN

• Erasmus: Known as the “Christian Gentleman” (Eder, 46)

embodied the essential traits of the Renaissance humanist. Erasmus
translated the bible into new Greek and Latin editions and was an
opinionated critic of the religious figures of the time. He criticized
those who abused their religious power, and satirized the overall
hypocrisy of the age. Many historians hypothesize that Erasmus
planted the seeds for Martin Luther’s radical protestant
reformation.
• Petrarch: Considered to be the first modern writer. Known for his
sonnets and other works, which evaluated life and the human
condition.

(Eder, Kagan)
 RENAISSANCE MEN

• Machiavelli: The author of The Prince, Machiavelli was likely a

sarcastic author, rather than the brutal figure he is perceived to be.
He penned the words “The end justifies the means” in his political
‘how-to’ that suggested that rulers merely rule without moral
judgment.
• Boccaccio: Contemporary of Petrarch, known for the Decameron, a
collection of stories that provide a commentary on the human
condition.
• Petrarch: Considered to be the first modern writer. Known for his
sonnets and other works, which evaluated life and the human
condition.

(Eder, Kagan)
 ENLIGHTENMENT (1650- 1800)

• A ‘print culture’ emerged, the • The enlightenment was a

volume of printed material period of great change in
dramatically increased. policies and beliefs
• Key areas of discussion during politically, economically,
and socially.
this period include:
• Philosophes criticized the
i. Human nature
status quo.
ii. The relationship between
• They produced many
government and its people
theories in literature for the
iii. Property betterment of humankind.
iv. Natural laws and rights
v. Organized religion (Eder, Kagan)
ENLIGHTENMENT WORKS OF NOTE

• Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, Emile, and Confessions.
• Denis Diderot: Encyclopedie
• Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women
• Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels
• Voltaire: Candide
• Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations
• Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
• Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws
• John Locke: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)

 ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS

• Rousseau: Developed the idea of the Noble Savage, and pushed for
individualism, as well as individual human rights. His influence
was profound, and his distrust of civilization in general led to new
educational and political practices across Europe.
• Voltaire: Staunch deist, advocate of human rights and fighter of
injustice. He adamantly fought rigid religion and governmental
abuse of power. He opposed censorship and was a fierce critic of
society.
• Smith: Smith advocated a “Laissez-faire” system of economics in
which the government should stay out of the day to day economic
affairs, allowing for natural regulation in the free market economy.

(Eder, Kagan)
 ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS

• Newton: Synthesized Kepler and Galileo’s ideas into his Laws of

Motion, pioneered physics and calculus.
• Locke: Locke believed in the idea of a social contract; that the
government has a duty to its people, and if the government is not
able to do what is required, it should be altered by the people. Also
influential, his term “Tabula Rasa,” a phrase that represented the
idea that people are born a ‘blank slate,’ and over time are altered to
become good or evil depending on their environment. Locke
believed that people achieve equality as a result of their rights, not
their abilities. He believed that humans should have the natural
rights of life, liberty, and property.

(Eder, Kagan)
 ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS

• Hobbes: Hobbes believed that, in order for the government to

reach its potential, citizens of the state ought to give up some
rights, in return for protection. He believed in an absolute
monarchy with one state religion, in order for any country to be
strong and unified.
• Wollstonecraft: British writer, thought to be the first feminist.
• Montesquieu: Political conservative, anti-aristocracy, brought forth
the idea for the separation of powers in the government, his ideas
were extremely influential in the writing of the American
constitution later on. His book, Spirit of the Laws, was possibly the
most influential book of the century.

(Eder, Kagan)
 IMPORTANT ENLIGHTENMENT QUOTES

• “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains” -Rousseau

• “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think; therefore I am”)-Descartes
• “Knowledge is power” - Bacon
• "Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species
has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.“-
Diderot
• “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to
say it.”- Voltaire
• “No one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions”-
Locke
• “When America, the Negro countries…and so forth were discovered, they
were to them [the Europeans], countries belonging to no one, since they
counted the inhabitants as nothing.”- Kant
(Eder, Kagan)
 ROMANTICISM (1798 – 1870)

• The term, “Romanticism” was originally used to describe literature

in 17th century Europe that writers saw as unrealistic, filled with
emotions, or over the top in its stylistic tendencies.
• Many people have come to used the terms “romantic” and “gothic”
interchangeably to describe this type of literature. Romantic is the
broad literary period/ category, gothic literature is a subset of this
movement.
• This movement, centered in Germany, played off of the type of
material often seen in medieval romances.
• Many romantic novels delved into dramatic new subject matter,
often focusing on a character who lived on the edge of, or outside
of normal society.
(Kagan, Hauser)
 ROMANTICISM
• Romantic-style literature caught on first in Germany and England.
In contrast to the systematic view, used by Enlightenment thinkers,
who saw the universe as a machine; romanticism saw the world as
organic, like a tree full of life.
• This genre disregarded previous rules for form and technique,
giving free reign to the reader’s imagination.
• English writers believed that their writing was enhanced by
following whatever whim their creative impulses felt.
• The movement took longer, however to catch on in France. It was
not until 1816 that a French writer, Henri Beyle, self-identified as a
romantic writer that the style began to take hold. (Kagan, 643-648)
 ROMANTICISM

Key ideals and identifying factors

Elements of gothic literature:
of the romantic literary
movement: • Evil characters
• Emphasis on emotion • Evil actions or events
• Idealized nature
• Spooky or lonely setting
• Importance of the individual
• Emphasis on imagination • Appearances of ghosts or spirits
• Dramatic/ bold subject matter • Mood of horror or terror
• Often uses a ‘dark’ aura to • Magical, mysterious, or
build suspense
supernatural occurrences
• Subjects such as guilt,
(Hauser) punishment and penance.
 ROMANTICISM WORKS OF NOTE

• Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto

• Victor Hugo: Les Miserables
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner, Lyrical Ballads
• Lord Byron: Don Juan, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
• William Wordsworth: The Prelude
• Fredrick Schlegel: Lucinde
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The Sorrows of Young
Werther, Faust
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Phenomenology ofTimeline,
(Wheeler, Lit. Mind Rickard)
 REALISM/NATURALISM (1850-1914)

• Gave a look into the dull verities of bourgeois life.

• Used a pseudo-scientific perspective to bring objectivity to the
hypocrisy and brutality of the time.
• Rejected the idealization that was used previously in the
Romantic movement, instead turning to the dark reality of the
middle class way of life.
• Realist writers often broached the subject of the flaws of
society, exhibiting “alcoholism, prostitution, adultery, labor
strife” (Kagan, 807) and other topics that had not previously
been brought to light.
• Writers like Zola and Ibsen worked to uncover the unpleasant
immorality of the middle-class.
(Kagan)
 REALISM WORKS OF NOTE

• Emile Zola: L’Assommoir

• Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
• Claude Bernard: Introduction to the Study of Experimental
Science
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment
• Charles Dickens: The Adventures of Oliver Twist
• George Bernard Shaw: Mrs. Warren’s Profession
• Two pieces of particular importance were Madame Bovary, by
Gustave Flaubert and A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen.

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)

 MADAME BOVARY

Madame Bovary, the original ‘realistic’ novel, depicts a

woman who is unsatisfied in her search for love, both in and
outside of her marriage. This novel pours through the tragic
personal details of a promiscuous bourgeois woman’s life.
Ultimately, Madame Bovary finds that she feels too
hopeless to carry on and chooses to commit suicide. This
grim novel embodies the spirit of the realism movement,
free from the pretense of heroism or civility- diverging
completely from the idealized literature of the past.
(Hawthorne)
 A DOLL’S HOUSE
A Doll’s House tells the tale of Nora Helmer, a seemingly helpless
wife, extremely dependent on her husband Torvald and her domestic
life. In reality, her entire life is a ruse to cover up the fact that she is
doing all kinds of desperate things to repay a loan on which she
forged her father’s signature (without her husband’s knowledge.) As
the plot develops, her façade crumbles. When Torvald realizes that
Nora deceived him for such a long time, he becomes enraged and
calls her unfit to raise his children. When they find out that there will,
in fact, be no consequences for her forgery, he tries to take it all back.
Unfortunately, he had revealed himself to be a selfish, hypocrite with
no regard for her position in the matter. Nora, unimpressed, leaves
Torvald, on a journey to find herself and become a woman, rather
than a ‘doll’ without any illusion of independence. (Allen, Kashdan)
 VICTORIAN PERIOD 1832- 1901

• A form of English realism.

• Often critiqued the cruel reality that middle class
members of society had to face.
• The period of English history between the passage of the
first Reform Bill (1832) and the death of Queen Victoria
(reigned 1837–1901).
• This period has a double-edged connotation; it is
remembered for its strict social, political, and sexual
conservatism, but at the same time, it saw prolific literary
activity and significant social reform.

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)

 VICTORIAN WORKS OF NOTE

• William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair

• Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island
• Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
• George Eliot: Middlemarch
• Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
• Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
• Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations
• Gerard Manley Hopkins: Pied Beauty
• Anthony Trollope: Chronicles of Barsetshire
• Lord Alfred Tennyson: The Charge of the Light Brigade

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)

 MODERNISM (1870’S – 1965)

• Modernism, like realism, provided critique of morality of the

middle class society.
• Unlike realism, however, Modernism focused on aesthetics, rather
than societal issues.
• Modernism mirrored the upheaval seen in society as a result of
WWI.
• Proponents of Modernism toyed with new forms and styles of
writing, including a technique called stream of consciousness.
• Developed by Marcel Proust, the ‘stream of consciousness’ style
allowed the author to explore all of the facets of their thought
process without any suggested formatting rules.
(Wheeler, Kagan)
 MODERNISM-STREAM OF
CONSCIOUSNESS

“Novelists have always satisfied our curiosity about human

motivation by revealing the private thoughts of their
characters, but the classic novel contained this information
within an objective description of their actions and
interactions. The avant garde novelists of the early 20th
century believed that they could get closer to reality not by
‘telling’ but by ‘showing’ how it is experienced -
subjectively.”
-Author David Lodge, regarding the unique literary
technique
 MODERNISM-AN EXAMPLE OF STREAM
OF CONSCIOUSNESS WRITING
• "Everything (he kept saying) is something it isn't. And everybody is
always somewhere else. Maybe it was the city, being in the city, that made
him feel how queer everything was and that it was something else. Maybe
(he kept thinking) it was the names of the things. The names were tex and
frequently koid. Or they were flex and oid or they were duroid (sani) or
flexsan (duro), but everything was glass (but not quite glass) and the thing
that you touched (the surface, washable, crease-resistant) was rubber, only
it wasn't quite rubber and you didn't quite touch it but almost. The wall,
which was glass but turned out on being approached not to be a wall, it
was something else, it was an opening or doorway--and the doorway
(through which he saw himself approaching) turned out to be something
else, it was a wall. And what he had eaten not having agreed with him."
(opening paragraph of "The Door" by E.B. White. The New Yorker, 1939)
 MODERNISM WORKS OF NOTE

• Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own, Mrs. Dalloway

• James Joyce: Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake
• Marcel Proust: Remembrance of Things Past
• George Orwell: Animal Farm
• Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Warden of
the Tomb
• William Butler Yeats: The Tower
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
• Alfred Doblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz
• William Golding: Lord of the Flies
• Albert Camus: The Stranger
(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)
 POST-MODERNISM – 1965- PRESENT

• Literary and societal response to the elitism of high modernism, as

well as the horrifying events of WWII.
• Characterized by a strange mix of high and low culture.
• Fragmentation, paradox, and narrators that are difficult to define
are common. The style of writing evokes the absence of tradition
in a modern consumer-driven, technologically based society.
• Authors began to use a jumble of various ingredients, known as
pastiche, that had not been seen as appropriate for literature before,
in order to create a more complex story, filled with allusions to
events and style of other literary works that took a certain level of
education to recognize or even begin to appreciate.

(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline)

POST-MODERNISM WORKS OF NOTE
• Rahld Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Alasdair Gray, Lanark: A Life in Four Books
• Alan Moore: Watchmen
• Dmitry Galkovsky: The Infinite Deadlock
• Umberto Eco: Foucault’s Pendulum
• Vladimir Nabokov: Mother Night
• John Fowles: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
• Venedikt Erofeev: Moscow-Petushki
• Walter Abish: How German Is It
• Gertrude Stein: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
• George Perec: Life: A User’s Manual
• Italo Calvino: If on a winter’s night a traveler
(Wheeler, Lit. Timeline, Rickard)
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