A History of European Literature

From Antiquity to the Present
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-394-23584-1
Verlag: Wiley John + Sons

Buch, Englisch, 512 Seiten

An ideal introduction and a reliable guide for students and teachers of European literature

Uniquely broad in both geographic and chronological scope, A History of European Literature introduces students to the origins, influences, and historical development of European poetry, drama, and fictional prose. Authors Theo D'haen and Anders Pettersson provide an easily accessible narrative history of European literature while contextualizing the cultural, material, and intellectual conditions in which literary works were produced and experienced.

Assuming only minimal familiarity with the subject, this student-friendly textbook explores European literature in its many manifestations, starting from its origins in European antiquity, through the Medieval period and early modern Europe, to the opening years of the twenty-first century. Clear, jargon-free chapters contain a wealth of citations from both well-known and lesser-known works of European literature, including Greek and Roman oratory and philosophy, early Christian literature, literary expressions of Enlightenment thought, secular non-classical drama, eighteenth-century novels, modernist poetry, and many more.

Providing a balanced and up-to-date foundation in the literary tradition of Europe, A History of European Literature: From Antiquity to the Present: - Offers a comprehensive yet highly readable survey of more than two millennia of European literary history
- Presents a consistent and unified view of European literary history by two leading scholars in the field
- Discusses the cross-connections and mutual influences between Europe and other cultural and literary traditions
- Highlights the differences between ancient and modern concepts of literary production and reception
- Includes coverage of writers in European languages who were born elsewhere but active in Europe

Integrating contemporary literary theory throughout, including postmodern and postcolonial perspectives, A History of European Literature: From Antiquity to the Present is the perfect textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in Comparative Literature, European Literature, and World Literature, as well as relevant courses in Cultural Studies, History, and European Studies programs.

Autoren/Hrsg.

D'Haen, Theo

Pettersson, Anders

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Europäische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface ix
Introduction 1
European Antiquity 1
Medieval Europe 2
Early Modern Europe 4
Europe After 1800 5
Literature 6
Europe 7
History 8

1 Before 400 CE 11
Introduction 14
Ancient Greece 19
Classical Epic and Lyric Poetry 19
Classical Greek Drama 34
Classical Greek Prose 46
Literature in Greek 300 BCE-400 CE 56
Ancient Rome 63
Latin Literature Before 100 BCE 63
First-Century
BCE Latin Poetry and Prose 68
Latin Literature During the First Four Centuries CE 89
Writing, Reading, and Literary Thought in Greco-Roman Culture 95
Concluding Remarks: Greco-Roman Literary Culture in a Wider Perspective 99

2 400 to 1500 105
Introduction 108
Byzantine Literature 112
Literature in Latin 119
A New Western Drama 128
The New Narrative Literature of Western Europe 133
The New Vernacular Lyric Poetry 149
Celtic, Germanic, and Slavonic Traditions 159
Celtic Poetic Traditions 159
Germanic Poetic Traditions 162
Slavonic Literary Cultures 169
Writing, Reading, and Literary Thought 174
Concluding Remarks: European Literary Cultures 400-1500 in a Wider Perspective 179

3 1500 to 1800 185
Introduction 188
The "Making" of Europe 188
Europe's Peoples 188
Europe's Languages 189
Europe's Shifting Borders 189
Military Europe 190
Europe as a Christian Continent 191
Europe and the Dawn of "Modernity" 191
Renaissance 192
Baroque 193
Neoclassicism 194
Printing and Publishing 194
Latin and the Rise of the Vernaculars 196
The Reformation and the Vernaculars 199
The Republic of Letters 201
New Institutions of Learning 202
Periodicals 204
The Social Position of Authors 206
Poetry 208
The Renaissance Epic 208
The Biblical Epic 217
Other Uses of the Epic 221
Other Classical Poetical Genres 223
The Sonnet 228
Militant Poetry 234
Baroque Poetry 239
Landscape Poetry 243
Fables 244
Ballads 246
Minor Genres 247
Contents vii
The Drama 248
La Celestina 248
Italy's Part 250
The Spanish Siglo de Oro 250
Elizabethan Drama 252
Comedy of Humours and Neoclassical Tragedy 255
The Lure of the Orient 258
Restoration Drama 259
Sentimental Drama 260
Bourgeois Tragedy 262
Prose 264
The Picaresque 265
The Picaresque at Large 267
The Epistolary Novel 271
Authenticity and Libertinism 273
The Sentimental Novel 277
The Bildungsroman or Novel of Education 279
Travel Literature 280
Philosophical and Oriental Tales 281
A New Medium: The Opera 286
Conclusion 288

4 1800 to the Present 289
Introduction 292
Demographics 292
The Map of Europe 292
Imperialism 293
World War I to World War II 294
Decolonization and European Unification 295
Politics 295
Economics 297
Work 299
Education 300
Literature 301
Romanticism 302
Narrative Verse 304
Lyric Poetry 315
Romantic Prose 321
Romantic Drama 325
Realism and Naturalism 327
Narrative Verse 328
Lyric Poetry 330
The Realist Novel 334
The Naturalist Novel 343
Europe's Others 349
Regionalism 352
Popular Literature 356
Drama 359
Modernism 364
From Symbolism to Modernism 366
The Historical Avant-Gardes 373
The Modernist Novel 380
The "Great War" Novel 386
Ideological Battles 389
Colonial Fiction 397
Drama 398
After Modernism; or Post-Modernism 400
World War II Fiction 401
The Holocaust 405
Literature Behind the Iron Curtain 407
The Postmodernist Novel 409
Postcolonialism and Multiculturalism 414
Poetry After World War II 420
Drama 423
New Media: Opera, Film, Television, Gaming 424
Conclusion 428

Timelines 429
Index of Authors and Works 443

Über Autor(innen)

THEO D’HAEN is Emeritus professor of English, American, and Comparative Literature at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, and the University of Leuven, Belgium. He is former President of The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM). D’haen has authored and co-authored 13 books, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, and published over 200 journal articles and book chapters. Recent publications include A History of World Literature, World Literature in an Age of Geopolitics, and Literature: A World History, Volume II.

ANDERS PETTERSSON is Emeritus Professor of Swedish and Comparative Literature at Umeå University, Sweden, and a former Vice-President of the International Comparative Literature Association. His main research interests are fundamental literary theory and transcultural literary history. Pettersson has published six monographs, including The Idea of a Text and the Nature of Textual Meaning, and edited or co-edited seven books, most recently the first volume of Wiley-Blackwell’s Literature: A World History.