European literature
Old World writings
European literature encompasses written works from Europe, typically referring to the Western literary tradition from ancient Greece and Rome through modern times.
The term often appears in academic contexts: a survey course in European literature, the European literature section of the library.
It may emphasize canonical works—Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tolstoy—or serve as a geographic designation distinguishing it from American, Asian, or African literatures.
- British literatureWriting from the UK
- ExistentialismPhilosophy of radical freedom
- stream of consciousnessNarrative mimicking uninterrupted thought
- magic realismGenre mixing fantasy and ordinary
- poetryMetrical literary composition
Miguel de Cervantes · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Franz Kafka · drama · Medieval · Romanticism · William Shakespeare · tragic hero · Renaissance literature · German literature · Humanism · Ovid · Enlightenment · Victor Hugo · Leo Tolstoy · Homer · epic poetry · Baroque
- world literatureworld literature, French novels, American literature, Russian novels, Japanese fiction
- EuropeAlbania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, France
- Italian LiteratureDante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri
- literary fictionliterary realism, contemporary fiction, character-driven, character study, character studies
- Romance LiteratureFrench literature, Les Miserables, Italian literature, The Divine Comedy, Spanish literature
European literatureAfrican literature
Works from the continent
Asian literature · American literature · Latin American literature · Japanese literature · Indian literature