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Literature Overview
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Contents
3
500–1100 Old English
4
1100–1400 Middle English
5
1400–1500 The Renaissance begins to spread across Europe from Italy
7
1500–1650 The Renaissance and the Reformation
10 1650–1800 The Restoration (of the monarchy), the Age of Enlightenment
(Age of Reason). Beginning of the Romantic Age.
14 1800–c. 1835 The Romantic Age
18 1837–1901 The Victorian Age
25 1900 – end of WWII 1945, Modernism
31 1946–2000 (and beyond …) Postmodernism and various other movements
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Literature Overview
This overview furnishes material for browsing and context-seeking. Multiple cause-effect
links can be found between the different sections, especially by browsing across more than
one period.
• The What sections describe developments in literature in English.
•
Who mentions names of people who have been important to these developments, and
usually one example of their work.
•
How tells in what way / by what means developments happened, relating to various
changes in society which affected or were motors of developments in literature.
•
Why runs through the history of the main areas where English was spoken and
developing, showing events and circumstances which form the background to the How
section.
•
Meanwhile then furnishes a little world orientation, giving some idea of parallel
developments in the world at large. Here we can find a selection of major and some
minor but curious world events, and names of some great international writers/artists/
composers.
•
Dates – All persons appear chronologically according to their date of birth, thus
making it easy to locate them and see what was happening around them in their lives.
Their periods of major production can be roughly calculated as beginning 20–30 years
after their birth dates, but as the length of lives and the periods of major production
vary so much from person to person, it was decided to list them according to their date
of birth. However, the writers in Who are nevertheless placed in the literary period
during which they were most active, even if they were born in an earlier period. Hence
the apparent discrepancy of dates between Who and When.
All the authors mentioned under Who are also listed alphabetically according to last name
at the end of the overview, with their year of birth indicated, thus making it easy to locate
them in the overview. Bear in mind when locating an author in the overview that you will
need to search chronologically in both the British + others list and the USA list.
The layout of What/Who/Why divides in the later periods into two sections, showing
Britain and other nations first, and the USA afterwards.
Pointing out all the links between ideas/events/trends would take too much space, but
we trust the reader to browse these pages and find his/her own cause-effect cross
references. There are many to be found!
Note: Poet Laureate – appointed by the British monarch to, for the remainder of his/her life,
produce poetry for major events.
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500–1100
Old English
What?
History (e.g. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and epic poems
Often Christian slant on earlier known tales, poems etc.
Beowulf (surviving version written down by unknown poet in 8th C) – 3,128-line epic poem
about 4th C Scandinavian hero
Who?
The Venerable Bede (673–735) writes well-researched English history in Latin.
King Alfred (849–99), “father of English literature”, has much of it translated into English,
and encourages other writings in English.
How?
From oral tradition to writing as Christianity spreads. Based on oral tradition, poetry is rich
in such memory aids as strong rhythm and rhyme, alliteration etc.
Why?
English nation and language begin to stabilise based on population of Angles, Saxons and
Jutes, who invade and settle mid 5th C, driving earlier inhabitants (e.g. Celts) to more
distant regions.
Meanwhile …
Fall of Western Roman Empire (31 BC – AD 476)
Plague kills half population of Eastern Europe (540’s)
Book printing in China
Library at Alexandria destroyed for third time (642)
Charlemagne becomes King of Franks (771)
Leif Eriksson reaches Canada (c. 1000)
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1100–1400
Middle English
What?
Not much written in English – Latin and French dominate in documents.
14th C, written poetry (mostly romances about knights) emerges, in poetic style like Old
English poetry, but now in evolved Middle English.
Drama – Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays performed
Bible in English 1380
Who?
Geoffrey Chaucer 1345–1400. Most known for The Canterbury Tales – told in highly varying
verse style, by group of pilgrims headed for Canterbury. Satirises character types.
How?
English develops in form as a spoken language, living alongside French, which is source of
much new vocabulary. Old English style of poetry survives.
Who?
Norman invasion 1066 leads to c. 100 years of French as official language.
The English language develops in the meantime towards Middle English.
Oxford (1160’s) and Cambridge (1200’s) Universities founded.
Magna Charta 1215
Parliament reforms – local representatives, 1265
Before and during Hundred Years War (1337–1453), English ruling classes increasingly in
conflict with the French, gradually speak more English.
Meanwhile …
Crusades in Europe/Middle East
Genghis Kahn 1162–1227 extends Mongolian Empire
Firearms in China 1259
Dante begins Divina Comedia 1307
The Black Death 1361
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1400–1500
The Renaissance begins to spread across
Europe from Italy
What?
Romances increasingly popular (knights, monsters, love etc.)
Also Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays, e.g.. Everyman (c. 1500, allegorical morality play)
Folk ballads
Who?
Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (romance) published 1485
How?
Early Modern English begins to develop. Pronunciation changes.
Why?
English translations of the Bible forbidden 1408.
Henry V begins to use English as official language, 1415.
At end of Wars of the Roses (1455–85) the Tudors begin to reign in England.
William Caxton’s printing press is set up 1476, leading to gradual standardisation of written
forms.
Meanwhile …
Medicis in Italy
Donatello’s David sculpture 1409
Bocaccio’s Decamerone 1419
Joan of Arc’s death 1431
Dutch painter Van Eyck dies 1441
Gutenberg’s Bible 1450’s
Leonardo da Vinci 1452–1519
Dutch painter Bosch c.1450–1516
Michelangelo 1475–1564.
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus 1483
Raphael 1483–1520
Columbus and Cabot land in the Americas 1490’s.
Titian (painter) c.1490–1576
Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope 1497.
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1500–1650
The Renaissance and the Reformation
What?
Great interest in education, science, arts, the classics
Development of lyric (introspective) poetry – especially the sonnet – pastoral poems and
drama
Some non-fiction prose e.g.. essays, biographies
The King James Bible 1611
Who?
Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia (in Latin 1516)
Sir Philip Sydney 1554–1586, sonnets, pastoral
Christopher Marlowe 1564–1593, great playwright rivalling Shakespeare with e.g.. Dr
Faustus.
Edmund Spenser 1552–1599, “poets’ poet”, court poet, much pastoral
William Shakespeare 1564–1616, 37 plays (histories, comedies, tragedies), cycle of 154
sonnets, other poems
John Donne 1572–1631, great metaphysical poet
Ben Johnson 1572–1637, famous playwright, especially satirical comedy
Francis Bacon 1561–1626 (philosopher), essays
How?
Early Modern English well established. Enormous growth and inventiveness in English
language culminates around 1600.
The first playhouse in England opens in London 1576. Theatres become enormously popular,
attended by all social classes. Dynamic creativity in theatre, with a number of top quality
dramatists working simultaneously.
Increasing awareness of England as great nation through e.g.. Shakespeare’s historical plays
and Bible translations into English (subsequent to Reformation).
All theatres closed down 1642 with growth of Puritanism, thus for a time stopping
dramatists’ creative art.
Why?
Henry VIII r. 1509–1547, sets English Reformation in motion, establishes the Church of
England 1534.
Elizabeth I r.1559–1603, major English Renaissance period. London grows considerably.
Sir Francis Drake returns from circumnavigation of globe.
Spanish Armada defeated 1588, resulting in great international advantages for England.
Coal mining on the increase in England 1590’s
English East India Company founded c.1600
James I r.1603–1625, first king to unite England and Scotland
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The Gunpowder Plot stopped 1605, Guy Fawkes executed
Voyages of discovery and exploration, growth in overseas trade, early colonisation
Catholic/Protestant opposition gradually gives way to Anglican/Puritan opposition
The Pilgrim Fathers emigrate for religious freedom, reach America 1620.
Charles I executed 1649 after civil war, the monarchy abolished, the Commonwealth set up.
Meanwhile …
Sugar to Europe from America
Growth of slave trade
Martin Luther’s 95 theses 1517
Siege of Stockholm 1520
Flemish painter Breughel c.1520–69
Gustav Vasa crowned King of Sweden 1523.
Rabelais’ Pantagruel and Gargantua 1530’s
El Greco (painter) 1541–1614
Copernicus’ solar system theories published 1543.
Potatoes to Europe mid 16th C
Spanish Inquisition at its height
Ivan the Terrible extends Russia mid 16th C.
Earthquake in China kills over 830,000 1556.
Flemish painters Rubens 1577–1640, van Dyck 1599–1641
Dome of St Peter’s, Rome, 1590
Monteverdi’s Orpheus 1607 – one of the first operas
French philosopher/mathematician Descartes 1596–1650
Spanish painter Velasquez 1599–1660
Dutch painter Rembrandt 1606–69
Drinking chocolate and rubber to Europe 1615
Large numbers of Native Americans die in smallpox epidemic 1617
Niew Amsterdam (New York) founded 1626
Gustavus II of Sweden killed in Battle of Lützen 1632
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1650–1800
The Restoration (of the monarchy),
the Age of Enlightenment (Age of Reason).
Beginning of the Romantic Age.
What?
In early stages, much writing with religious content.
Restoration theatre – reaction against Puritanism – the “comedy of manners”, a light, witty,
bawdy style.
The scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason – much explanatory, descriptive,
argumentative, analytical and philosophical non-fiction prose writing.
Satire much used to criticise and attack people/types/institutions.
Poetry – admiration of Classics, much highly formalised, intellectual poetry with many
classical references.
Towards end of period Romantic poetry – see below.
The rise of the novel – early prose fiction (e.g. Robinson Crusoe 1719) very much in typically
analytical Enlightenment style.
Later, more intimate style of epistolary novels (series of letters), and picaresque novels,
following a central character through various often unrelated events, amorous adventures
etc.
By end of period, usually omniscient 3rd person narrator, main characters undergoing some
kind of development, the author’s “moral” clear.
Who?
John Milton 1608–1674, major puritan poet, e.g.. epic poem Paradise Lost
Andrew Marvell 1621–1678, poet, e.g.. To His Coy Mistress
John Bunyan 1628–1688, puritan preacher/writer, e.g.. famous allegory of Christian
salvation The Pilgrim’s Progress
Philosopher John Locke 1632–1704 influenced many Enlightenment thinkers. Samuel Pepy’s
1633–1703 detailed diary 1660–1669
John Dryden 1631–1700, first Poet Laureate 1688
Aphra Behn 1640–89, female writer/dramatist, wrote England’s perhaps first philosophical
novel, Oroonoko, 1688.
Alexander Pope 1688–1744 satirical poet and philosophical essayist
Daniel Defoe 1660–1731 satirist and novelist, e.g.. Robinson Crusoe
Jonathan Swift 1667–1745, Anglo-Irish satirist and political/religious writer, e.g.. the highly
satirical Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal, which suggests eating of children as
solution to Irish famine problem.
William Congreve 1670–1729, dramatist, restoration comedy
Samuel Richardson 1689–1761, epistolary novelist, e.g.. Pamela
Henry Fielding 1707–1754, novelist, e.g.. Tom Jones
Samuel Johnson 1709–84, renowned thinker/writer/essayist/critic of Enlightenment
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England, notably his Dictionary of the English Language 1755
Oliver Goldsmith 1723–74, Anglo-Irish dramatist/novelist/poet, e.g.. the play She Stoops to
Conquer
Richard Sheridan 1751–1816, “comedy of manners” dramatist, e.g.. The School for Scandal
William Blake 1757–1827, major pre-Romantic poet who inspired later Romantic poets, e.g..
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, also painter/engraver
Robert Burns 1759–96, Scottish poet, songs and poems in the Scots language (descended
from earlier English)
Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–97, major Anglo-Irish feminist writer, e.g.. A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman. Died shortly after giving birth to her second daughter, who became Mary
Shelley.
How?
Theatres are reopened 1660. A woman plays on an English stage for the first time
(Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello).
The Age of Reason – desire for stability and harmony, belief in the human intellect
Around mid 18th C, doubts start to set in on seeing growing miseries of Industrial
Revolution, new ideas that civilisation corrupts the basic good of mankind (the Noble
Savage)
Novel reading becomes enormously popular during 18th C, in early stages often looked
down upon. Often called “histories” at this time – “novel” towards end 18th C.
Why?
Tea to England 1652
The Puritan government crumbles after death of leader Oliver Cromwell
Restoration of the monarchy, Charles II, 1660
Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, 1665
The Great Plague peaks 1665, ends with The Great Fire of London 1666.
Greenwich Royal Observatory founded 1675.
Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas 1680.
Astronomer Royal, Halley, sees and gives name to Halley’s comet, 1682.
The Glorious Revolution 1688–9 ousts Catholic James II, brings Protestant William III and
Mary II to throne. Legislation prevents Catholic monarchs in future.
Sir Christopher Wren’s rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral opens 1697 (destroyed in 1666 Great Fire).
Act of Union of England and Scotland 1707
Newcomen’s steam engine 1712
George I (from Hanover) becomes non English-speaking king 1714. Some attempts,
especially in Scotland, to reinstate Catholic Stuart monarchy.
Various inventions from early 18th C enhance industry.
Colossal gin consumption a cause for concern, peaks 1740.
Handel 1685–1759, operas and oratorios, incl. Messiah 1742.
Clive gains British control over s. India 1751.
Canal-digging begins in mid-18th-C England.
James Watt’s steam engine 1765
During much of 18th C England and France fight over North American colonies.
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James Cook claims New Holland (Australia) for Britain 1770.
English artist Turner 1775–1851 and landscape painter Constable 1776–1837
American War of Independence 1775–83
Convicts, earlier deported to America, now to Australia 1787
The Times newspaper 1788
Economic boom for Britain by end of 18th C, due to early industrialisation and exploitation
of colonies.
USA
The Flushing Remonstrance – declaration of religious tolerance in America 1657
Pennsylvania founded 1681
Witches hanged in Massachusetts, 1692–4
America’s first newspaper the weekly News-Letter 1704, Boston
Benjamin Franklin 1706–90, scientist, author, statesman
South Carolina 1724, white colonists outnumbered by black slaves 2:1.
Boston Tea-party 1773
First Continental Congress 1774 stops trade with Britain
American Declaration of Independence signed 4th July 1776
American Revolution 1765–88, ends with establishment of US Constitution
George Washington is first USA president 1789
During the period, numerous disputes and violence between Native Americans and settlers
Meanwhile …
Queen Christina of Sweden abdicates 1654.
Great French satirical playwright Molière 1622–73
French dramatic poet Racine 1639–99
Decimal system proposed in France 1670
Italian composer Vivaldi 1678–1741
Louis XIV’s court moves to Versailles 1682
German composer J.S.Bach 1685–1750
French Enlightenment writer, Voltaire, 1694–1778
Carl von Linné 1707–78
First piano built c.1709, Italy
French political philosopher Rousseau 1712–78 inspired revolutionists and writers of
Romantic Era
German philosopher Kant 1724–1804
Coffee planted in Brazil 1727
Austrian composer Haydn 1732–1809
Spanish artist Goya 1746–1828
China’s population 225 million 1749
German poet/dramatist/scientist Goethe 1749–1832, and poet/dramatist/ historian Schiller
1759–1805 – central figures in European Romantic Age
Austrian composer Mozart 1756–91
10 million die in Bengal’s Great Famine 1769
German composer Beethoven 1770–1827
German philosopher Hegel 770–1831
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French painter Ingres 1780–1867
French Revolution 1789
Gustavus III of Sweden (absolute monarch since 1772) assassinated at midnight
masquerade 1792
French Republic set up 1792
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette guillotined 1793
Reign of Terror in France at its worst 1794
After military success around Europe, Napoleon becomes Dictator of France 1799
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1800–c. 1835
The Romantic Age
What?
Romantic poetry, breaking away from earlier norms to seek new forms of expression,
specifically explained in a manifesto in foreword to the Lyrical Ballads of 1798 (Wordsworth
and Coleridge).
Reaction against highly regulated Enlightenment styles, much use of everyday language to
express imagination and overflowing emotions, often inspired by untamed Nature (e.g. the
Lake District), the exotic Far East, Medieval tales of knights, folk traditions.
With Jane Austen, contemporary of Romantics but of Enlightenment inheritance, the novel
has reached maturity in her highly ironic observations of human nature in the period’s social
setting.
Much passionate reading of Gothic novels – wild tales of mystery and terror, involving dark
forces, ghosts etc – typical of Romantic period; notably Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Historical novels also popular.
Who?
Anne Radcliffe 1764–1823, Gothic novelist, e.g.. The Mysteries of Udolpho
The “Lake Poets” (living for a time in the Lake District): William Wordsworth 1770–1850 –
pensive, Nature-inspired works e.g.. The Daffodils; Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772–1834 –
exotic/mystic inspiration e.g.. Kubla Khan, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Later Romantic poets Byron, Keats and Shelley develop lyrical poetry using e.g.. the sonnet
form. The revolutionary Lord Byron 1788–1824 (e.g. Don Juan) and Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792–1822 (e.g. Ode to the West Wind), the beauty-inspired John Keats 1795–1821 (e.g. Ode
on a Grecian Urn), all three live tempestuous lives and die young abroad – rather like
“Byronic heroes” themselves – Byron in Greek War of Independence, Shelley drowns in
storm on a lake in Italy, Keats dies of tuberculosis in Italy. Mary Shelley (Percy’s wife)
1797–1851, the Gothic novel Frankenstein.
Sir Walter Scott 1771–1832, historical novels (often Scotland-based) e.g.. Ivanhoe.
Jane Austen 1775–1817 perfects the “novel of manners” using much irony, e.g.. Pride and
Prejudice.
How?
Late Modern English now established, no major structural differences from today’s English.
Romantic Age influenced by revolutions in America and France, ideals of liberty/equality/
fraternity.
Also counter-reaction to Industrialisation in England, where resulting miseries have
emerged.
Belief in the instinctive/intuitive/mysterious rather than the calculated, intellectual. Deism/
Pantheism – beliefs in a Nature/Universe-related divine being.
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Why?
By Act of Union 1801 Great Britain and Ireland form United Kingdom.
Law forbids children under 9 to work.
Madame Tussaud opens wax museum in London 1802, with death masks of the guillotined.
A Channel tunnel to France proposed 1802.
First successful steamship built 1802.
Steam railway locomotive demonstrated 1804.
Battle of Trafalgar 1805 – Napoleon defeated at sea, Nelson dies.
Gas lighting starts up in London 1807.
The Slave Trade abolished throughout British Empire 1807.
Due to George III’s mental illness, his playboy first son becomes Prince Regent 1811
(becomes George IV 1820).
Luddite rebellion 1811–12, textiles machinery destroyed by unemployed. Dance craze – the
waltz 1812.
The Corn Law 1815 protects British grain, but the poor cannot afford bread.
Wellington victorious at Battle of Waterloo, ending Napoleonic wars 1815.
Economic depression, many poor emigrate to America 1816.
Growing industrial unrest and repression, 11 deaths in “Peterloo incident” 1819.
British settlers reach S Africa 1820. 1825 law: max 12-hour day for under 16’s.
First stretch of steam locomotive railway opens 1825.
New possibilities through railway travel will revolutionise 19th C life by greatly increased
mobility.
English Pre-Raphaelite painter Millais 1829–96.
London Metropolitan Police Force founded 1829.
Faraday discovers electro-magnetic induction 1831.
After much industrial unrest and many deaths, the Reform Bill passed 1832, including
extension of vote to most men.
1833 law gives 2 hours’ schooling per day to under 13’s.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs (trade unionists) deported to Australia 1834.
Workhouses set up by Poor Law 1834.
USA
First New York Evening Post 1801.
Cotton bypasses tobacco as US export 1803.
The Louisiana Purchase doubles size of USA 1803.
The Clermont steamboat begins traffic on Hudson River 1807.
Slave revolt in New Orleans repressed 1811.
Manhattan Street Plan 1811.
General Andrew Jackson defeats Creek Native Americans 1813.
US defeats British in Battles 1814–5, British abandon invasion plans.
Mississippi becomes 20th US state, and Ohio Native Americans give up large tracts of land
to US 1817.
First Mississippi steamboat round-trip 1817.
US/Canada border established 1818.
Steamship Savannah crosses the Atlantic 1819.
Florida and Alabama join the Union 1819.
The Monroe Doctrine 1823 declares American foreign policy.
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Cherokee alphabet written by Sequoya 1824.
Erie Canal opens 1825.
First section Baltimore-Ohio Railroad opened 1830.
Joseph Smith’s The Book of Mormon 1830.
Rocky Mountains explored 1832.
Meanwhile …
French writer Stendhal 1783–1842.
Composers Rossini (Italian opera) 1792–1868, Schubert (Austria) 1797–1828.
French Revolution-scene painter Delacroix 1798–1863.
Russian poet Pushkin 1799–1837.
French authors Balzac 1799–1850, Victor Hugo 1802–85 and Dumas 1802–70.
Napoleon becomes Emperor in France 1804. Napoleonic wars rage around Europe and
Russia.
Vast areas of Canada mapped 1809.
Gustavus IV of Sweden abdicates 1809.
Russian novelist/dramatist Gogol 1809–52.
Serfdom abolished in Prussia 1810.
Napoleon’s General Jean Bernadotte becomes Crown Prince of Sweden 1810.
Polish composer/pianist Chopin 1810–49.
German composer Schumann 1810–56.
Hungarian composer Liszt 1811–86.
German composer (esp. opera) Wagner 1813–83.
Italian composer (esp. opera) Verdi 1813–1901.
Danish philosopher Kierkegaard 1813–55.
Battle of Waterloo, end of Napoleonic Wars 1815, followed by various territorial conflicts
around Europe for rest of period.
Grimm brothers’ Fairy Tales published in Germany 1815.
German philosopher and founder of international communism Karl Marx 1818–83.
Many S. American states declare independence from Spain 1821.
Novelists Flaubert (French) 1821–80, Dostoyevski (Russian) 1821–81.
The Rosetta Stone deciphered 1822.
Austrian composer J. Strauss the younger 1825–99.
French novelist Jules Verne 1828–1905.
Norwegian dramatist Ibsen 1828–1906.
Russian novelist Tolstoy 1828–1910.
Greece independent 1829.
World population 1 billion 1830.
France colonizes Algeria 1830.
French impressionist painter Manet 1832–83.
German composer Brahms 1833–97.
French artist Degas 1834–1917.
Louis Braille invents reading system for the blind 1834.
Melbourne, Australia founded 1835.
Arc de Triomphe built in Paris 1836.
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1837–1901
The Victorian Age
What?
Prose, both fiction and non-fiction, important, especially the novel becomes widely read
and in its developed form intellectually accepted.
Gradual move from Romantic novel to Realism, depicting life as it really is, especially Social
Realism, showing hard realities of e.g.. the poor. Later developed to Naturalism, showing
hard detailed (still fictional) reality, often seeing mankind as victim of Darwinistic
environment.
Development of episodic writing, with “cliff-hanger” chapter endings, for serialised
publication in magazines.
Beginnings of detective stories, and of imaginative writing for children.
Non-fiction prose – many books/essays of e.g.. criticism of society and the Arts, politics and
ideology (e.g. triggered by Marx’s new anti-capitalistic ideas and by Darwin), histories,
biographies.
Victorian poetry continues largely in threads of Romantic and/or Enlightenment vein,
influenced by e.g.. the Pre-Raphaelites’ cult of beauty.
The Dramatic monologue is developed – poems of self-revelation by imaginary speaker.
Later, departure from rhythmic constrictures in poetry, e.g.. “sprung rhythm”, where a line
of verse can contain varying metric patterns, and eventually “free verse” – entire freedom of
rhyme + rhythm.
Drama becomes interesting end of 19th C with e.g.. Shaw’s and Wilde’s social comment and
satire.
Pre-Raphaelites influence e.g.. Wilde to cult of “art for art’s sake”.
USA
Growing literary awareness of separate identity of this new nation, later writers of the
period especially seeking to describe their life as Americans and to break from European
literary traditions.
From mid-19th C, traces of Romantic ideals in American packaging, e.g.. Poe’s mystery tales;
the Transcendentalist poets, with revolutionary ideals and Nature-based philosophy.
Walt Whitman, highly innovative poet, insists to a greater degree than the English Romantic
poets, on value of literary use of the language of common man, leading him to drastic break
in poetic tradition by use of “free verse” – no fixed rhyme/rhythm pattern – much followed
by others, but mostly not until 20th C.
Realism and Naturalism appear in the American novel, depicting e.g.. miseries before and
after abolition of slavery and effects of industrialisation in cities.
Who?
John Stuart Mill 1806–73 philosopher/essayist, e.g.. On Liberty.
Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809–92, Poet Laureate fr. 1851, much Romantic-style poetry e.g.. The
Lady of Shalott and Ring Out, Wild Bells (read in Sweden every New Year).
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806–61, poet.
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Robert Browning 1812–89 developed the “dramatic monologue” in poetry, e.g.. My Last
Duchess.
William Makepeace Thackeray 1811–63, novelist, e.g.. the satire Vanity Fair.
Brontë sisters, passionate, imaginative yet realistic novels, e.g.. Charlotte 1816–55 Jane
Eyre, Emily 1818–48 Wuthering Heights.
George Eliot (pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans) 1819–90, novelist, politically backgrounded
realism with much comment on human nature e.g.. Middlemarch.
Matthew Arnold 1822–88, poet, e.g.. Dover Beach, written in “free verse”.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828–82, pre-Raphaelite painter/Romantic style poet, his poet sister
Christina Rossetti 1830–94.
Lewis Carroll 1832–98, verse and allegorical tales e.g.. Alice in Wonderland.
Thomas Hardy 1840–1928, Naturalist poet/novelist, pessimistic social critique, e.g.. Far
from the Madding Crowd.
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850–94, Romantic-style adventure tales e.g.. Treasure Island.
Charles Dickens 1812–70, prolific Social Realism novelist, many sharply caricatured
characters, develops “episodic writing”, e.g.. Oliver Twist.
Oscar Wilde 1854–1900, Irish origin, great social wit, socially critical and humoristic poet/
dramatist e.g.. The Importance of Being Earnest, one novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
George Bernard Shaw 1856–1950, Irish origin, political pamphleteer/essayist/critic and
dramatist e.g.. Pygmalion.
Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844–89, poet who invented “sprung Rhythm”.
Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936, much “empire poetry” and fiction e.g.. The
Jungle Books.
USA
James Fennimore Cooper 1789–1851, Romantic adventure stories often involving “Noble
Savage” Native Americans e.g.. The Last of the Mohicans.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–82, Transcendentalist poet/essayist.
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804–64, short stories and novels, e.g.. The Scarlet Letter.
Edgar Allan Poe 1809–49, Romanticism expressed in mostly Gothic style “mystery and
imagination” short stories and poems, e.g.. The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807–82, central scholar/poet of the American canon of his
time, e.g.. The Song of Hiawatha.
Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811–96, novelist, e.g.. the anti-slavery episodic Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Herman Melville 1819–91, novelist, e.g.. the great symbolic novel Moby Dick.
Henry David Thoreau 1817–62, Transcendentalist poet/philosopher, father of “civil
disobedience”.
Walt Whitman 1819–92, major innovative poet, e.g.. Leaves of Grass.
Emily Dickinson 1830–86, highly original and prolific poet with strong use of imagery.
Mark Twain 1835–1910, Realist/Naturalist novelist, used dialect speech (early form of
Ebonics) in e.g.. the anti-slavery The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Henry James 1843–1916 (resident in England from 1869), psychological novels/short stories
often exploring English/American contrasts, e.g.. The Ambassadors.
Kate Chopin 1850–1904, Irish/Creole writer, short stories, poems etc.
Stephen Crane 1871–1900, psychological realism e.g.. novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.
Jack London 1876–1916, novelist, much realism and Nature e.g.. The Call of the Wild.
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How?
Increasing scientific knowledge (e.g. evolutionary theory) begins to change some religious
views.
Increasing industrial use of technology leads to growing social problems, which in turn lead
to radical political ideologies (e.g. Marx).
Growth of middle classes and of general education + museums and libraries, ever more
readers. “Pre-Raphaelites” turn from social/industrial ugliness to express beauty in art and
poetry.
Theatre a less important forum until end of 19th C, when e.g.. Wilde begins to mock the
theatre-goers themselves, and Shaw advocates new theatre ideas of Chekhov, Ibsen,
Strindberg.
English begins to become more global – becomes official government language in India
1835.
General sense of optimism in Britain with industrial and imperial growth, Queen Victoria a
figure-head.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) under production from late 1850’s.
USA
Growing sense of an expanding nation with growth in number of union states and ever
greater prosperity.
Gradual increased awareness of wrongs of slavery and of usurping rights of Native
Americans.
American speech dialects written into e.g.. dialogues in fiction by end 19th C.
Towards end of period, emergence of similar social problems in wake of industrialisation as
in Europe.
Why?
18-year-old Victoria becomes queen 1837.
The “Penny Post” begins 1840.
New Zealand becomes British colony 1841.
Increasing agitation in Ireland for independence.
Some years of Potato famine in Ireland from 1844, many emigrate to the USA.
British Museum opens 1847.
Houses of Parliament (destroyed by fire) rebuilt 1852.
Florence Nightingale reforms nursing in Crimean War 1855.
Complete British rule over India 1858.
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species published 1859.
First section of London Underground opens 1863.
Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872–1958.
Bell invents the telephone 1876.
The British annexe S. African Republic 1877.
Karl Marx dies in London 1883.
First cine-camera 1884.
Law extends the vote to almost all adult men 1884.
Jack the Ripper murders in London’s East End 1888.
Film actor/director Charlie Chaplin 1889–1977.
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The Boer War 1899–1902.
Minimum age for coal mine workers raised from 12 to 13 1900.
Latter half of 19th C, growing anti-British unrest in Ireland and demands for Home Rule.
Throughout the period, strengthening and broadening of British Empire.
USA
Davy Crockett and others die when Mexicans attack San Antonio Alamo.
15,000 Missouri valley Native Americans die of smallpox 1837.
Emigrants begin to use Oregon Trail 1840s.
First known operation using ether as anaesthetic 1842.
Colonel Hays and Texas Rangers use revolvers to attack and kill large number of Comanches
1844.
Rotary printing press invented New York 1846.
Mexican War 1846–8 brings California into the USA.
First Chinese immigrants to New York 1847, birth of Chinatown.
Gold Rush in California begins 1848.
Northern/southern state friction grows 1850.
First New York Times 1851.
First elevator New York 1852 leads to multi-storey buildings.
Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah 1857, emigrants killed by Pah-Ute Native Americans
and Mormons.
Central Park New York 1857.
20-year-old Rockefeller enters oil industry 1860.
Abraham Lincoln president 1860.
American Civil War 1861–5 kills 618,000, and abolishes slavery.
1,200 killed in New York 1863 in draft riots, against conscription for Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln assassinated 1865.
Joining of Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railways in Utah 1869.
Barbed wire invented Illinois 1873. Battle of Little Big Horn 1876.
Arizona Apaches confined to barren reservation at San Carlos 1877.
Thomas Edison’s light bulb patented 1880. Billy the Kid shot 1881.
Machine gun invented 1883.
Brooklyn Bridge 1883.
First skyscraper Chicago 1885.
Workers killed by police in Chicago riots 1886.
Statue of Liberty 1886.
Sioux chief Sitting Bull accidentally shot dead when arrested 1890.
“Battle” of Wounded Knee – final massacre of Sioux 1890.
USA overtakes Britain in steel production 1890.
Mormon Temple Salt Lake City completed 1893.
USA annexes Hawaiian Islands 1897.
The Stars and Stripes Forever 1897.
Spanish-American War 1898.
Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag 1899.
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Meanwhile …
Morse code 1837.
French Post-Impressionist painter Cézanne 1839–1906; composer Bizet 1838–75.
British/Afghan wars and Opium Wars Britain/China begin 1830s.
French sculptor Rodin 1840–1917.
French Naturalist novelist Zola 1840–1902.
Russian composer Tchaikovsky 1840–93.
French impressionist painters Monet 1840–1926 and Renoir 1841–1919.
Czech composer Dvorak 1841–1904.
Norwegian composer Grieg 1843–1907.
German philosopher/critic Nietzsche 1844–1900.
Nitroglycerine discovered in Italy 1847.
French Post-Impressionist painter Gauguin 1848–1903.
Kremlin 1849.
Swedish dramatist Strindberg 1849–1912.
Civil war in China kills 30 million 1850–65.
French Naturalist novelist/short story writer Maupassant 1850–93.
Napoleon III proclaims 2nd French Empire 1852.
Dutch expressionist painter van Gogh 1853–90.
French Symbolist poet Rimbaud 1854–91.
Crimean War 1854–6.
Austrian founder of psychoanalysis Freud, 1856–1939.
Italian opera composer Puccini 1858–1924.
Garibaldi unites Italy 1860. Russian dramatist Chekhov 1860–1904.
Austrian painter Klimt 1862–1918.
Norwegian Expressionist Symbolic painter Munch 1863–1944.
French painter Toulouse Lautrec 1864–1901.
Finnish composer Sibelius 1865–1957.
Russian Bauhaus painter Kandinsky 1866–1944.
French Nobel laureate writer Gide 1869–1951.
French artist Matisse 1869–1945.
2nd French Empire collapses 1870.
Russian Marxist revolutionary and politician Lenin 1870–1924.
30,000 die when Paris commune collapses 1871.
French novelist Proust 1871–1922.
Russian composer Rachmaninov 1873–1943.
Austrian composer Schönberg 1874–1951.
German novelist Thomas Mann 1875–1955.
Russian revolutionaries sent to Siberia 1878.
Swiss artist Klee 1879–1940.
Extensive persecution of Jews in Russia begins 1881.
Hungarian composer Bartók 1881–1945.
Spanish Cubist painter Picasso 1881–1973.
First railway tunnel through Alps 1882.
Russian composer Stravinsky 1882–1971.
36,000 die when Krakatoa erupts 1883.
Europe’s first transcontinental train service, Orient Express, 1883.
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Czech-Austrian novelist Kafka 1883–1924.
Raffles Hotel Singapore 1886.
First car (Daimler), Germany 1887.
Eiffel Tower 1889.
Russian Surrealist artist Marc Chagall 1889–1985, composer Prokofiev 1891–1953.
German Dadaist/Surrealist painter Max Ernst 1891–1976.
All women granted the vote in New Zealand 1893.
Spanish Surrealist artist Miró 1893–1983.
Russian Bolshevik poet Mayakovski 1894–1930.
Röntgen discovers X-ray 1895.
World’s first cinema, Paris 1895.
Radioactivity discovered in uranium by Becquerel, France 1896.
French Dadaist/Surrealist poet/critic Breton 1896–1966.
The Dreyfus affair, France 1898.
Spanish poet/dramatist Lorca 1899–1936.
Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams 1900.
Throughout period various British power struggles in different parts of Indian subcontinent.
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1900 – end of WWII 1945,
Modernism
What?
Modernism develops with transfer of focus from externally observable to internal human
state and psychology.
Major breaks from traditional form in literature, e.g.. interior monologue/stream-ofconsciousness, the “ice-berg technique” (few words but highly charged between the lines),
and Absurdist theatre, in which totally unrealistic and illogical external conditions allow
revealing of inner truths.
Imaginative children’s literature comes to the fore, and such popular genres as detective/
spy fiction, science fiction and fantasy.
The “War Poets” of WWI express the realistic tragedy of war, as also later Spanish Civil War
and WWII poets.
In particular poetry develops into a flora of “–isms”, including much symbolism, also e.g..
Vorticism, Imagism, Surrealism, Dadaism, generally seeking to express inner truths. Much
use of free verse.
Who?
UK and other English-speaking countries (not USA): early Modernist Polish-born novelist
Joseph Conrad 1857–1924 e.g.. Heart of Darkness becomes central work much intertextually
referred to by later writers.
W.B.Yeats 1865–1939, nationalistic Irish dramatist/poet, lyrical Modernist, much
Symbolism, e.g.. The Wild Swans at Coole.
Irish playwright J.M.Synge 1871–1909, ironic/realist, e.g.. The Playboy of the Western World.
E.M. Forster 1879–1970, Modernist/humanist, novels and short stories, e.g.. A Passage to
India.
A.A. Milne 1882–1956, children’s classics e.g.. Winnie-the-Pooh.
Modernists Virginia Woolf 1882–1941 (e.g. To the Lighthouse) and from Ireland highly
innovative James Joyce 1882–1941 (e.g. Ulysses), both independently developed stream-ofconsciousness technique.
Ezra Pound 1885–1972, American (spent adult life in London and Europe) highly intellectual
influential Modernist/Symbolist/Imagist poet, e.g.. The Cantos.
D.H.Lawrence 1885–1930 norm-breaking Modernist poet/novelist, e.g.. Lady Chatterley’s
Lover.
Siegfried Sassoon 1886–1967, war poet.
T.S.Eliot 1888–1965 highly influential American who became British Modernist poet/critic,
e.g.. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
J.R.R.Tolkien 1892–1973, mythological fantasy novelist, e.g.. The Lord of the Rings.
Wilfred Owen 1893–1918, war poet.
Nevil Shute 1899–1960, English-born Australian novelist e.g.. On the Beach.
George Orwell 1903–50, political novelist, e.g.. Animal Farm.
Evelyn Waugh 1903–66 (often satirical) novelist, e.g.. Brideshead Revisited.
Graham Greene 1904–91, novelist (sometimes thriller/detective stories) e.g.. The Third Man.
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Sir John Betjeman 1906–84, poet laureate 1972.
Samuel Beckett 1906–1989, influential Irish (lived adult life in Paris) “Theatre of the
Absurd” playwright, e.g.. Waiting for Godot.
W.H.Auden 1907–1973, British who became American poet, wide range of expression,
influenced many.
William Golding 1911–93, novelist often commenting the nature of mankind, e.g.. Lord of
the Flies, Nobel laureate 1983.
Lawrence Durrell 1912–90, novelist e.g.. The Alexandria Quartet.
Patrick White 1912–90, English/Australian novelist, Nobel laureate 1973 e.g.. The Vivisector.
Dylan Thomas 1914–53, powerful, romantic Welsh poet, e.g.. Do Not Go Gentle into That
Good Night.
USA
Gertrude Stein 1874–1946, Modernist novelist lived in Paris, e.g.. Three Lives.
Willa Cather 1876–1947, novelist, aspects of American life in growing nation, e.g.. O
Pioneers!
Sherwood Anderson 1876–1941, naturalistic novels and short stories, e.g.. Winesburg, Ohio.
Upton Sinclair 1878–1968, socialist novelist, e.g.. The Jungle.
William Carlos Williams 1883–1963, Modernist poet, at first Imagist, e.g.. The Red
Wheelbarrow.
Sinclair Lewis 1885–1951, novelist, Nobel laureate 1930, e.g.. Main Street.
Pearl Buck 1892–1973, novelist in China until 1934, Nobel laureate 1938, e.g.. The Good
Earth.
e.e.cummings 1894–1962, Modernist/Dadaist poet.
F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896–1940, “Jazz-Age” novelist/short story writer, e.g.. The Great Gatsby.
William Faulkner 1897–1962, Modernist novelist, Nobel laureate 1949, e.g.. Absalom,
Absalom!
Eugene O’Neill 1888–1953, highly original Modernist playwright, Nobel laureate 1936, e.g..
Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Thornton Wilder 1897–1975, dramatist/novelist, e.g.. The Matchmaker.
Ernest Hemingway 1899–1961, “iceberg technique” novelist/short-story writer, Nobel
laureate 1954, e.g.. The Old Man and the Sea.
John Steinbeck 1902–68, novelist, Nobel Laureate 1962, e.g.. The Grapes of Wrath.
How?
Freud’s psychoanalysis brings growing interest in psychology, increasingly expressed in all
art forms.
Darwinism increasingly recognised, and the effects noticeable especially in politicallyinspired writing.
Events/situations which profoundly affect many people become material/inspiration for art
forms, e.g.. millions dying in world wars, industrial strife/depression in e.g.. 1930s.
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Why?
UK
Queen Victoria dies 1901.
First trans-Atlantic wireless signal 1901.
Harrods 1901.
Sinn Fein founded in Ireland for Home Rule.
London’s population 6.5 million 1902.
First use of fingerprint evidence 1902.
Philosopher/mathematician Bertrand Russell’s first publication Principles of Mathematics
1903.
First mainline electric train 1904.
Growing suffragette unrest and riots from around 1905.
Actor/director Sir Laurence Olivier 1907–89.
First colour films shown 1909.
National Insurance Act 1911, beginnings of the Welfare State.
Scott dies in Antarctica 1912.
The Titanic sinks 1912.
Growing opposition in North of Ireland to Home Rule 1912.
First film censorship 1913.
Composer Benjamin Britten 1913–76.
Industrial strife with growing national strikes since around 1911, 2 million on strike 1914.
First World War 1914–18.
Easter Rising in Dublin 1916.
School-leaving set at age 14, 1918.
Women over 30 gain vote 1918.
IRA formed 1919.
Escalating violence in Ireland until 1921, Irish Free State proclaimed, British province of
Northern Ireland formed.
High unemployment, first Hunger March to London from North 1922.
BBC formed 1922.
Baird demonstrates television 1926.
12-day General Strike 1926, supporting miners’ strike.
British Empire becomes British Commonwealth 1926 – equal political status to all member
nations.
Women’s votes from age 21, 1928.
First clinical use of penicillin 1929.
First jet engine 1930.
From early 1930s, depression in wake of Wall St crash, economist Keynes’ theories
published.
First RADAR demonstration 1935.
First TV broadcast 1936. Edward VIII abdicates 1936.
World War II 1939–45.
USA
Composer/pianist Duke Ellington 1899–1974.
President McKinley shot by anarchist 1901.
Typhoid epidemic in NY 1903.
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First transcontinental car journey 1903. 66 % of San Francisco destroyed in 1906
earthquake.
Composer Samuel Barber 1910–81.
USA enters World War I 1917.
Composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein 1918–90.
Lindbergh’s first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight 1927.
Wall Street crash 1929.
Chrysler building NY 1930.
First appearance of Mickey Mouse 1931.
Empire State Building NY 1931.
First diplomatic relations with USSR 1933.
Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess 1935.
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, 1937.
USA enters World War II 1941 after Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
Mussolini resigns 1943.
Japanese government falls 1944.
Liberation of Paris 1944.
Pres Roosevelt dies 1945.
Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945. End of WWII.
Meanwhile …
Boxer Rebellion in China 1900–1.
Famine in Russia 1903.
Spanish Surrealist artist Dali 1904–89.
Japan/Russia war ends 1905.
Demonstrators shot down in St Petersburg 1905.
French existential philosopher/writer Sartre 1905–80.
Russian composer Shostakovich 1906–75. A
Austria annexes Herzegovina and Bosnia 1908, European countries take sides.
Sicily earthquake kills 75,000 1908.
French feminist/ existentialist writer de Beauvoir 1908–86.
Amundsen reaches South Pole 1911.
China becomes republic 1912.
Unrest and wars in Balkans from around 1912.
Romanian/ French “Theatre of the Absurd” playwright Ionesco b.1912.
“Action painting” artist Jackson Pollock 1912–56.
Algeria-born French existentialist writer Camus 1913–60.
Gandhi returns to India after 21 years in S Africa 1914.
French “nouveau roman” writer Duras 1914–1996.
World War I 1914–18.
Rasputin murdered in St Petersburg 1916.
Bolshevik rebellion begins St Petersburg 1917.
Spanish Influenza kills over 21.5 million world-wide 1918.
Russian Tsar and family shot 1918.
Russian writer Solzhenitsyn b.1918.
League of Nations formed in Paris 1919. Russian White Army defeated 1920.
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International Court of Justice (“World Court”) opened in the Hague 1922. Mussolini given
dictatorial powers after “March on Rome” 1922.
Lenin establishes first Soviet forced-labour camp 1923.
Stalin extends his powers, banishing Trotsky 1926.
Artist Andy Warhol 1926–87.
German writer Günter Grass b.1927.
Italian novelist/critic Umberto Eco b.1929. Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (formed
after WWI) renamed Yugoslavia 1929.
Brazil becomes Dictatorship under Vargas 1930.
Haile Selassey (Ras Tafari) crowned King of Kings at Addis Ababa 1930.
Gandhi’s salt-march protest 1930.
German banks crash 1931.
Gandhi fasts to draw attention to British misrule in India 1932.
Major Nazi gains in German general election 1932.
Hitler becomes Chancellor 1933.
First Nazi concentration camp Dachau 1933.
Riots in Paris and general strike in France 1933.
Hitler becomes Führer 1934.
Mao Tse Tung and Communist force chased by Nationalists in “Long March” 1934.
Shah changes “Persia” to “Iran” 1935.
Stalin begins his purge, millions will die.
Spanish Civil War begins, Franco forms a junta 1936.
British artist David Hockney b.1937.
Hitler annexes Austria 1938.
“Kristalnacht” marks beginning of extreme persecution of Jews in Germany 1938.
End of Spanish Civil War, Franco takes Madrid 1939.
Germany invades Poland, triggering World War II 1939.
German occupation of France 1940, invasion of Greece, Yugoslavia, Russia 1941.
Dresden destroyed by British bombing 1945, 135,000 civilians killed.
124,000 civilians die in U.S. bombing of Tokyo 1945.
Mussolini executed and Hitler commits suicide 1945.
Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945, end of WWII.
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1946–2000 (and beyond …)
Postmodernism and various other movements
What?
Increasing diversity in all art forms as 20th C progresses, ranging from highly structured,
concrete, realistic to wildly fantastic; from intensely personal to widely general/political.
After WWII the “angry young men” expose harsh social reality. Then Postmodernism revives
earlier Modernism’s experimentation in form, leading to novels with inventive use of
narrative technique and time representation, and less definition between real and imaginary
worlds.
Increasing use of dialect, especially as Post-Colonial writers come to fore, expressing new,
“cross-over” cultural identities in Post-Colonial world. An important branch of poetry
becomes beat/jazz/performance poetry, usually anti-establishment, with strong use of
rhythm/rhyme/sound effects.
Who?
Doris Lessing b.1919, grew up Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), novelist, often political/philosophical
themes such as anti-racism, women’s movements, e.g.. The Golden Notebook
Kingsley Amis 1922–95, “Angry Young Men” novelist, e.g.. Lucky Jim
Nadine Gordimer b.1923, S African novelist, Nobel laureate 1991, focus on S African politics,
e.g.. July’s People
John Fowles b.1926, Postmodern novelist e.g.. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Alan Sillitoe b.1928, “Angry Young Men” novelist/poet, e.g.. Saturday Night and Sunday
Morning
John Osborne 1929–94, “Angry Young Men” playwright, e.g.. “kitchen sink drama” Look Back
in Anger
Ted Hughes 1930–98 (Poet Laureate 1985), much strong animal imagery and environment
awareness, e.g.. The Thought-Fox
Chinua Achebe b.1930, Nigerian Post-Colonial novelist/poet e.g.. Things Fall Apart
Derek Walcott b.1930, West-Indian Post-Colonial poet/playwright, Nobel laureate 1992
Harold Pinter b.1930, poet/playwright, often “Theatre of the Absurd”, e.g.. The Caretaker
V.S.Naipaul b.1932, Post-Colonial novelist, Nobel laureate 2001, e.g.. A House for Mr Biswas
Wole Soyinka b.1934, Nigerian Post-Colonial playwright/novelist, Nobel laureate 1986, e.g..
A Play of Giants
Tom Stoppard b.1937, Postmodern playwright, e.g.. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Anita Desai b.1937, Indian Post-Colonial novelist e.g.. Clear Light of Day
Canadian Margaret Atwood b.1939, novelist/poet, e.g.. The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Drabble b.1939, novelist, much socio-political observation, e.g.. The Ice Age
Seamus Heaney b.1939, Irish poet, Nobel laureate 1995
Buchi Emecheta b.1944, Nigerian Post-Colonial novelist e.g.. Adah’s Story
Salman Rushdie b.1947, Anglo-Indian Post-Colonial novelist e.g.. The Satanic Verses
Postmodern novelist Ian McEwan b.1948, e.g.. Enduring Love
Andrew Motion b 1952, Poet Laureate 1999
Linton Kwesi Johnson b.1952, politically focused Jamaican-born English performance poet/
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reggae artist e.g.. Inglan is a Bitch
Nick Hornby b.1957, neo-realist novelist, e.g.. How to be Good
Irvine Welsh b.1957, Scottish “neo-naturalist” novelist e.g.. Trainspotting
Roddy Doyle b.1958, Irish novelist e.g.. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Benjamin Zephaniah b.1958, influential politically focused performance poet/dramatist
Arundhati Roy b.1961, Indian Post-Colonial novelist e.g.. The God of Small Things
Zadie Smith b.1975, Post-Colonial novelist e.g.. White Teeth.
USA
Langston Hughes 1902–67, originator of “jazz poetry”
Isaac Bashevis Singer 1904–89, Polish-born Yiddish novelist, Nobel laureate 1978, e.g. A
Friend of Kafka
Richard Wright 1908–60, African-American novelist focusing on social problems of African
Americans, e.g. Native Son
Tennessee Williams 1911–83, dramatist e.g. A Streetcar Named Desire
Ralph Ellison 1914–94, author of first great African-American classic novel Invisible Man
Arthur Miller b.1915, dramatist e.g. Death of a Salesman
Saul Bellow b.1915, Jewish American novelist, Nobel laureate 1976, e.g. Humboldt’s Gift
Robert Lowell 1917–77, highly individual and personal modernist poet
J.D.Salinger b.1919, novelist/short story writer e.g. The Catcher in the Rye
Ray Bradbury b.1920, science fiction/fantasy writer, e.g. Fahrenheit 451
Jack Kerouac 1922–69, cult novelist/essayist, friend of Beat Poets, e.g. On the Road
Joseph Heller 1923–99, novelist e.g. Catch–22
Truman Capote 1924–84, novelist, e.g. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Allen Ginsberg 1926–97, leading Beat Poet, founder member of Jack Kerouac School of
Disembodied Poetics
Edward Albee b.1928, dramatist (often Absurdist) e.g. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Toni Morrison b.1931, African-American novelist, Nobel laureate 1993, e.g. Beloved
John Updike b.1932, novelist/short story writer/poet, focus: relationships, e.g. The Witches
of Eastwick
Sylvia Plath 1932–63, poet/novelist wife of English poet Ted Hughes, focus: fraught mental
states, e.g. The Bell Jar
Amiri Baraka b.1934, politically prominent performance poet
Ken Kesey b.1935, novelist e.g. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Joyce Carol Oates b.1938, darkly naturalistic novelist/short story writer/poet, e.g. Because It
Is Bitter, Because It Is My Heart
Raymond Carver 1939–88, “Dirty Realism” short story writer/poet, e.g. Will You Please Be
Quiet, Please?
Hunter S Thompson b.1939, provocative realist novelist e.g. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
John Irving b.1942, imaginative novelist e.g. The World According to Garp
Alice Walker b.1944, African-American novelist/poet, e.g. The Colour Purple
Paul Auster b.1947, playwright (at first “Absurdist”)/novelist e.g. The Music of Chance.
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How?
More events/situations which profoundly affect many people become material/inspiration
for art forms, e.g. Cold War, student-led revolts late 1960s, anti-Vietnam war protests,
discrimination against minorities including original native groups, fears for environmental
destruction, fears for loss of ethics in galloping scientific achievement
Colossal growth in American population 81m 1900 to 255 m 1978
Hence tremendous growth in output of art forms in the USA, which thus exerts much
international influence
The film industry both draws on and affects other art forms
Censorship of art forms for political or moral reasons gradually lifted, e.g.
theatre censorship ends 1968 in the UK, resulting in inventive period of theatre
A later attempt to crush an art form, Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa on Salman Rushdie
for offending the Muslim faith in his novel The Satanic Verses
Literary criticism renewed by e.g.
Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, with much philosophical debate on the functions of
literature
Many writers consequently encouraged to experiment and break new ground
Feminist Criticism develops readers’ awareness of how art forms represent majority/
minority views/positions in life, thus encouraging e.g. literary expression by minority
groups.
Why?
UK
Post-war Labour government begins programme of nationalisation and social reform
Cold War begins 1946
The National Health Service 1946
School-leaving age 15, 1947
India independent 1947, Sri Lanka 1948
NATO formed 1949
Hillary reaches Mt Everest summit 1953
Jamaicans begin to immigrate into Britain 1955
The Suez crisis 1956
Dockers strike 1957
Parkinson’s Law 1957
Racial clashes in Notting Hill 1958
Rock ‘n’ Roll music dominant in youth culture 1959
1950’s-70’s, many African and other former colonies become independent
New law controls immigration of Commonwealth citizens 1962
The Rolling Stones formed 1962
The Beatles’ first hits 1963
Last hangings in Britain 1964
Oil found in North Sea 1965
Death Penalty abolished 1965
Student protests and sit-ins 1967–9
Theatre censorship abolished 1968
Increasing troubles in N Ireland from 1968 – British army moves in 1969
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Open University founded 1969
Concorde maiden flight 1969
First 18-year-olds vote 1969
Law demands equal pay for men/women 1970
Transfer to decimal currency 1971
Growing industrial unrest and strikes 1971
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar 1971
Miners’ strikes lead to power crisis and 3-day week for industry 1972 + 1973
“Bloody Sunday” 1972 in N Ireland, demonstrators shot by British troops, and later “Direct
Rule” from London imposed on N Ireland
Law forbids racial discrimination 1972
Britain and Ireland join EEC 1973
IRA begin bomb attacks in London 1973
Margaret Thatcher first woman Prime Minister of Britain 1979
Race riots in Brixton 1981
Prince Charles marries Lady Diana 1981
Humber Bridge completed 1981
Falklands War 1982
Thames Barrier 1982
Australia independent 1986
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera 1986
Terrorist bomb causes Lockerbie plane disaster 1988, 281 die
Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time 1988
Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister due to internal party opposition 1990
Gulf War 1991
City of London damaged by IRA bomb 1993
Channel Tunnel opened 1994
Mad cow disease, EU ban on British beef 1996
“Dolly” first cloned sheep 1997
New Labour government elected 1997
Princess Diana dies 1997
Hong Kong reverts to Chinese administration 1997
N Ireland peace accord 1998
Scottish Parliament opens 1999
Foot and mouth disease severely affects British farming 2001
Deaths of Princess Margaret and Queen Mother (age 102) 2002.
USA
UN building NY 1950
US Atomic Energy Commission explodes first hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll 1954
Senator McCarthy’s Permanent Investigative Subcommittee begins routing communists
1954
Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock 1955
Rosa Parks triggers 381-day Montgomery bus boycott 1955
Mid 50s, Ku Klux Klan revives, begins to terrorise African Americans
Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel 1956
Guggenheim Museum NY 1959
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Beach Boys’ Surfin’ Safari 1962
President Kennedy assassinated 1962
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, Lincoln Memorial Washington 1963
US bombing in N Vietnam begins 1964, ground troops 1965
Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in major cities 1967
My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians by young US soldiers 1968
Oil found in Alaska 1968
Martin Luther King shot dead 1968
Troop withdrawal from Vietnam begins 1969
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – first human steps on Moon 1969
Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water 1970
Renewed US bombing in Hanoi, N Vietnam 1972
Watergate Affair 1972
World Trade Center twin towers NY 1972
Cease-fire and troop withdrawal from Vietnam 1973
President Nixon resigns after Watergate affair 1974
End of Vietnam War 1975
Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run 1975
President Carter in Camp David Accord, Israel/Egypt peace negotiated
“Affirmative action” encouraged in employment of minorities 1979
John Lennon killed in NY 1980
AIDS identified in California and NY 1981
Agreement with Moscow to limit nuclear weapon arsenals 1984
Actor Rock Hudson dies of AIDS 1985; growth in AIDS awareness
Space shuttle Challenger explodes just after take-off 1986
Gorbachev in Washington to sign nuclear weapon reduction treaty 1987
Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska 1989
Race riots in Los Angeles 1992, after police acquitted of beating up African American
Rodney King
First winning legal claim against cigarette manufacturers for deaths of smokers 1992
Bomb attack on World Trade Center NY 1993
Waco siege in Texas ends in fire 1993, 97 die
Bomb attack on Federal building Oklahoma 1995
US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed by terrorists 1998
Anti-smoking laws in California 1998
Hurricane Mitch 1998
President Clinton impeached 1998, acquitted 1999
Colorado school massacre 1999
Hand-over of Panama Canal to Panama 1999
Bush narrowly and disputedly elected president 2000
Heightening of Israeli/Palestine conflict 2000, after years of negotiations and near
agreement
Power crisis in California 2001
September 11th 2001, World Trade Center terrorist attacks, 3,000 die, Bush declares war on
terrorists.
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Meanwhile …
First UN General Assembly 1946
India independent 1947, Burma 1948. Gandhi assassinated 1948
Communist coup in Czechoslovakia 1948
State of Israel proclaimed 1948
Berlin cut off by Soviet forces 1948
Council of Europe formed 1949, also NATO
Siam becomes Thailand 1949.
Chairman Mao proclaims People’s Republic of China 1949
German Federal Republic and German Democratic Republic formed 1949
Indonesia independent 1949. Apartheid laws in S Africa 1949
Korean War 1950–3
China invades Tibet 1950
White settlers in Kenya driven out by Kenyatta 1952
Stalin dies 1953. World’s first nuclear power station, Obninsk, Russia, 1954
Algerians revolt against French rule 1954. Military coup in Argentina ousts Péron 1955
Suez Crisis 1956, UN forces move in
Sputnik I, first satellite, 1957
Fidel Castro head of state in Cuba 1959
Many European colonies in Africa and elsewhere become independent during ‘60s–70’s
72 die when police shoot black protesters in Sharpeville massacre, Johannesburg, 1960
East/West Berlin border closed 1961
UN General Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld dies in plane crash 1961
Russian Yuri Gagarin first man in space 1961
Cuban missile crisis close to triggering nuclear war 1962
Greece/Turkey conflict in Cyprus 1964
400,000 die in massacre of communists in Indonesia 1965
UN economic sanctions against Rhodesia’s discriminatory régime 1965
Sayings of Chairman Mao 1966
Right wing coup in Greece 1967
Six-day Arab-Israeli war 1967
Che Guevara shot 1967
World’s first heart transplant, S Africa 1967
Renewed Arab-Israeli aggressions, Israel attacks Lebanon 1970
Allende president of Chile 1970
Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda 1971
World energy crisis 1973
Pinochet’s military coup in Chile 1973
General Franco dies, Spain becomes constitutional monarchy 1975
655,000 die in Tangshan earthquake, China 1976
Mao Tse Tung dies 1976
Steve Biko dies in custody in S Africa 1977
Rhodesia becomes democratic Zimbabwe 1979
President Tito of Yugoslavia dies 1980
Lech Walesa leads strike in Poland 1980
Iran/Iraq at war 1980–8
World population 4.5 billion 1981
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President Sadat of Egypt assassinated 1981
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon 1982
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinated 1984
Soviet President Gorbachev begins Perestroyka reform program 1985
Volcano eruption in Columbia 1985, 25,000 die
Growing awareness and concern over Antarctica ozone hole 1985
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme assassinated 1986
Nuclear power station at Chernobyl explodes 1986, much of Northern Europe
contaminated
Over 4,000 Kurds killed in Iraqi gas attacks 1988
Over 25,000 die in earthquake in Armenia 1988
Fall of Berlin Wall 1989
Fall and execution of President Ceaucescu in Romania 1989
Nelson Mandela released from prison 1990
East/West Germany formally reunited 1990
Iraq under Saddam Hussein annexes Kuwait 1990.
American, British and French troops drive Iraqis out of Kuwait 1991.
Cyclone in Bangladesh 1991 kills 138,000.
Battles between Serbs and Croats as Yugoslavia falls apart 1991.
Soviet member states begin to announce independence 1991.
End of Apartheid laws in S Africa 1991.
Vatican admits the earth is round by absolving Galileo 1992.
European Union: Maastricht Treaty 1992.
Hindu/Muslim riots in India 1992.
Civil war continues in Yugoslavia, Sarajevo under siege 1992.
Czechoslovakia becomes separate Czech and Slovak republics 1993.
First free elections in Russia 1993. World Trade Organisation formed 1993.
Nelson Mandela president of S Africa 1994.
Rwanda genocide 1994.
Serbia/Bosnia/Croatia peace agreement 1995.
Prime Minister Rabin assassinated in Jerusalem 1995.
Talibans conquer Afghanistan 1996.
Asian economic crisis begins 1997.
Kyoto Protocol Convention on climate change 1997.
Mother Theresa dies 1997. Earthquake in Turkey 1999, over 15,000 die.
Mapping of human genome 2000.
Ever-growing AIDS disaster in Africa 2000.
Talibans destroy Buddha statues in Afghanistan 2001.
The Euro replaces most European currencies 2002.
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Writers in Who column
(alphabetical index of last name + year of birth)
Achebe 1930
Albee 1928
Alfred (King) 849
Amis 1922
Anderson 1876
Arnold 1822
Atwood 1939
Auden 1907
Austen 1775
Auster 1947
Bacon 1561
Baraka 1934
Beckett 1906
Bede 673
Behn 1640
Bellow 1915
Betjeman 1906
Blake 1757
Bradbury 1920
Brontë, Charlotte 1816
Brontë, Emily 1818
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett 1806
Browning, Robert 1812
Buck 1892
Bunyan 1628
Burns 1759
Byron 1788
Capote 1924
Carroll 1832
Carver 1939
Cather 1876
Chaucer 1345 (?)
Chopin 1850
Coleridge 1772
Congreve 1670
Conrad 1857
Cooper 1789
Crane 1871
Cummings 1894
Defoe
Desai 1937
Dickens 1812
Dickinson 1830
Donne 15
Doyle 1958
Drabble 1939
Dryden 1631
Durrell 1912
Eliot, George 1819
Eliot, T.S. 1888
Ellison 1914
Emecheta 1944
Emerson 1803
Faulkner 1897
Fielding 1707
Fitzgerald 1896
Forster 1879
Fowles 1926
Ginsberg 1926
Golding 1911
Goldsmith 1723
Gordimer 1923
Greene 1904
Hardy 1840
Hawthorne 1804
Heaney 1939
Heller 1923
Hemingway 1899
Hopkins 1844
Hornby 1957
Hughes, Langston 1902
Hughes, Ted 1930
Irving 1942
James 1843
Johnson, Ben 1572
Johnson, Linton Kwesi 1952
Johnson, Samuel 1709
Joyce 1882
Keats 1795
Kerouac 1922
Kesey 1935
Kipling 1865
Lawrence 1885
Lessing 1919
Lewis 1885
Locke 1632
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London 1876
Longfellow 1807
Lowell 1917
Malory 1400’s
Marlowe 1564
Marvell 1621
McEwan 1948
Melville 1819
Mill 1806
Miller 1915
Milne 1882
Milton 1608
More 1477 (?)
Morrison 1931
Motion 1952
Naipaul 1932
Oates 1938
O’Neill 1888
Orwell 1903
Osborne 1929
Owen 1893
Pepys 1633
Pinter 1930
Plath 1932
Poe 1809
Pope 1688
Pound 1885
Radcliffe 1764
Richardson 1689
Rossetti, Christina 1830
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel 1828
Roy 1961
Rushdie 1947
Salinger 1919
Sassoon 1886
Scott 1771
Shakespeare 1564
Shaw 1856
Shelley, Mary 1797
Shelley, Percy Bysshe 1792
Sheridan 1751
Shute 1899
Sillitoe 1928
Sinclair 1878
Singer 1904
Smith 1975
Soyinka 1934
Spenser 1552
Stein 1874 –
Steinbeck 1902
Stevenson 1850
Stoppard 1937
Stowe 1811
Swift 1667
Sydney 1554
Synge 1871
Tennyson 1809
Thackeray 1811
Thomas 1914
Thompson 1939
Thoreau 1817
Tolkien 1892
Twain 1835
Updike 1932
Walcott 1930
Walker 1944
Waugh 1903
Welsh 1957
White 1912
Whitman 1819
Wilde 1854
Wilder 1897
Williams, Tennessee 1911
Williams, William Carlos 1883
Wollstonecraft 1759
Woolf 1882
Wordsworth 1770
Wright 1908
Yeats 1865
Zephaniah 1958
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