History of European Literature - From Antiquity to the Present

A comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the literary tradition of Europe, written by noted scholars in the field In A History of European Literature, Theo D'haen and Anders Pettersson survey the origins and development of European literature, starting from its earliest beginnings in European antiquity to the modern era. Covering the many manifestations and cross-connections of European literary tradition, this student-friendly textbook offers an accessible, thoroughly readable narrative history of both well-known and lesser-known European poetry, drama, and fictional prose. Assuming only minimal familiarity with the subject, jargon-free chapters provide the foundational knowledge students need to engage in deeper explorations of Greek and Roman oratory and philosophy, Medieval Christian literature, Elizabethan drama, Enlightenment prose, eighteenth-century novels, modernist poetry, and more. Throughout the book, the authors provide insights into the varied cultural, material, and intellectual conditions under which European literary works were created and experienced. Rooted in contemporary literary theory, including postmodern and postcolonial perspectives, A History of European Literature: From Antiquity to the Present is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in Comparative Literature, European Literature, and World Literature, as well as relevant courses in Cultural Studies, European History, and European Studies programs.

List of contents

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
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

About the author

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.

Product details

• Authors: Theo D'haen, Theo (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven D''''haen, Anders Pettersson
• Assisted by: Theo D'haen (Editor), Anders Petterson (Editor), Anders Pettersson (Editor)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 25.09.2025
• EAN: 9781394235841
• ISBN: 978-1-394-23584-1
• No. of pages: 512
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Europe, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / General, Literature: history & criticism, Literature: history and criticism