Western literature
Occidental written tradition
Western literature is the body of written works produced in or influenced by European traditions, spanning from ancient Greek and Roman texts through contemporary writing in Europe, the Americas, and other regions shaped by Western culture.
The term typically implies a canon—Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, the novel tradition—though what belongs in that canon is contested.
In academic contexts, Western literature often stands in implicit contrast to Eastern, African, or indigenous literary traditions: The course covers Western literature from the Enlightenment forward.
- Greek tragedyClassical dramatic form featuring downfall
- tragic heroCharacter whose flaw causes ruin
- RealismMovement depicting ordinary life
- RomanticismEmotion-centered artistic movement
- ExistentialismPhilosophy of radical freedom
Humanism · Symbolism · Modernism · stream of consciousness · Canon · hero's journey · coming of age · Renaissance · Allegory · epic poetry · Surrealism · Postmodernism · Enlightenment · Surrealism · Postmodernism
Western literatureAsian literature
Writing from Asia's cultures
Japanese literature · Indian literature · African literature · indigenous literature · world literature
Western literatureoral tradition
Culture passed by speech
oral literature · folk tales · storytelling tradition · spoken word
Western literaturepopular fiction
Widely read commercial literature
genre fiction · pulp fiction · folk literature · marginalized voices · underground literature
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