Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Theo D'haen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium) ,  Anders Pettersson (Umea University, Sweden)
Publisher:   John Wiley & Sons Inc
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 25.20cm
Weight:   1.089kg
ISBN:  

9781394235841

ISBN 10:   1394235844
Pages:   512
Publication Date:   09 October 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table 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 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

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Author Information

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.

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