No Sweat Shakespeare

English Authors: The 10 Best English Writers

Interested in finding out the most famous English authors of all time? We’ve had a go at defining the world’s most famous authors , and the best American writers elsewhere, but here we present the ten best English authors (excluding the Bard of Avon ). It was no easy task given the huge volume of high-quality English writers over the years, plus any list of great authors is going to be – at least on some level – very subjective. We’ve ended up going with the criteria of:

  • Impact on the world of literature
  • Relevance today
  • Number of books sold

It’s worth also pointing out that here at NoSweatShakespeare we have no doubt that William Shakespeare is by far the best (and probably most famous) writer in English literary history . And that’s no mean feat, given the many centuries of English history that have been adorned with authors who have placed England as the leading literary nation in the world.

So, in no particular order, here is our pick of the ten most famous English authors of all time:

Jane Austen 1775 – 1817

jane austen - England's most loved author?

Read more on Jane Austen >>

William Blake 1757-1827

william blake

Although not highly regarded either as a painter or poet by his contemporaries William Blake has the distinction of finding his place in the top ten of both English writers and English painters. The reason he was disregarded is because he was very much ahead of his time in his views and his poetic style ( read some wonderful William Blake quotes as an example ), and also because he was regarded as being somewhat mad, due to behaviour that would be thought of as only slightly eccentric today– for example, his naturistic habit of walking about his garden naked and sunbathing there.

Read more about William Blake >>

Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-1400

geoffery chaucher - famous english writer

Read more on Geoffrey Chaucer >>

Charles Dickens 1812-1870

charles dickens - best english author?

Charles Dickens was an extraordinary man. He is best known as a novelist but he was very much more than that. He was as prominent in his other pursuits but they were not areas of life where we can still see him today.  We see him as the author of such classics as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House and many others. He was so prolific that we’ve pulled together Charles Dickens’ most famous quotes here .

Read more on Charles Dickens >>

John Donne 1572-1631

john donne - best english writer?

John Donne must be one of the most interesting writers who ever lived, both as a poet and a man. His life was a colourful adventure and his poems are significant feats of language. A Jacobean writer, more or less a contemporary of Shakespeare, Fletcher and Webster, but very distant from those theatre writers, both regarding his social class and his literary work.

Read more on John Donne >>

George Eliot 1819-1880

george elliot - best english author?

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, a novelist who produced some of the major classic novels of the Victorian era, including The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, Romola, Felix Holt, Daniel Deronda and her masterpiece, Middlemarch. It is impossible to overestimate the significance of Eliot’s novels in the English culture: they went right to the heart of the small-town politics that made up the fabric of English society. Her novels were essentially political.

Read more about George Eliot >>

John Milton 1608-1674

John Milton, English writer

English is often referred to as ‘the language of Shakespeare and Milton.’ Milton’s poetry has been seen as the most perfect poetic expression in the English language for four centuries. His most famous poem, the epic Paradise Lost is a high point of English epic poetry. Its story has entered into English and European culture to such an extent that the details of our ideas of heaven and hell and paradise, Adam and Eve, Satan.

Read more about John Milton >>

George Orwell 1903-1950

george orwell, famous english author

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Blair, a twentieth-century writer, equally at home with journalism, essays, novels, literary criticism and social commentary. He was famous in all those areas, but will be particularly remembered for two of his novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four, both among the most significant works of literature of the twentieth century, packed with memorable quotes .

Read more about George Orwell >>

Harold Pinter 1930-2008

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, three years before his death from cancer. He had a career of more than half a century as a playwright, director, actor, and writer of screenplays for television and film. He was, without doubt, the most influential English playwright of the twentieth century and so earns his place on this list.

Read more about Harold Pinter >>

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

samuel taylor coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, best known in his time as a literary critic and philosopher. He was immensely influential in English literature as one of the founders of the English Romantic Movement and when one talks about ‘the Romantic poets,’ it’s Coleridge’s name that springs to mind.

Read more about Samuel Taylor Coleridge >>

There are many other great English language writers closely associated with the English writing scene that would have been considered for this list had they been born in England. Writers like Irishmen , James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, and the American, T.S. Eliot.

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Passionate Reader and writer

Great piece but I feel the list is incomplete with great authors such as Wordsworth and Sterne among many others.

LS Narayan Rao English teacher

I respect your information thank you

LS Narayan Rao English teacher r am

I respect your information thank you I am writing some poetry and short stories Can I send them to you pl reply

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J. Thomas Collectibles has some expertise in giving a changed stock of diecast gatherer toys. There is a wide assortment of vehicles accessible, including race vehicles, trucks, motorbikes, and, surprisingly, rural toys.

Humayun

The list is not exhaustive yet it is pregnant with commendable info ….

Tom SPSS Tutor

You have done a great analysis and there are still many other authors that can be included

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The Most Influential English Writers Of All Time

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Statistics can sometimes be complicated, but most of the time they arouse our curiosity. According to figures, more than 700 million people across the world speak English , either as their first or second language. But who made this language famous all over the world? Come with us on an interesting trip among the writers who have had an important role in spreading the uniqueness of English literature. Did you know – Culture Trip now does bookable, small-group trips? Pick from authentic, immersive Epic Trips , compact and action-packed Mini Trips and sparkling, expansive Sailing Trips .

William shakespeare.

Macbeth witches three

‘Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?’ Starting with Shakespeare is like starting with the ABC. However, quoting Shakespeare in this list is necessary, essential and something we owe to human-kind! The importance of his work is evident in the fact that around 3,000 words he created are still used in contemporary English today . Shakespeare was alternative, with a bohemian style, but also a brilliant businessman and sometimes an actor for his own shows. Othello, The Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice are some of the 37 plays he wrote during his lifetime. If we also consider the 154 sonnets he created, it is easily understood why he is considered to be one of the most prolific and powerful writers of all the time.

Jane Austen

famous writers english literature

Oscar Wilde

‘I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best’ Describing Oscar Wilde could be as difficult as learning a new language in three days. Challenging, complicated and extravagant, his life has been this and even more. Someone once said that the weight of his personality has overshadowed the importance of his works. However, this can easily be a superficial judgement of Oscar Wilde’s life. Of course, plenty of anecdotes and curiosities are included in his biographies. If you’re heading up to Reading , you can take a tour of the jail where he was imprisoned for homosexuality (during this period he wrote De Profundis ). Or for those who are passionate about Wilde, the tour in Paris at his tomb has become a tourists’ pilgrimage for those who want to pay their respects. For a deeper look at Wilde’s idea of beauty, and art, and how these are connected with materialistic earthly life, make sure you read The Picture of Dorian Grey.

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George Orwell

‘All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’ According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘dystopic’ is something ‘typical of, or featuring an imaginary place or state in which everything is extremely bad or unpleasant.’ If your literary taste is politically oriented, you should have read George Orwell’s works. In 1984, Animal Farm was published, providing the English writer with a chance to describe these kinds of conditions; an example of dystopian literature, but also satirical and critical of the political assets of this time. The life of Eric Arthur Blair – Orwell’s real name – has been an adventurous one: son of a civil servant in India, he joined the Indian Civil Police in Burma in 1922,to get back to Europe where — as he described in Down and Out in London and Paris – he lived in deprivation and poverty. Moreover, Orwell joined the Spanish Civil War in 1936. These events are examples of a lifelong fight to have his ideas and beliefs heard, making him an inspiring figure for everyone around the world.

‘Grown-ups are quirky creatures, full of quirks and secrets’ The 19th century author Roald Dahl is well known for his incredible childrens stories. We’re sure you will recognise the names of his much-loved works, including The Gremlins, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , but if you didn’t, take a jump into the fantastic world of Roald Dahl and feel like a child once again! Widely praised for his originality and creativity, nonetheless Dahl has also been described as irreverent as well, since his young characters are often disrespectful and rebellious towards grown-ups. Dahl had an adventurous life, working in Africa for the Shell Petroleum Company and taking part in World War II as a pilot for the Royal Air Force — although he was forced to leave after a serious accident. His works are now iconic and this is also with thanks to the collaboration with illustrator Quentin Blake , who helped make Dahl’s work a fabulous mix of written and visual creativity.

J.K. Rowling

JK Rowling is a novelist, screenwriter, producer and philanthropist best known for her ‘Harry Potter’ series

‘No story lives unless someone wants to listen’ Although this literature journey is ending, we could not complete the list without J.K. Rowling and the undoubted impact her books have had. Do we need to quote her best-known character? Everybody across the world knows of Harry Potter and all his adventures; Rowling filled the 90s and new millennium generations with a magical new world about the young wizard and his friends. The massive effects this saga has had is what makes this author remarkable. Apart from the prizes and global fame she has gained from the Harry Potter saga , J.K. Rowling has been an active character even beyond the lines of her books. At the beginning of her career, she was with Amnesty International, readily involved in the Human Rights debate and philanthropy of the time. If you want to discover her new works after Potter, read the The Cuckoo’s Calling or The Silkworm , written under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

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Biography Online

Biography

Famous Writers

A list of famous writers/authors/poets throughout history.

william-Shakespeare

Other categories of writers:

author

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan “Famous Writers”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net – 10th March 2015. Last updated 5 March 2018.

501 Great Writers: A Comprehensive Guide to the Giants of Literature

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The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list

1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries. Harold Bloom on Don Quixote – the first modern novel

2. Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Pilgrim's Progress

3. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe The first English novel. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Robinson Crusoe

4. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Gulliver's Travels

5. Tom Jones Henry Fielding The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Tom Jones 6. Clarissa Samuel Richardson One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Clarissa

7. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

8. Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious. Jason Cowley on the many incarnations of Dangerous Liaisons

9. Emma Jane Austen Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Emma

10. Frankenstein Mary Shelley Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Frankenstein

11. Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Nightmare Abbey

12. The Black Sheep Honoré De Balzac Two rivals fight for the love of a femme fatale. Wrongly overlooked. Balzac drank 50 cups of coffee a day: Daily Rituals of Creative Minds Jason Bourke on France's tradition of art imitating life Nick Lezard on a translated collection of short stories and Balzac's influence on other literary greats

13. The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal Penetrating and compelling chronicle of life in an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France. The Charterhouse of Parma - review

14. The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas A revenge thriller also set in France after Bonaparte: a masterpiece of adventure writing. Dumas's five best novels

15. Sybil Benjamin Disraeli Apart from Churchill, no other British political figure shows literary genius. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Sybil

16. David Copperfield Charles Dickens This highly autobiographical novel is the one its author liked best. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: David Copperfield

17. Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. Impossible to ignore. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Wuthering Heights

18. Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë Obsessive emotional grip and haunting narrative. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Jane Eyre

19. Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray The improving tale of Becky Sharp. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Vanity Fair

20. The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne A classic investigation of the American mind. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Scarlet Letter

21. Moby-Dick Herman Melville 'Call me Ishmael' is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Moby-Dick

22. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert You could summarise this as a story of adultery in provincial France, and miss the point entirely. Julian Barnes rewrites the ending to Madame Bovary The Everest of translation, by Adam Thorpe 23. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins Gripping mystery novel of concealed identity, abduction, fraud and mental cruelty. The Woman in White's 150 years of sensation

24. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis Carroll A story written for the nine-year-old daughter of an Oxford don that still baffles most kids. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

25. Little Women Louisa M. Alcott Victorian bestseller about a New England family of girls. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Little Women

26. The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope A majestic assault on the corruption of late Victorian England. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Way We Live Now

27. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy The supreme novel of the married woman's passion for a younger man. Rereading Anna Karenina, by James Meek

28. Daniel Deronda George Eliot A passion and an exotic grandeur that is strange and unsettling. A new novel from George Eliot - the Guardian's first review of Daniel Deronda, from 1876

29. The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky Mystical tragedy by the author of Crime and Punishment. Stuart Jeffries on the incorrect title In Pictures: Readers suggest the 10 best long reads Author snapshot: Fyodor Dostoevky

30. The Portrait of a Lady Henry James The story of Isabel Archer shows James at his witty and polished best. Profound and flawed: Claire Messud on rereading The Portrait of a Lady Hermione Lee on the biography of a novel that changed literature

31. Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain Twain was a humorist, but this picture of Mississippi life is profoundly moral and still incredibly influential. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels - Huckleberry Finn

32. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson A brilliantly suggestive, resonant study of human duality by a natural storyteller. Ian Rankin on The Strange Story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

33. Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome One of the funniest English books ever written. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels - Three Men in a Boat

34. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde A coded and epigrammatic melodrama inspired by his own tortured homosexuality. Fiona MacCarthy on the inspiration behind The Picture of Dorian Gray Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Picture of Dorian Gray 35. The Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith This classic of Victorian suburbia will always be renowned for the character of Mr Pooter. Buy The Diary of a Nobody at the Guardian Bookshop

36. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy Its savage bleakness makes it one of the first twentieth-century novels. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Jude the Obscure

37. The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers A prewar invasion-scare spy thriller by a writer later shot for his part in the Irish republican rising. Classics Corner - The Riddle of the Sands

38. The Call of the Wild Jack London The story of a dog who joins a pack of wolves after his master's death. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Call of the Wild

39. Nostromo Joseph Conrad Conrad's masterpiece: a tale of money, love and revolutionary politics. Chinua Achebe and Caryl Phillips discuss the case against Conrad

40. The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame This children's classic was inspired by bedtime stories for Grahame's son. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Wind in the Willows

41. In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust An unforgettable portrait of Paris in the belle époque. Probably the longest novel on this list. Melvyn Bragg rereads In Search of Lost Time

42. The Rainbow D. H. Lawrence Novels seized by the police, like this one, have a special afterlife. Rachel Cusk rereads The Rainbow Adam Thorpe on The Rainbow

43. The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford This account of the adulterous lives of two Edwardian couples is a classic of unreliable narration. Jane Smiley on The Good Soldier, stylistic perfection Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Good Soldier

44. The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan A classic adventure story for boys, jammed with action, violence and suspense. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Thirty-Nine Steps

45. Ulysses James Joyce Also pursued by the British police, this is a novel more discussed than read. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Ulysses

46. Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf Secures Woolf's position as one of the great twentieth-century English novelists. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Mrs Dalloway

47. A Passage to India EM Forster Forster's great love song to India. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: A Passage to India Damon Galgut on the unrequited love at the heart of A Passage to India

48. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald The quintessential Jazz Age novel. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Great Gatsby What makes Gatsby great? by Sarah Churchwell

49. The Trial Franz Kafka The enigmatic story of Joseph K. John Banville on the story behind Kafka's great novel of judgment and retribution

50. Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway He is remembered for his novels, but it was the short stories that first attracted notice. Chis Power salutes some of the greatest short stories ever written

51. Journey to the End of the Night Louis-Ferdinand Celine The experiences of an unattractive slum doctor during the Great War: a masterpiece of linguistic innovation.  Tibor Fischer on Celine's journey to the cutting edge of literature Celine: great author and absolute bastard

52. As I Lay Dying William Faulkner A strange black comedy by an American master. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: As I Lay Dying  Alison Flood on the anniversary edition of The Sound and the Fury in coloured ink

53. Brave New World Aldous Huxley Dystopian fantasy about the world of the seventh century AF (after Ford). Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Brave New World Read the original Guardian review from 1932

54. Scoop Evelyn Waugh The supreme Fleet Street novel. Ann Pasternak Slater on the journalistic experiences that shaped Waugh's novel Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Scoop

55. USA John Dos Passos An extraordinary trilogy that uses a variety of narrative devices to express the story of America. Charlotte Jones on New York in books Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Nineteen Nineteen (the second book in the trilogy)

56. The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler Introducing Philip Marlowe: cool, sharp, handsome - and bitterly alone. John Dugdale on Chandler's crime-writing revolution Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Big Sleep

57. The Pursuit Of Love Nancy Mitford An exquisite comedy of manners with countless fans. Olivia Laing on Mitford's genius wicked humour

58. The Plague Albert Camus A mysterious plague sweeps through the Algerian town of Oran. Marina Warner's review of The Plague Tony Judt on the man behind the novel Ed Vulliamy on The Plague, 55 Years later

59. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell This tale of one man's struggle against totalitarianism has been appropriated the world over. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Nineteen Eighty-Four Sam Jordison discusses Will Self's criticism of Nineteen Eighty-Four From the Archives: the original review from 1949

60. Malone Dies Samuel Beckett Part of a trilogy of astonishing monologues in the black comic voice of the author of Waiting for Godot. Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Murphy (the first part of the trilogy) Keith Ridgway rereads his favourite Beckett Peter Conrad and Philip Hensher review the Collected Letters, vols 1 and 2

61. Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger A week in the life of Holden Caulfield. A cult novel that still mesmerises. Ten things you should know about The Catcher in the Rye Stephen Bates on the possible sequel to The Catcher in the Rye David Barnett offers his take on the controversy Anne Roiphen rereads Salinger's novel

62. Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor A disturbing novel of religious extremism set in the Deep South. The Reading Group takes on O'Connor's debut Peter Wild takes a look at O'Connor's cartoons Is Flannery O'Connor a Catholic writer?

63. Charlotte's Web EB White How Wilbur the pig was saved by the literary genius of a friendly spider. John Updike on EB White Stephen Amidon remains enchanted with Charlotte's Web 50 years after its publication Alison Flood on the spider that inspired Charlotte's Web

64. The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien Enough said! Claire Armitstead remembers reading The Lord of the Rings in Lagos Visuals: The Lord of the Rings family tree and demographics chart Sarah Crown's guide to The Lord of the Rings

65. Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis An astonishing debut: the painfully funny English novel of the Fifties. Olivia Laing on not reading Amis on the bus John Mullan analyses Lucky Jim for the Guardian Book Club John Crace "digests" Lucky Jim for the Guardian Podcast

66. Lord of the Flies William Golding Schoolboys become savages: a bleak vision of human nature. Writers' desktops: William Golding's former home in pictures Steven Morris on the composition history of Lord of the Flies

67. The Quiet American Graham Greene Prophetic novel set in 1950s Vietnam. Zadie Smith on the genius of Graham Greene Terry Eagleton reviews the collected letters of Graham Greene

68 On the Road Jack Kerouac The Beat Generation bible. Read more about Kerouac and his coterie in the Beats week special David Mills' response to Beats Week

69. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Humbert Humbert's obsession with Lolita is a tour de force of style and narrative. From the archives: Lolita and its critics David Lodge on Nabokov's sexual style Baddies in Books: Humbert Humbert

70. The Tin Drum Günter Grass Hugely influential, Rabelaisian novel of Hitler's Germany. The Tin Drum summarised the 20th century in three words Jonathan Steele on Grass's influence on Germay's conscience A life in writing: Günter Grass by Maya Jaggi

71. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Nigeria at the beginning of colonialism. A classic of African literature. Read the first page of Achebe's great novel here Nadine Gordimer remembers Achebe Chinua Achebe in pictures

72. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark A writer who made her debut in The Observer - and her prose is like cut glass. James Wood on Muriel Spark Muriel Spark didn't just write novels. Adam Mars-Jones reviews Spark's short stories Martin Stannard writes about the influence of Spark's life on her fiction

73. To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee Scout, a six-year-old girl, narrates an enthralling story of racial prejudice in the Deep South. To Kill A Mockingbird has been in and out of classrooms for decades. Read John Sutherland on Lee's and other American classics

74. Catch-22 Joseph Heller 'He would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.' Stephen Bates on surprises in Heller's Letters Chris Cox reads Catch-22 fifty years after its publication

75. Herzog Saul Bellow Adultery and nervous breakdown in Chicago. Alex Clark reviews Bellow's short stories John Crace 'digests' Herzog James Wood on Saul Bellow

76. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez A postmodern masterpiece. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 5 Must reads Gabriel García Márquez - a life in pictures From the archive: the 1970 review of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude tops world literature polls

77. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor A haunting, understated study of old age. Charlotte Mendelssohn celebrates the other Liz Taylor's short stories Read Natasha Tripney's review of an early novel here

78. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John Le Carré A thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. William Boyd on the A-Z of Tinker, Tailor The Reading Group discusses Tinker, Tailor and the spy novel genre

79. Song of Solomon Toni Morrison The definitive novelist of the African-American experience. Take the Toni Morrison quiz Morrison on America, by Rachel Cooke Read interviews with Morrison here and here

80. The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge Macabre comedy of provincial life. Laura Potter interviews Beryl Bainbridge at 74 Kate Kellaway on Bainbridge's art beyond writing Alex Clark asks, which is Bainbridge's best novel? Beryl Bainbridge earns a Booker at last

81. The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer This quasi-documentary account of the life and death of Gary Gilmore is possibly his masterpiece. Dead Calm: Gordon Burn rereads The Executioner's Song Alpha Mailer: McCrum meets Mailer Jay Parini weighs up Mailer's journalistic and novelistic qualitites

82. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino A strange, compelling story about the pleasures of reading. John Sutherland (and quite a few Guardian readers) just can't get to the end of the novel David Mitchell thinks back on Calvino's novel about writing Chris Power writes about Calvino's short fiction Ian Thomson reviews the new collection of Calvino's letters

83. A Bend in the River VS Naipaul The finest living writer of English prose. This is his masterpiece: edgily reminiscent of Heart of Darkness. Robert McCrum's World of Books column on Naipaul Naipaul as the summer read of 2008 The Shadow of Empire: DJ Taylor's look at recent post-colonial novels

84. Waiting for the Barbarians JM Coetzee Bleak but haunting allegory of apartheid by the Nobel prizewinner. James Meek writes about Coetzee's alter-egos Rory Carroll on the South African novelist who's unread at home The Voice of Africa: Robert McCrum on Coetzee

85. Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson Haunting, poetic story, drowned in water and light, about three generations of women. Notes to Self: Robinson and others look back on their work Read Emma Brockes's interviews here Marilynne Robinson talks to Robert McCrum John Mullan on Housekeeping

86. Lanark Alasdair Gray Seething vision of Glasgow. A Scottish classic. Janice Galloway rereads Lanark William Boyd on Lanark at 25 John Mullan considers Lanark's cover for the Guardian Book Club An interview with the 'Clydeside Michaelangelo'

87. The New York Trilogy Paul Auster Dazzling metaphysical thriller set in the Manhattan of the 1970s. Hadley Freedman interviews Paul Auster about New York Alison Flood in conversation with Paul Auster Charlotte Jones on New York in literature

88. The BFG Roald Dahl A bestseller by the most popular postwar writer for children of all ages. Listen to Roald Dahl read from The BFG Read about Chae Strathie's favourite nonsense words in children's books Read Alison Flood's piece on the planned film adaptation of The BFG

89. The Periodic Table Primo Levi A prose poem about the delights of chemistry. From the Archive: Michael Joseph's review Ian Thomson considers Levi's influence on our moral history The Periodic Table made its way into the hands of a Guardian Science journalist... ...and to the top of the Science book favourites list

90. Money Martin Amis The novel that bags Amis's place on any list. Buy Money at the Guardian Bookshop

91. An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro A collaborator from prewar Japan reluctantly discloses his betrayal of friends and family. Buy An Artist of the Floating World at the Guardian Bookshop

92. Oscar And Lucinda Peter Carey A great contemporary love story set in nineteenth-century Australia by double Booker prizewinner. Read Angela Carter's review of Oscar and Lucinda here... ...and find out what Sam Jordison thinks the second time around here In Pictures: See Carey's own annotations on his novel Emma Brockes interviews the Booker winner

93. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera Inspired by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, this is a magical fusion of history, autobiography and ideas. Buy The Book of Laughter and Forgetting at the Guardian Bookshop

94. Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie In this entrancing story Rushdie plays with the idea of narrative itself. Buy Haroun and the Sea of Stories at the Guardian Bookshop

95. LA Confidential James Ellroy Three LAPD detectives are brought face to face with the secrets of their corrupt and violent careers. Hear Ellroy talk about the first novel in his LA quartet on the Guardian Books Podcast Read a short interview with Ellroy here

96. Wise Children Angela Carter A theatrical extravaganza by a brilliant exponent of magic realism. Read an extract from Susannah Clapp's memoir of Carter Kit Buchan's piece on Wise Children for the Families in Literature series

97. Atonement Ian McEwan Acclaimed short-story writer achieves a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction. Read the first chapter online John Mullan writes on the weather in Atonement for the Guardian Book Club John Sutherland's interview with the author can be found here Geoff Dyer is won over by Atonement, while Nick Lezard is less sure

98. Northern Lights Philip Pullman Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary children's book. Baddies in Books: Mrs Coulter might just be the mother of all evil Northern Lights named the 'Carnegie of Carnegies' Read Kate Kellaway's interview with Philip Pullman

99. American Pastoral Philip Roth For years, Roth was famous for Portnoy's Complaint . Recently, he has enjoyed an extraordinary revival. Tim Adams's review of American Pastoral From our My Hero series: James Wood on Philip Roth

100. Austerlitz W. G. Sebald Posthumously published volume in a sequence of dream-like fictions spun from memory, photographs and the German past. Read the 2001 review of Austerlitz here The Last Word: Maya Jaggi interviews Sebald Robert McCrum on Sebald's legacy

Who did we miss?

So, are you congratulating yourself on having read everything on our list or screwing the newspaper up into a ball and aiming it at the nearest bin?

Are you wondering what happened to all those American writers from Bret Easton Ellis to Jeffrey Eugenides, from Jonathan Franzen to Cormac McCarthy?

Have women been short-changed? Should we have included Pat Barker, Elizabeth Bowen, A.S. Byatt, Penelope Fitzgerald, Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch?

What's happened to novels in translation such as Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Hesse's Siddhartha, Mishima's The Sea of Fertility, Süskind's Perfume and Zola's Germinal?

Writers such as JG Ballard, Julian Barnes, Anthony Burgess, Bruce Chatwin, Robertson Davies, John Fowles, Nick Hornby, Russell Hoban, Somerset Maugham and VS Pritchett narrowly missed the final hundred. Were we wrong to lose them?

Let us know what you think. Post your own suggestions for the 100 best books on the Observer blog .

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The Best Writers of All Time

The Best Writers of All Time

Ranker Books

The pen is truly mightier than the sword, and if you’re a book enthusiast you know that to be true. Some of history’s most influential people were authors, writing the most important literature and political works of all time. Writers have shaped human history, capturing some of the most important historical events and reflecting the culture of a changing world around us in a profound way. Who are the best writers of all time? Vote up the authors you think are the best and see how they rank! 

The famous writers on this list are the best in history, writing books, plays, essays, and poetry that has stood the test of time and make up the world's canon of literature and written work. No matter what type of writing you like to read, you can't go wrong with a book by one of these best writers of all time. Simply put, they're easily some of the most famous authors of all time.

This list of authors features the best writers ever, including, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Geoffrey Chaucer, Homer, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, Herman Melleville, William Faulkner, and Edgar Allan Poe. Vote up the best authors of all time below or add the writer you think is the best who isn't already on the list.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Homer

Charles Dickens

J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

George Orwell

George Orwell

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Mark Twain

Victor Hugo

Plato

Jane Austen

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas

John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes

Brothers Grimm

Brothers Grimm

C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

James Joyce

James Joyce

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley

Lists about novelists, poets, short story authors, journalists, essayists, and playwrights, from simple rankings to fun facts about the men and women behind the pens.

Strange Stories of How They Passed

FactLo

20 Greatest English Writers of Modern Literature

1984-George-Orwell-Modern-English-Writers

Best English Writers of Modern English Literature

When we look into the Modern period of English Literature, It is the end of the long reign of Queen Victoria which was about 1901 and after stability which the country had so long enjoyed after the beginning of the 20th century through roughly 1965.

So the modern period we can say came around the end of the 19th century and almost after the beginning of the 20th century mostly during WW1.

We have listed 20 Most prominent figures of English Literature that belonged to England or Scotland. If we have missed someone, please do let us know in the comments.

Virginia Woolf – Re-inventor of the novel 

The English novelist, critic, and essayist Virginia Woolf ranks as one of England’s most distinguished English writers of the middle part of the twentieth century. Her novels can perhaps best be described as impressionistic, which is a literary style that attempts to inspire impressions rather than recreating reality.

Virginia-Woolf

Virginia Woolf

In 1917, for amusement, she and her husband Leonard Woolf founded the Hogarth Press by setting and hand printing on an old press ‘Two Stories’ by ‘L. and V. Woolf.’ The volume was a success, and over the years they published many important books.

Hogarth Press published the best and most original work that came to its attention, and the Woolfs as publishers favored young and unknown writers. Virginia Woolf herself was the author of about fifteen books.

The last, ‘A Writer’s Diary’, was published in 1953 after her death. Her most famous works are ‘Mrs. Dalloway’, ‘To the Lighthouse’, and ‘Jacob’s Room’ as well as ‘The Voyage Out,’ and ‘Night Out.’

Virginia also wrote experimental novels and is credited with re-inventing the novel. She was also a champion of women’s rights as is seen from her essay ‘A Room of One’s Own.’ 

H.G.Wells – Writer of Science Fiction

Herbert George Wells was not only an author; he was also a sociologist, journalist, and historian. He was a fantastic and very descriptive writer, and gained fame as an author of science fiction, though he wrote on other themes like politics and history also.

Some of H.G. Wells’ most famous books are ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘The Time Machine.’ He wrote many other books, such as ‘The World Set Free,’ ‘The Soul of a Bishop,’ ‘The Secret Places of the Heart’, and many more.

In one of his books, ‘War of the Worlds,’ H.G. Wells writes about Martians attacking Earth. In another book, ‘The Time Machine,’ the main character builds a time machine, in which he could travel into the future.

Wells’ books made people interested in science and space. In his time not many people believed in the sort of technology used in his books. The people who were alive then, would probably be amazed at our technology now. Wells’ books were somewhat like predictions, and therein lies his greatness. 

Robert Lewis Stevenson – ‘Tusitala’ 

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish essayist, novelist, and poet. He prepared for a career in law but never practiced. His immensely popular novels ‘Treasure Island’, ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and ‘The Master of Ballantrae’ were written over the course of a few years.

‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’, which he wrote in 1885 is one of the most influential children’s works of the 19th century. Stevenson’s popularity is based primarily on the exciting subject matter of his adventure novels and stories of the fantastic.

Treasure Island’ is a swiftly paced story of a search for buried gold. Having suffered from tuberculosis for much of his life, Stevenson spent many years traveling in search of a climate that would suit his illness.

He finally settled in Samoa, where he died in 1894, and was buried. He was called ‘tusitala’ by the local people because he was such a great storyteller – and the word ‘tusitala’ means ‘storyteller’ in their language

Walter Scott – Historical Novelist

Walter Scott was a famous English novelist of the early 19th century and a pioneer in the art of the historical novel. It was the success of ‘Waverley’, that established Scott in the career of a novelist. This historical novel was so popular that a railway station and football team were named after it!

Walter-Scott English Writers

Walter Scott

However, Scott didn’t even claim credit for the ‘Waverley’ novels, until several years after they were first published. His first successes were largely in the realm of Scottish history.

Then at a critical point of his career, Scott turned to English history for his subject matter. He began with ‘Ivanhoe’ which was a complicated romance set in 12th century England, and then wrote three other novels set in the period of the Crusades. 

George Orwell – Author of ‘1984’

George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He served for five years in the Burmese police, and also lived for some time as a tramp and dishwasher!

His most famous book was ‘Animal Farm’ in which he attacked the Russian Revolution. His other famous book ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, describes the horrors of dictatorship.

D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence was an English novelist, story writer, critic, poet, and painter and one of the great figures in 20th century English literature. Lawrence’s childhood was dominated by poverty and friction between his parents.

The appearance of his first novel ‘The White Peacock’ launched Lawrence into a writing career. Lawrence’s novel ‘Sons and Lovers’ appeared in 1913 and was based on his childhood. Lawrence’s best-known work is ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, first published privately in Florence in 1928. He died in France of tuberculosis. 

Rudyard Kipling – Author of Jungle Book

You must have seen or heard about the movie ‘Jungle Book’ with its famous characters like Mowgli, Baloo, and Bagheera. But did you know that it is based on a book written by a great English writer, Rudyard Kipling?

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay but educated in England. In 1882 he returned to India, where he worked for Anglo-Indian newspapers. Kipling enjoyed early success with his poems but soon became known as a gifted short story writer.

He glorified the British Empire and the common soldier in many of his works. ‘ Kim ‘ (published in 1901) is widely considered his best novel.

Kipling was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Kipling had poor eyesight, which proved a blessing in disguise. He had hoped to enter the army, but his mediocre results as a student dashed these hopes- and the military’s loss proved to be literature’s gain! 

Thomas Hardy – An Immortal English Writer

Thomas Hardy is one of the immortals of English literature. He wrote from his personal knowledge and experience, and his stories were set in locations that were familiar to him. Hardy started by writing poetry, but later, he switched to writing novels.

At first, he published anonymously, but when people became interested in his works, he began to use his own name. Hardy’s novels were published in serial form in magazines that were popular both in England and America. His first popular novel was ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’, published in 1872.

The next great novel, ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ was a huge success and other popular novels followed in quick succession. After a long and highly successful life, Thomas Hardy died on January 11, 1928, at the age of 87. His ashes were buried in Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey. His works will live on forever. 

Mary Anne Evans aka George Eliot 

Did you know that the famous writer George Eliot was actually a lady named Mary Anne Evans? She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously, for in those days it was believed that women could write only light-hearted romances.

She chose ‘George’ as her first name as it was the name of her lifelong companion, George Lewes, and ‘Eliot’ because ‘it was a good mouth-filling word’!

George Eliot was one of the leading English writers of the Victorian era. Mary Anne Evans’s transformation into the fiction writer George Eliot began in 1856 when she decided to try her hand at writing novels.

Her first novel ‘Adam Bede’, was a success and it was followed by two more popular novels ‘The Mill on the Floss’ and ‘Silas Marner’.

Mary Anne Evans lived a controversial and unconventional life that has been the subject of much scholarly debate, and the study of many biographers. Her works stand on their own making her one of the best of the Victorian writers. 

Charles Dickens – Greatest Writer of Victorian Era

Charles Dickens was one of the most influential and greatest writers of the Victorian era. From 1837 till 1841, Charles took to writing novels, but his novels were published in small parts instead of at one time.

He wrote novels like ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘ Nicholas Nickelby’, and The Old Curiosity Shop’. From 1841 to 1860, Charles wrote a few more novels, which were very much based on his personal experience.

Charles Dicken at Madame Tussauds Museum

Charles Dicken’s Wax Statue at Madame Tussauds Museum

‘David Copperfield’, ‘Bleak House’, ‘A Tale of Two Cities”, and ‘Great Expectations’, are among his famous works during that period. Because his novels were published in installments in periodicals, many more people could afford to read them, as periodicals were not as expensive as books.

Moreover, each installment would end with a hook that kept his readers wondering what was coming next, thus ensuring the sales of the next installment!

Dickens also took part in protests and campaigns against social injustice, hypocrisy in the society, and wrote stories, pamphlets, and plays in this context.

Although Dickens’s main profession was as a novelist, he continued his journalistic work until the end of his life Dickens had the rare gift of being able to capture the imagination of the audience. His powers of observation were amazing, and he had a rare wit.

His characters were unforgettable, and his command of the language incredible. Dickens was a sympathizer of the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed and when he died, one of the greatest English writers was lost to the world. 

Daniel Defoe 

Daniel Defoe was an observant reporter, historian, humorist, and grand storyteller. He is best known as the author of the famous book ‘Robinson Crusoe.’

It is the story of a shipwrecked sailor who is washed ashore on a deserted island. He spends 28 years on this remote tropical island encountering natives, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.

The story is written in a simple narrative style and is considered to be one of the most widely published books in history. 

Lewis Carroll – Children’s author – Brilliant mathematician 

Have you heard of the maths teacher who wrote children’s novels? Lewis Carroll did just that. While working as a maths lecturer at Christchurch, Oxford, he wrote novels for children. He also wrote brilliant mathematical works!

‘Lewis Carroll’ was the pen name adopted by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Carroll was very shy and hid his hands continually in a pair of grey-and-black gloves. He was troubled by a stammer, but he got along well with children.

During a picnic in 1862, Carroll told a long story to a girl named Alice Liddell. His famous book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ was born out of this tale. Alice, a seven-year-old girl is the heroine of this story. She dreams that she plunges down a rabbit hole. She meets such strange creatures as the Cheshire cat, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the King and queen of hearts.

The incidents in this novel are illogical and have a dream-like quality. This story is continued in the novel, ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ which is even more famous. Lewis Carroll delighted his friends with games, puzzles, and riddles and some of his novels have puzzled generations of readers. 

Bronte sisters

The Bronte sisters led a strange and troubled life. They lost their mother at an early age, and two of their sisters died while they were in school. They lived in a cold house by the Parish graveyard. Yet Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte wrote some of the finest novels in the English language.

A simple present from their father, a box of toy soldiers, changed the course of their life. Charlotte seized a toy soldier and declared him to be her hero. This sparked their imagination, and they began to write. In 1846, the three sisters published a collection of poems at their own expense.

Just two copies were sold. This failure did not defeat them. Each one started writing a novel, but all the three novels were later rejected by publishers. Finally in 1847, Charlotte Bronte’s novel, ‘Jane Eyre,’ was published. It became an immediate success.

The same year saw the publication of Emily Bronte’s novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ and Anne Bronte’s, ‘Agnes Grey’. Curiously, all three Bronte sisters wrote under male pen names! Thus the Bronte sisters made literary history. 

Enid Blyton -a legend in Children’s literature

Enid Blyton lit up the world of children with her books. She was the eldest of three children. Her father Thomas Carey Blyton painted, wrote poetry, played the piano, and was a photographer too.

Enid Blyton was brought up to be a musician. Her family thought her writing was a waste of time! In 1917, her first published poem appeared in Nash’s Magazine. She edited ‘Sunny Stories’, a new magazine for children.

Many of her stories, plays, and songs were well received. Blyton’s first full-length children’s adventure book, The Secret Island’ was published in 1938. This was a fast-moving story woven around loveable characters.

This led to such series as The Famous Five’, The Secret Seven’, ‘The Adventure Series’, ‘The Mystery Series’, and the ‘Barney’ mystery books. Her works celebrate good food, the spirit of friendship, and honesty.

Blyton could write 10000 words a day! In 1940, eleven books were published in her name. Blyton’s books have sold over 60 million copies! 

Jane Austen – Modern English Novelist

Jane Austen, the noted English novelist made romanticism fashionable. In romanticism, the author’s feelings, tastes, and opinions find their way into the writing. This is called subjectivity. For instance, Jane Austen loved dancing, and it is frequently featured in her novels. Romanticism also gave importance to inspiration.

Jane Austen’s novels were brilliantly witty and beautifully structured. Unlike most other English writers, Jane Austen had a happy childhood. She was the seventh child of Reverend George Austen and his wife Cassandra. She was born in Hampshire, England.

Jane Austen Modern English Writer

Jane Austen

At the age of fourteen, she wrote her first novel, ‘Love and Friendship’. In her early twenties, Jane Austen wrote three novels. They were later re-worked and published as ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ and ‘Northanger Abbey’.

‘Sense and Sensibility’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ were published in 1811 and 1813 respectively. ‘Mansfield Park’ came out in 1814, and ‘Emma’, in 1816. Jane Austen died at the age of forty-one. Northanger Abbey was published in 1818, the year after her death.

None of the books published in her lifetime had her name on them – they were described as being written ‘By a Lady’! 

Arthur Conan Doyle

Heard about Sherlock Holmes an immortal character? Say the word detective, and the image of Sherlock Holmes springs to the mind. He was so life-like that readers forgot that they were reading about a character in a book.

They even send mail to his fictional address in Baker Street! Sherlock Holmes was a quiet and intelligent character, but his creator Arthur Conan Doyle got tired of him.

He wanted to write ‘serious’ novels. So in one of his later books, he killed him off. There was a public outcry, and Doyle was forced to bring Holmes back from the dead.

Holmes formed a memorable partnership along with his unintelligent associate Dr. Watson. Holmes first appeared in Doyle’s story, ‘A Study in Scarlet’. It was published as a serial in Strand Magazine.

Holmes appeared in ‘The Sign of the Four’ ( 1889), ‘Adventures’ (1891), and ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (1902). Collected Holmes’s stories appeared in ‘Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. It ran into five volumes. More than 175 films have been made on Sherlock Holmes.

Arthur Conan Doyle was Scottish by birth and a doctor by profession. He believed in ghosts and played first-class cricket. He also displayed his detective talent, in just the same manner as Sherlock Holmes! 

William Wordsworth – Modern English Writer

William Wordsworth’s words were worth their weight in gold. ‘He was the nearest of all writers to Shakespeare and Milton, and yet in a style perfectly unborrowed and his own’, wrote his friend and fellow poet, Coleridge. His intense love for nature lights up his poems.

Wordsworth sensed the spirit that lives in nature. The perfect use of language, the freshness of his thought, and his magnificent imagination made his poems sensational. Yet they were simple.

In 1798, Wordsworth published his first collection of poems, ‘Lyrical Ballads’, together with Coleridge. This collection marks the birth of the Romantic school in English poetry. In 1843, he was appointed Poet Laureate on the death of Robert Southey, another Lakeland poet. ‘Daffodils,’ is one of his most famous poems. 

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter (1930-2008) was a great English playwright, actor, and director. His plays are associated with the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ and are typically marked by a sense of menace. Pinter was a master of dialogue.

‘The Birthday Party’, ‘The Caretaker’, and ‘Party Time’, ‘Monologue and No Man’s Land’, ‘The Homecoming’ are some of his notable plays. “I write because I want to write “, said Harold Pinter. 

O. Henry – ‘the master of Surprise Endings’

William Sydney Porter was accused of stealing money from a bank and was thrown into prison. There, he started to write short stories. He took the pen name, O. Henry, the name of his favorite warden. ‘Cabbages and Kings,’ was O.Henry’s first collection of short stories.

‘The Ransom of Red Chief,’ is a typical O. Henry story. It tells the tale of two kidnappers who kidnap a boy, find that he is a real nuisance, and finally pay the boy’s father to take him back!

O. Henry was a master of surprise endings. He wrote about the common folk and his humorous, energetic style was influenced by Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce. In his lifetime, O. Henry published ten collections of over six hundred short stories. 

Robert Browning – ‘Master of Dramatic Monologue’

Great writers are great readers too. In his teens, Browning discovered Shelley, who had a lasting influence on his poetry. Some of Browning’s best-known lyrics appeared in his collection ‘Bells and Pomegranates’.

Browning’s greatest work is The Ring and the Book’. It has ten different descriptions, each from a different viewpoint, of the same murder. Browning is the master of dramatic monologue as evidenced by his poem ‘The Last Duchess’.

The words reveal not only setting and action but the speaker’s character as well. Browning used sudden openings, irregular rhythms, and ordinary language. 

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27 Famous Renaissance Writers and Their Works

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The History of Nursing: From Ancient Times to Modern Healthcare

Nursing is a profession that has been an integral part of human society for thousands of years. It is the practice of caring for the sick, injured, or vulnerable and promoting health and well-being.

The History of Nursing

Nursing is a profession that has been an integral part of human society for thousands of years. It is the practice of caring for the sick, injured, or vulnerable and promoting health and well-being. Nursing has evolved over time to become a highly respected profession that requires specialized knowledge and skills. In this article, we will explore the history of nursing and its etymology.

Etymology of Nursing

The word “nurse” comes from the Latin word “nutrire,” which means to nourish. The term “nurse” has been used to describe women who provide care for others since ancient times. In ancient Rome, nurses were often slaves or women from lower social classes who were tasked with caring for sick and injured individuals. The word “nurse” was also used in the Middle Ages to refer to wet nurses, women who breastfed infants that were not their own.

The modern meaning of the word “nurse” began to take shape in the 19th century when nursing began to be recognized as a profession. The first nursing school was established in 1860 by Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale’s work during the Crimean War revolutionized nursing and set the standard for nursing education and practice.

History of Nursing

Nursing has a long and varied history that dates back to ancient times. In many early societies, nursing was seen as a woman’s role and was often performed by midwives, priestesses, or other women in the community.

In ancient Egypt, nursing was a highly respected profession that was often performed by men. The goddess Isis was considered the patroness of nursing, and many nurses wore her symbol, the horned viper, on their clothing.

In ancient Greece, nursing was also considered a respected profession. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, recognized the importance of nursing and wrote about the role of nurses in caring for the sick.

During the Middle Ages, nursing was primarily performed by religious orders, such as nuns and monks. These orders established hospitals and provided care for the sick and injured.

The 19th century saw a significant shift in the way nursing was practiced and perceived. Florence Nightingale, a British nurse, revolutionized nursing by emphasizing the importance of cleanliness, hygiene, and patient care. She established the first nursing school and wrote extensively on the subject of nursing.

During World War I, nursing played a crucial role in caring for wounded soldiers. Nurses worked in field hospitals and on the front lines, often in dangerous and difficult conditions.

In the 20th century, nursing continued to evolve as medical technology advanced. Nurses began to specialize in different areas, such as pediatrics, oncology, and critical care. Today, nursing is a highly respected profession that requires specialized knowledge and skills.

Nursing is a profession that has evolved over time to become an integral part of modern healthcare. From its roots in ancient societies to the establishment of the first nursing school by Florence Nightingale, nursing has a rich and varied history. Today, nurses are essential members of healthcare teams and play a vital role in caring for the sick and injured. The etymology of the word “nurse” reflects the fundamental role of nursing in nourishing and caring for others.

Non-violence: 8 Famous Personalities influenced by Gandhian Philosophy

Idea of Non-violence Mahatma Gandhi

It’s no wonder that the whole world came to worship MK Gandhi as a great soul – a Mahatma for his idea of Non-violence. It was Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet, who first addressed him as ‘Mahatma’, and soon the whole world started using this name with great respect and affection. A truly befitting name for the father of nation India, who represents all that is noble about our great heritage.

Gandhiji’s memory lingers in the minds and hearts of admirers all over the world. Indians can take great pride in the fact that some of the most well-known personalities of the 20th and 21st centuries cite Mahatma as their role model. Barack Obama, the former president of the United States of America had once talked about Gandhi as his ‘real hero’. Dalai Lama, Pearl S. Buck, and Steve Jobs are a few among the long list of his admirers.

American historian, Will Durant, best known for his great work, The Story of Civilization, was an admirer of Gandhiji. The inspiration for Attenborough’s film Gandhi was ‘The Life of Mahatma Gandhi,’ the book written by the celebrated American journalist Louis Fischer. He was a follower of Gandhi. He said on Gandhi’s assassination, “Just an old man in a loincloth in distant India. Yet when he died, humanity wept.” It is no wonder Gandhiji is admired even today. The ardent expression of his will goes beyond the spirit of his Age.

Idea of Non-violence

It is the Gandhian Philosophy or idea of non-violence that made India’s struggle for freedom unique in history. Gandhiji taught us that one is blessed to possess non-violence, or ahimsa, in the midst of violence. He objected to violence because it perpetuates hatred. Yet to him, non-violence was not akin to cowardice. He showed the world that non-violence is not a weapon of the weak; on the other hand, it is a weapon that can be tried to express a higher form of courage. Mahatma Gandhi was the first leader in history to use the idea of non-violence to fight such a mighty power. It’s no wonder that Gandhian Philosophy inspired many leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Gandhiji was very famous worldwide for his non-violent movements, including indefinite fasts and marches. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize about five times throughout his life. His life and teachings have inspired many revolutionaries and liberationists of the 20th century, and Martin Luther King Jr.of the United States was one of them. Martin Luther King Jr., the key figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, was greatly inspired by the thoughts and actions of Mahatma Gandhi. He acknowledged this fact many times himself.

From his schooldays in Pennsylvania, Martin Luther King Jr. was drawn towards Gandhiji’s philosophy and actions. When he was leading the struggle for achieving civil liberty for African- American citizens, he incorporated Gandhian principles. To fight for liberty, he declared his two weapons as faith in God, and non-violence. His incorporation of nonviolence started with the famous ‘Bus-Boycott Movement’ in the country. King Jr. had claimed that “the spirit of passive resistance came to me from the Bible and Jesus. But the techniques of execution came from Gandhi”. Many Gandhian ideals like love, non-violence, and self -sacrifice did go into the formulation of the philosophy and technique of King’s social protest movement.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was the great leader who fought for ending apartheid, a system that separated whites from non-whites in South Africa. Mandela traveled throughout South Africa and encouraged people to take part in non-violent demonstrations against the racial segregation policies of the government. He was arrested for anti-government activities and eventually, sentenced to life in prison in 1964. Protests against this were held not only in South Africa but around the world.

On February 11th, 1990, South African president F.W. de Klerk released Mandela from prison, and the two worked together to end apartheid. Later, they won the Nobel Prize for their efforts. In 1994, for the first time in history, non-whites were allowed to vote in the elections. In that election, Mandela was elected President by a huge majority. Mandela was a true follower of Gandhian philosophy. He grew up in the land where Satyagraha was born, and Gandhi’s legacy was still very strong there. In short, there were many parallels between the life of Gandhiji and Mandela. Mandela was no doubt an ‘African Gandhi’.

Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland was a French novelist, dramatist, and essayist. Being an idealist, he was deeply involved with pacifism, the fight against fascism, and the search for world peace. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915. Mahatma Gandhi and Romain Rol-land met in 1931. His regard for Gandhi was so great that he admired him as “another Christ.” Romain Rolland published a famous biography of Gandhiji in 1924, titled ‘Mahatma Gandhi,’ written originally in French, it was later translated into several European languages.

Romain Rolland

Since the publication of his biography of Gandhi in 1924, Romain Rolland remained an ardent supporter of Gandhian ideals. Rolland believed that the Gandhian path was towards international cooperation, reimbursement of the grievances of colonized nations, and a negotiating mechanism to satisfy the mutual needs of imperialistic powers and the countries seeking Independence.

Rolland read Gandhi’s books like ‘Hind Swaraj’, and articles that came in Young India, and was deeply moved by his ideas. Gandhiji and this French philosopher had many things in common. They were born in the same generation. Both were influenced by Tolstoy. Both detested violence and warfare.

Albert Einstein

Einstein was a lifelong pacifist, and so was Mahatma Gandhi. Both believed that war was an obstacle in the way of human progress. Einstein talked about Gandhiji after his death in a memorial service held in Washington, “Everyone concerned with a better future for humanity and must be deeply moved by the tragic death of Gandhi. He died a victim of his own principle, the principle of non-violence. He died because, in a time of disorder and general unrest in his country, he refused any personal armed protection.

It was his unshakable belief that the use of force is an evil in itself, to be shunned by those who strive for absolute justice”. “Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.” Einstein’s words on Gandhiji stand evergreen.

Sardar Patel

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. Patel’s meeting with Gandhiji brought a significant change in his life and brought him into the Indian freedom struggle. He met Gandhiji for the first time at the Gujarat Political Conference in Godhra. On Gandhi’s encouragement, Patel became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha and later led the Kheda Satyagraha.

Patel supported Gandhiji’s noncooperation movement. Not only that, he supported Gandhiji’s decision of calling off the non-cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident. He considered Gandhiji as a role model and worked against alcoholism, untouchability, and caste discrimination, as well as for the empowerment of women. Gandhiji and Patel developed a close bond of affection, trust, and frankness. Their relationship could be described as that of an elder brother and his younger brother. Patel was intensely loyal to Gandhiji, and both he and Nehru looked to him to arbitrate disputes.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, more popularly known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’ in India, and ‘Bacha Khan’ in Pakistan was the pioneer of a Gandhian- style, non-violent struggle against the British. He was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, and also a political and spiritual leader of the Muslims and the rest of the country. Ghaffar Khan met Gandhi and entered politics in 1919, during the agitation over the Rowlatt Act, which permitted the confinement of political protestors without trial.

During the following year, he became part of the Khilafat Movement, and in 1921, he was elected president of a district Khilafat committee in his native province. Soon after attending a Congress meeting in 1929, Ghaffar Khan founded the Red Shirts movement among the Pashtuns. It championed non-violent nationalist agitation in support of Indian independence and sought to awaken the Pashtuns’ political consciousness. By the late 1930s, Ghaffar Khan had become a member of Gandhi’s inner circle of advisers. Ghaffar Khan, who had opposed the partition, chose to live in Paki-stan. His memoirs, ‘My Life and Struggle, ‘ was published in 1969.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore played a significant role in our freedom movement. He wrote the national anthem for our country. Even though Gandhiji and Tagore had differences over various matters, their patriotism connected them. Tagore was the one who first addressed Gandhiji as the Mahatma, which means great soul. Gandhiji called Tagore, Gurudev.

Tagore and Gandhiji met for the first time on March 6, 1915. Gandhiji changed the system of Congress and introduced new methods such as the non-cooperation movement and civil disobedience. Rabindranath Tagore had some differences of opinion regarding these movements, and he opposed the burning of foreign clothes. In spite of his differences with Gandhiji, Tagore respected Gandhiji for his great influence on the life of Indians.

Maulana Azad

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the most influential independent activists during India’s freedom struggle. He was also a noted writer, poet, and journalist. Azad was a prominent political leader of the Indian National Congress and was elected as Congress president in 1923 and 1940. He was elected as the president of the special session of the Congress in Delhi in 1923. Maulana Azad was arrested in 1930 for the violation of the salt laws as part of Gandhiji’s Salt Satyagraha. He was put in Meerut jail for a year and a half.

Maulana Azad became the President of the Congress in 1940 and remained in the post till 1946. Maulana Azad started a weekly called AIBalagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism based on Hindu-Muslim unity. Azad was a staunch opponent of partition and supported a confederation of autonomous provinces having a common defense and economy. Like Gandhiji, partition hurt him greatly and shattered his dream of a unified nation. Azad was the first education minister of Independent India.

Mahatma Gandhi: All About the Father of Nation India

Mahatma Gandhi

The life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a unique journey along the path of greatness. He courageously proclaimed that his life was his message. A simple man clad in a handwoven dhoti, he believed that the greatest weapon is one’s own character.

Gandhiji lived in troubled times when India’s social and political existence was crushed by the mighty British Empire. His clarity of vision and his mission ignited the minds of thousands of people. Under his leadership, the freedom struggle of India, for the first time, became a truly mass movement. He had no armies to command, yet the mightiest empire of the times was no match for his determined leadership, clear vision, and strength of character.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Life Timeline

1869: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born on October 2 in Porbandar. 1882: Married Kasturba. Both aged 13. 1888: Gandhi’s first son Harilal is born, Gandhi sails to England to study law. 1891: Returns to India after being called to bar. 1892: His second son Manilal is born. 1893: In April, sails to South Africa to work for Dada Abdullah & Co. 1896: Return to India to collect his family. 1897: His third son Ramdas, is born. 1899: Boer War: Gandhi supports the British and organizes Ambulance Corps. 1900: His youngest son Devadas, is born. 1904: Phoenix Farm purchases and Gandhi sets up his Ashram. 1906: Zulu Rebellion: Gandhi again organizes Ambulance corps. 1906: First Satyagraha campaign begins in South Africa. Gandhi is sent to prison four times during the next five years. 1913: South Africa repeals some of the discriminatory legislation against the Indian community. 1915: Gandhiji returns to India and founds an Ashram at Ahmedabad. 1919: Gandhiji calls for a hartal on March 30 and April 6. 1922: Gandhiji jailed in March for 6 years. Released in February 1924. 1928: Congress calls for Independence for India. 1930: March: the Salt March to Dandi. Gandhiji arrested in May just before the congress organizes the demonstration at the Dharasana Saltworks. 1931: Gandhiji released in January and leaves for Round Table Conference in London. 1932: On his return to India, Gandhiji is re-arrested. Released in May 1933:  In September, he starts fast to death on ‘untouchable issue’. 1942: “Quit India” resolution passed by the Congress. Gandhiji and other leaders arrested. 1944: Kasturba dies in prison on February 22nd. Gandhiji released in May. 1946: April: Jinnah calls for a separate Pakistan. August: Communal riots in Calcutta. Gandhiji goes into troubled areas. 1947: February: Lord Mountbatten appointed as the last Viceroy of British India. August 15: Independence declared. September: Gandhiji undertakes fast to the death against communal violence. 1948: January 30: Gandhiji assassinated by Nathuram Vinayak Godse.

Childhood of Gandhiji

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, on 2nd October 1869. His parents were Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai. His father worked as a prime minister in Porbandar and in Rajkot.

Putlibai was a deeply religious woman. She was also a vegetarian as per tradition and used to fast to cleanse herself of the craving for food. Neither fancy clothes nor jewelry attracted her. At the same time, she was a woman of great common sense and was well informed about all matters of state. She left a strong impression on young Mohandas, and he had great admiration for his mother. She treated all living creatures equally and respected them all. Putlibai valued the opinions of others. Now, it is clear that she laid the foundation for the values Gandhiji upheld. She was a role model for his life and principles.

Gandhiji’s life as a student began at Rajkot where he studied the basics of arithmetic, history, geography, and the Gujarati language. As a student, he did not show exceptional merit. He did not excel in the playground either. He was a boy who adored long walks rather than playing games.

Mahatma Gandhi matriculated from Bombay University in 1887. Gandhiji’s honesty finds mention in the pages of history. Once, during his school days, an inspector visited his school. The children have dictated five English words. His teacher encouraged young Mohandas to copy from his fellow student a word he had misspelled. He refused to do this, despite inviting the displeasure of his own teacher. Thus, though he was an ordinary student he had strongly embraced high values.

Gandhiji got good role models through reading. He came to know about many great characters in Indian mythology through reading. Among them were some who won his admiration like Raja Harischandra, a virtuous king who went through harsh tests, yet never deviated from the truth. He was also motivated by the story of Prahlad, the boy prince who showed his father the greatness of God. Such great characters had an overwhelming influence on young Gandhi. There is no doubt that these heroes had a great role to play in molding Gandhiji’s principles like truth and honesty.

Can you believe that there existed a time in India when child marriages were so common? Mahatma Gandhi was himself a victim of this practice. It may seem curious now, that most of the time these marriages took place without the children knowing they were entering a new life.

After marriage, these children would be happy to get a new playmate! Kasturbai Makhanji, later known as Kasturba Gandhi, and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi got married in the year 1883. Due to his marriage, he lost a year at school, but he later made up for this.

Life was a little bit confusing for both of them in the beginning. Young Mohandas often tried to control his wife with strict rules, but that didn’t work well. In his later life, Kasturba became an ardent supporter of Gandhiji’s public life.

Study Abroad

Gandhiji had qualified for college education after his matriculation in 1887. His father had been a Diwan in Porbandar, and everybody in the family was expecting Gandhiji too, to become a Diwan. At that time, a degree in law was a must to occupy this coveted post.

A family friend advised Gandhiji to pursue his study of law in England. This kindled a keen interest in Gandhiji, but there were a lot of hurdles in taking up studies in a foreign land. Foremost among them was the question of money. His family was not financially sound at that time. But this problem was solved when Gandhiji’s elder brother made arrangements for monetary support.

His mother was very particular about keeping his religious purity in food and other habits and he even had to take an oath to remain a strict vegetarian in England, and to keep his morals. The community to which he belonged also opposed Gandhiji’s journey to a foreign land. He was later declared an outcast by the community. In any case, he set out on his journey on September 4th, 1888.

Gandhiji in London

Gandhiji went to London to pursue his studies in law and to become a solicitor. The main problem he faced was food. Gandhiji was a vegetarian, and he had a tough time finding proper food. Even the vegetarian food he got was tasteless. He was in effect starving, and very reluctant to ask his landlady for extra rations of bread. Like any other Indian student who was studying abroad, Gandhiji was homesick, too.

English was an alien language for him. The English ways of dressing and etiquette appeared strange to Gandhiji. He was influenced by Henry Salt’s writing, and he joined the vegetarian society. He was also nominated to its executive committee. Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society. This organization, founded in 1875, to expand the horizon of universal brotherhood, had a great influence on him.

Gandhiji overcame initial difficulties with sheer willpower abroad. He made efforts to blend into the ways of English society. He tried to modify his attire. Gandhiji even asked his brother to send him a gold watch and made changes in his hairstyle by parting it.

Mahatma Gandhi also collected a top hat, evening suit, and walking stick. Can you believe, that in spite of his meager budget, he signed for dance lessons which he quit later, as he could not cope with them? Mahatma Gandhi thought that mastering the violin was a better option, so he invested money in that.

He even attended classes in public speaking. He also decided to take up the London matriculation exam with his studies. But the courses at University College London were not simple. Gandhiji finally passed his law examinations in January 1891 and enrolled as a barrister. Thus his student years in London came to an end and he sailed for India on 12th June 1891.

Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa

After his return from London, Gandhiji hunted for a job. He moved to Bombay, hoping to build up a career, but he could not find success there as a lawyer. Life became even more troublesome when he tried to be a part of a court case related to his brother, Laxmidas. That is when he received a job offer from an Indian business firm in South Africa named Dada Abdulla & Co. He had no choice other than to accept it.

He started his journey to South Africa in April 1893. This was a turning point in his life. He came to finish a single assignment but was to stay there for twenty-one years. On reaching South Africa, he was horrified to realize the condition of Indians there. This was a time when many Indians in Africa were deprived of their fundamental rights, because of their skin color. While practicing law, Gandhiji began to work for the Indians in South Africa.

Racial discrimination was common in the then South African society. Thousands of people were denied their basic rights on the basis of their skin color. Indians migrated to South Africa to work in the British plantations and farms. The driving force behind their migration was mainly monetary benefits, but the condition of the Indians was very poor compared to their lives in India.

They had to struggle to get a meager amount of money and even a loaf of bread. But some of them were able to overcome these struggles, and become as successful as the whites and they became a source of fear for the whites. The whites tried hard to exterminate the Indians in many ways. Various laws were introduced to attack the Indians and to curtail their fundamental rights. This racial segregation in a way touched every aspect of their life. Indians were given the status of ‘coolies’. Merchants were mocked as coolie merchants. For pretty long years, colored people could ride only in third class cars on South African trains.

Gandhiji got to know about the condition of Indians living there, and soon, he experienced the horror of the conditions himself.

One day, Gandhiji was on a business trip from Durban to Pretoria. He purchased a first-class ticket. Soon after Gandhi settled into the first-class carriage, a European passenger on that train complained to the conductor that an Indian was on board. This white man was very reluctant to share his compartment with Gandhiji. Gandhiji was told to move out of the compartment. He was pushed out of the train by the railway officials, along with his luggage.

Gandhiji spent the whole night in the station, shivering in the cold. He then took the firm decision to fight against racial discrimination. This journey was a turning point in the life of Gandhiji.

At Natal Indian Congress

Gandhiji while living in a place called Natal in South Africa, founded an organization known as the Natal Indian Congress. He was a tireless secretary of the congress. The prime aim of congress was to unity Indians, and make them aware of their rights. They struggled against the discrimination Indians faced at the hands of the British.

The constitution of the organization was officially launched on 22nd August 1894. In its infant years, the Natal Indian Congress submitted many petitions for changes in discriminatory laws. Gandhiji imparted a harmonious spirit in the diverse Indian community.

He plied all the government offices, legislature, and the media with logical statements of the grievances of the Indian community. Gandhiji and his organization stood for the cause of the upliftment of the Indian working class. Thus it became a burning issue in newspapers like ‘The Times of London’, and ‘Englishman’ of Calcutta.

Do you know who the Boers are? ‘Boer’ is the Dutch word for farmer. It was used to designate the progenies of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the Eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century. Boer War was fought between the British and Boers. This war was a symbol of the imperialistic greed of the British over its colonies. The British decided to mine gold and diamonds in the land of Boers. The Boers became so offended by this decision, that they declared war against the British. Eventually, the Boers lost the war against the British.

Surprisingly, the Indians in South Africa, along with Gandhiji, supported the British, during the war, though they sympathized with the condition of the Boers. This was because they believed that only then could they survive, or earn their rights in the territory of Britain. The service provided by the Indians in the Warfield was appreciated by the British officers.

First Experiment with Satyagraha

Gandhiji was an ardent believer of Satyagraha as a powerful weapon. The word Satyagraha means truth-force. It embraces civil disobedience and relentless pursuit of truth and peace. This inspirational concept, which completely changed the face of the Indian struggle for independence, was first tested in South Africa.

Gandhiji proposed certain rules for satyagrahis to follow. He trained the Indians during the South African passive resistance campaign. In short, this was a trial run for his future campaigns. No worship of violence, and belief in suffering the insults patiently, etc. are the mottos of a satyagrahi.

Satyagraha does not aim at humiliating rivals but aims to soften their heart by peace. Satyagraha was fruitful in South Africa and along with this, Gandhiji practiced self-reliance. It was compulsory for him that his family should also be self-reliant. He used to wash his clothes by himself. He cut his own hair, and that of his children as well. In short, it is clear that the Indian freedom struggle was a much bigger test for Gandhiji and his idea of Satyagraha.

Influence of John Ruskin

John Ruskin and his magnum opus ‘Unto This Last,’ were an influential force in Gandhiji’s life. Ruskin argued in his writing that true wealth is not earning more and more money but accustomed more to peace in one’s life. He also held that being peaceful is more imperative than being powerful.

Motivated by this idea, Gandhiji began a farm outside Durban-the Phoenix settlement. It was Gandhiji’s first experimental ashram. In the ashram, Gandhiji and his supporters lived a life of no luxuries. They cultivated and ran a printing press for the Indians to express their opinions.

They published a weekly journal founded by Gandhiji. It featured informative articles on various topics like politics, diet, health, and sanitary habits. The Tolstoy Farm was another community started by Gandhiji near Johannesburg. Gandhiji urged proper hygiene in his ashrams, as he believed that being hygienic is important for a healthy spiritual life.

Return from South Africa

Gandhiji was a popular figure when he returned to India from South Africa. He returned along with his family in 1915. He received a warm welcome from his people. Gandhiji was not aware of the existing conditions and key problems in India. So, he was certain not to campaign for the rights of Indians until he got to know the context clearly.

Gandhiji built an ashram at Sabarmati in the heart of Ahmadabad. About 200 people including men and women promised to live in the ashram, according to the principles of Gandhiji. They had to follow a simple vegetarian diet, with prayer and social service. There were no luxuries. Weaving was their major vocation. Gandhiji encompassed the castaways also. This caused great disapproval among the inhabitants of the ashram itself. Even in the contemporary world, there are ashrams around India, where people still follow the Gandhian philosophy of life.

Role of Gopal Krishna Gokhale in Gandhiji’s life

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a social and political leader of the Congress party, known for his restraint and moderation, and his determination to work inside the system. Gandhiji admired Gokhale a lot, and his liberal outlook impressed him very much.

Gandhiji knew Gokhale from his South African days. When he came back to India, Gandhiji went to see Gokhale. Gokhale urged him to get a better understanding of India’s present status and problems so that he could practice Satyagraha in the Indian struggle for freedom.

In his autobiography, Gandhiji talked about Gokhale as his greatest supporter and guide. Gandhiji had an admiration for Gokhale being a political leader as well. He respected the principles of Gokhale. Gandhiji described Gokhale as being pure as crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion, and chivalrous to a fault. But, regardless of Gandhiji’s extreme reverence for Gokhale, he also had differences of opinion with him.

The Champaran and Kheda agitations of Bihar and Gujarat in 1918 were the first golden feathers in Gandhiji’s crown. What was the Champaran agitation? It was piloted by the local agrarians of Champaran in Bihar. They were enforced to cultivate indigo, whose demand had been declining over two decades, and were forced to sell their crops at a fixed price. Unhappy by this condition, they asked for Gandhiji’s help. Gandhiji proclaimed civil disobedience, and his fight for justice was rewarded.

The government compelled the landholders to refund a portion of the rent to the farmers, and the enforcement of indigo cultivation was also abolished. The Kheda Agitation took place when Kheda was affected by famine in 1918, and planters were demanding liberation from the levies. Gandhiji, along with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel battled for this cause, using non-cooperation as a weapon. The deadlock lasted for five months as the authorities were not ready to compromise. But finally, at the end of May 1918, the government relaxed the conditions of reimbursement of the taxes up until the famine ended.

Mahatma Gandhi supported the British in World War I

Many Indian soldiers flocked to participate in World War I. It was for them Gandhiji extended his support. This was partly due to the promise of the British government to reciprocate by supporting the Indian dream of Swaraj, after the end of World War I. The largely relocated Indian soldiers fought along with British soldiers. They struggled in numerous areas like Mesopotamia and Europe. Many lost their lives in the battles.

Britain and her allies emerged victoriously. But Indians lost their hearts as the British retreated from their promise of self-government after World War I. Instead of self-government, they offered minor reforms, but most of them were disappointing to Gandhiji and his followers. In short, Indians felt embittered. Then, it became clearer to Gandhiji and his men that the British would not free India, at any cost.

Khilafat Movement

When Gandhiji entered the Indian political scene, there was great communal disharmony among the people. Gandhiji asserted that Indians should be united to fight against the mighty imperial power of the British. It was in this background that the Khilafat issue came up. After Turkey was defeated in the First World War, its territories were divided among European powers.

The Ottoman emperor in Turkey was also the Sultan-Khalifa of the global Musli m community. There was great worry among the Indian Muslims over the fate of the holy places of Islam which were under the custodianship of the Khalifa. Gandhiji feared that their resentment would turn into violent channels, and he wanted to prevent this.

Therefore, he offered to lead the Muslim community on this issue, if they accepted his nonviolent methods . His decision to help the Khilafat Movement was questioned by many. After the termination of the Khilafat Movement when Turkey gained a more favorable diplomatic position, communal riots started in many places in India, much to the displeasure of Gandhiji.

Rowlatt Act

The Rowlatt Act was the legislation passed by the Imperial Legislative Council, and it was officially named the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act. It was passed on March 18th, 1919. The act was based on the report of the Rowlatt committee, and it was also named after its president, British judge, Sir Sidney Rowlatt. The act aroused protests among Indians. It endangered the basic civil rights of people who participated in political activities against the government.

This act gave enormous powers to the police for inspection, and to arrest any person on any grounds without a warrant. It aimed at curtailing the freedom of the Indian citizens, and to suppress any nationalist uprising in the country. The act injured civil rights and even the nationality of the Indians. Gandhiji was extremely critical of this act. It caused the government to enact repressive measures against the Indian citizens.

The legal fight against the Rowlatt Act seemed futile. Do you know what Gandhiji did? Gandhiji accepted this fact and decided to conduct a hartal or a general strike as a way of demonstrating his objection to the implementation of this act.

A day of hartal was declared, where everything came to a stand-still. Stores had to be closed. Employees went on strike. These were attempts of civil disobedience on a mass scale. The Indians hoped that these actions would deliver a message of repudiation and resistance to the Britishers. Remarkable support against the unfair law received from all streams of the society was appreciable. But Satyagraha was an unfamiliar weapon to many in India.

In many places, people turned violent. Gandhi recognized the seriousness of the situation and canceled the hartal. Then, Gandhiji launched a 72-hour fast as a penance for the violence in the hartal.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

We cannot trivialize the Rowlatt Act as a black act. The introduction of this act acted as a catalyst for many other events that led to India’s Independence. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was one such event. On April 13th, 1919 a peaceful protest meeting was going on in Amritsar, in a garden surrounded on three sides by high walls. This place was called Jallianwala Bagh.

The crowd consisted of some non-violent protesters and pilgrims who had come for Baishakhi celebrations. The British commander General Dyer decided to crush the meeting with utmost brutality. The innocent crowd was fired without giving them the warning to disperse. About 379 lives were lost in the massacre and more than 1200 were injured.

This brutality traumatized Indians. Many Indians who were at once staunch believers of peace, took to weapons, in reaction to the callous attitude of the British. Gandhiji was horrified and was determined to free India from the pitiless hands of the British without bloodshed. As an act of protest, he returned the medals which he was given by the British during the Boer War.

Changes in Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, by a British named A.O. Hume. It started as an elitist organization and was an association of intelligentsia. In 1924, Gandhiji emerged as the president of the Indian National Congress. He put forth a number of reforms within the party.

The first major change was in the party’s reach to the masses who resided in the remote villages of India, thereby eliminating the elitist status of the party. Gandhiji famously stated that the soul of India lies in our villages, both in monetary and in logistical terms. Hence, no movement can be truly fruitful without the wholehearted support of the dwellers of the Indian villages.

After taking the presidential ship of the Indian National Congress, he introduced the principles of Satyagraha. The party witnessed the birth of many charismatic leaders with great public appeal. They were also loyal to Gandhiji. Thus the non-cooperation movement naturally reached massive national dimensions with a huge number of followers. This movement marked the beginning of the life of Gandhiji as the leader of the masses.

Newspapers published by Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi published two journals, ‘Young India’ and ‘Navjivan’ to air his views and to educate the public about Satyagraha. Educating his countrymen was his priority when he started these newspapers. Young India was one of the prominent newspapers introduced by Gandhiji. He used Young India to propagate his unique propaganda regarding the use of nonviolence in organizing movements. Mahatma Gandhi urged the readers to consider, organize, and plan for India’s eventual struggle for Independence from British imperialism. He began publishing another weekly newspaper called Harijan in 1933 in English.

The word ‘Harijan’ means ‘the people of God’. The newspaper lost its popularity in 1948. During this time, Mahatma Gandhi also published Harijan Bandu in Gujarati, and Harijan Sevak in Hindi. ‘Young India’ and ‘Harijan’ became the influential voices of his own views on all subjects. The language in which he wrote in newspapers was passionate and powerful, and he wrote about burning issues of the time.

Swadeshi policy

The Swadeshi policy was part and parcel of the non-cooperation movement. Gandhiji urged people to boycott British goods and to throw their foreign clothes into the fire. Gathering at crossroads, people burnt their imported clothes. They picketed the shops selling western goods. People took firm decisions like using only goods made in India, and this was famously called the Swadeshi movement.

Gandhiji always wanted Indians to spin their clothes by themselves. He promoted Khadi products as an alternative to British made clothes. Every day Gandhiji would spin 182 meters of yarn. He would never take rest without completing his daily chores. He perceived the spinning wheel as a symbol of liberation. It was common in the congress meetings and also wherever nationalists gathered. The spinning wheel was viewed as one of Gandhiji’s efforts to revive the village economy and to help the village folk to come out of their poverty.

Chauri Chaura incident

The Chauri Chaura incident is a black mark on the pages of Indian history. This happened on 5th February 1922. On this day, a large group of peaceful protesters participating in a procession had an encounter with the police, who opened fire. Combat broke out between the police and the mob. Then, the demonstrators set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura, killing all of its occupants.

This incident led to the deaths of three civilians and 22 policemen. Mahatma Gandhi was disheartened by this incident and halted the non-cooperation movement on the national level. On the other hand, the British declared martial law in response to the incident. Numerous raids were conducted, and hundreds of people were arrested. Gandhi went on a fast for five days after this incident. Thus, Chauri Chaura became a backlash for the Indian way of peaceful resistance.

The British authorities were worried about the consequences of arresting Gandhiji. However, when the unhappy incident occurred at Chauri Chaura, they seized the opportunity to arrest him. Gandhiji was taken into custody on the evening of March 10th, 1922 from his ashram. He was accused of revolting against the government and was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

Gandhiji spent his prison days in a fruitful way. He got acquainted with many books, and he found time also to spin his charka. Some of the books that dominated his reading time were Bernard Shaw’s ‘Man and Superman’, Buckle’s ‘History of Civilisation in England’, H. G. Wells’ ‘Outline of History’, Goethe’s ‘Faust’ and Kipling’s ‘The Barrack-Room Ballads’. His interest in literary studies that had been neglected due to his busy schedule, was revived during these prison days. He was released in 1924 for an operation for severe appendicitis.

Simon Commission

The British Government decided that a commission should be sent to India to examine the effects and operations of the Montagu-Chelm’s-ford reforms, and also to suggest more reforms in India. The commission was a group of seven Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom, under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon, assisted by Clement Attlee.

The Simon Commission arrived in India, in 1928. They came to study the constitutional reforms in India, but the Indian political parties were completely ignored in this process. They were neither approached nor asked to participate in the discussions.

The Indians felt insulted and took a decision to boycott the Simon Commission. This decision was taken at the meeting of the Indian National Congress in Madras. They also challenged Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State for India, to draft a constitution that would be satisfactory to the Indian masses. Gandhiji was frustrated by the approach of the Simon Commission towards Indians.

Everywhere, the Simon Commission was received by angry protesters waving black flags and shouting the slogan, ‘Simon Go Back!’. The conditions in Punjab were even worse, where Lala Lajpat Rai, the prominent leader, died during the protests.

Simon Commission had arrived in Lahore on 30th October 1928, and the protest there was headed by Lala Lajpat Rai. He had risen to fame through his resolution against the Commission in the Legislative Assembly of Punjab in February 1928. In order to make way for the Commission, the local police force began to beat protesters in which Lala Lajpat Rai was killed. This made the Commission even more infamous. The commission published its two-volume report in May 1930. But the report was not accepted by the Indians.

Purna Swaraj

Indians dreamt of a free nation. But the Simon Commission instigated a difference of opinion among Indians regarding self-government. Only Gandhiji was capable of mending this gap. Despite the fact that Indians were suspicious of the intentions of the British, they were unified in their desire for the making of a free India.

Thus, Congress decided to celebrate the Purna Swaraj declaration or the announcement of the Indian Independence. Mahatma Gandhi hoisted the Indian flag on 31st December 1929, in Lahore. The Indian flag was hoisted publicly everywhere by the congress volunteers. People were asked to celebrate Independence Day on 26th January. Gandhiji and other Indian leaders began to plan for a massive non-violent campaign to encourage the common people to embrace peace, even if they were attacked by the British.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience Movement

The civil disobedience movement of the year 1930 was a landmark in the history of Indian nationalism. Disobeying British laws was the core of this movement. Indians had lost faith in the British and their government because of their continuous neglect of the local people. Congress had no option other than to launch the civil disobedience movement.

It was then that Gandhiji wrote a letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India narrating the many injustices of British rule. The decision to launch the ‘satyagraha’ campaign by producing salt at Dandi was also conveyed through the letter. The British ignored the letter. Therefore, Gandhiji and Congress decided to launch the massive civil disobedience movement to defy the British.

Gandhiji inaugurated the movement in 1930, by violating the salt law. Salt was produced everywhere. Indians dared to do anything, even at the cost of their lives, for their dream of a free India. The Dandi Salt March with its spirit united Indians and had an immense effect on the whole nation.

Salt March aka Dandi March

Salt has enormous significance as it is an indispensable ingredient in our food. Ever since the East India Company established its power, it became a criminal offense for Indians to produce and sell salt. Gandhiji disobeyed this law laid down by the British.

The ruling government-imposed tax even on salt, and earned a large profit from that too. Not surprisingly, the salt tax represented 8.2 percent of the British Raj tax revenue. The British believed that they would be able to establish their full control over natural resources by manufacturing salt.

Indians found this hard to digest. Many were skeptical of Mahatma Gandhi’s choice of salt as a means of civil disobedience. But some leaders like C. Rajagopalachari understood Gandhiji’s viewpoint. After the protest gathered momentum, leaders recognized the value of salt as a symbol and appreciated Gandhiji’s genius in choosing salt.

The Dandi March was indeed a march towards India’s Independence. It was covered extensively through newspapers and documentaries. This historic event grabbed the attention of newspapers internationally, and they wrote editorials about it. It gave momentum to the nationwide civil disobedience. This march was an organized challenge to the British authority, and in a way, a blow to their esteem.

The Dandi March, which was followed by the Noncooperation movement and the declaration of Purna Swaraj, also occupied a significant place in the pages of India’s history. Do you know what happened on that day? Gandhiji started a march from his ashram in Sabarmati, to Dandi Beach in Gujarat. The march lasted for 24 days. It began on 12th March 1930 and ended on 6th April 1930. About 79 people accompanied Gandhiji for the march of 390 Km to the Dandi.

The participation of women in the freedom fight was not notable, until the Dandi March. But the Salt Satyagraha changed the whole scenario. Thousands of women, from urban to rural areas began to actively participate in Satyagraha. Gandhiji had asked only men to be part of Dandi March. But the radical action inspired the women of the country as well.

Sarojini Naidu, the nightingale of India, led 2500 volunteers in a march to Dharasana salt works on 21st May. The salt work was guarded by the police. They attacked the satyagrahis with lathis. Not a single person raised his hand against the police. Sarojini Naidu was arrested and sent to jail. The participation of women in Salt Satyagraha was rapidly growing day by day. The Salt Satyagraha earned glory because of the massive participation from all walks of society.

First Round Table Conference

The round table Conferences were a series of conferences aimed to discuss the future of India. Demands for Swaraj or self-rule had been growing across India. By the 1930s, many British politicians believed that India needed to move towards dominion status. In order to make decisions regarding this, they conducted three Round Table Conferences in London.

The first one among these was organized in England on November 12th, 1930. There were 89 delegates from India who attended the conference. Indian delegates also made their presence felt at the conference, but no member of the Indian National Congress was invited. It was also true that many of the Indian leaders were imprisoned for their participation in the civil disobedience movement. Later, the British realized that they would have to work with the Congress as it was India’s most prominent party. As a gesture of goodwill, Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders were released.

Gandhi Irwin Pact

The rising intensity of the civil disobedience movement worried the British. Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, initiated negotiations with Gandhiji, which led to the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5th March in 1931 before the Second Round table Conference in London.

There were many provisions in the pact. One of the main provisions was to stop the civil disobedience movement. Another proposal was the participation of the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference. The pact also stated that the British government was also ready to lift the ban on the Indian National Congress. Peaceful picketing was allowed, but picketing for the boycott of foreign goods was not to be allowed beyond a limit permitted by law.

The Congress agreed to join the Second Round Table Conference to sketch the constitutional reforms. Some of the other conditions were that the British would retract all orders imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress. They also agreed to withdraw trials except those involving violence and to release prisoners arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement. It was believed that they would identify him as one among them only when he wore simple clothes. He stuck to this attire even when he traveled on trips abroad, and until his last breath.

When he attended the round table conference, Mahatma Gandhi was in a dhoti and a shawl. Once, when he visited Buckingham Palace, he was asked whether he felt unclothed compared to King George V. Gandhiji retorted humorously that the King had enough on him for both of them! Gandhiji was appreciated by many, in spite of his dressing style. In short, Gandhiji’s personal habits, his attire, and his diet fascinated the English people.

Gandhiji’s visit to Lancashire

Lancashire was the heart of Britain’s textile industry, which was greatly affected by the boycott of foreign clothes by Indians. Therefore, Gandhiji’s visit to this place was a significant move. Gandhiji proclaimed at Springvale Garden Village, There is no boycott of British cloth, as distinguished from other foreign cloth, since the 5th of March when the truce was signed.

As a nation, we have pledged to boycott all foreign cloth, but in case of an honorable settlement between England and India, I should not hesitate to give preference to Lancashire cloth over all other foreign cloth, to the extent that we may need to supplement our cloth and on agreed terms”. He spoke of being the “representative of half-naked, half-starved dumb Indians”. He was pained by the unemployment created in the Lancashire cotton mills as a result of the boycott of foreign clothes in India. Mahatma Gandhi did not fail to meet a single group of workers in the factory. And, he went on to explain the fact that there was no starvation or semi-starvation among Lancashire workers. But, he said, “we have both”. He told them about the poor standard of living of the Indians compared to the high resources they enjoyed.

Gandhi’s view on World War II

The British tried to lure India with the promise of a free state in return for their valuable support during wartime. But the Indians were rebuffed when they were asked for Independence. Gandhiji did not accept this offer as he firmly believed in non-violence. The period of the Second World War was not only a period of external tensions but also internal conflicts.

The great famine of Bengal of 1943 was one of the many disasters India faced during the war. Despite the disastrous effects of World War II, it brought about a golden age in the colonies of Britain. The age of anxiety paved the way for the age of hope and freedom. Despite its many aftermaths, the end of the imperialistic era was glorious. The repercussion of the war occurred in all its colonies. India lost the lives of many army men. The cries for self-government and the loss of faith in the ruling imperialists were heard everywhere.

Although Mahatma Gandhi works for India’s freedom from the British Empire since 1915, it was not until Britain was embroiled in World War II that the goal of Indian independence finally came within reach. In August of 1942, the All India Congress Committee gathered in Bombay, to formally endorse the Quit India movement, which called for an immediate end to British imperialism.

Cripps Mission

Winston Churchill’s declaration in the British Parliament to send Sir Stafford Cripps to India seemed a good decision Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in Delhi on 22nct March 1942 and immediately started his discussions with the Governor-General and the counselors. The leaders of different parties met him, and consultations and discussions went on for twenty days. Nehru and Maulana Azad represented the Congress.

Muhammed Ali Jinnah represented the Muslims, and B.R. Ambedkar represented the socially backward classes. Leaders from all the communities of Indian society were represented. Cripps had prepared a draft declaration for Indian leaders which included terms like the establishment of dominion status for India, introduction of a constitutional assembly, and the granting of rights to the provinces to make separate constitutions. These offers would be granted only after the conclusion of the war.

The Congress committee rejected the proposals because they were related primarily to the future. Cripps proposals were suddenly withdrawn on 11th April 1942. The whole drama of the Cripps Mission to India seemed to be only a propaganda move, without any intention of acceding to India’s demands. Cripps Mission’s proposals were unacceptable to Gandhiji and Congress. Commenting on this, Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank.”

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, at the Bombay Session of the All India Congress Committee. A resolution was passed demanding an immediate end to the British rule. A mass non-violent struggle was organized on the widest scale possible. Gandhiji’s slogan of ‘Do or Die’ inspired millions of Indians, and strengthened their determination to die, rather than give up the goal of freedom.

The British response to the movement was quick. Congress was banned, and most of its leaders were arrested before they could start mobilizing the people. The people, however, were unstoppable. They attacked all the symbols of the British government such as railway stations, law courts, and police stations. Railway lines were damaged, and telegraph lines were cut. In some places, people even formed alternative governments. The British responded to this with terrible brutality. However, though they could oppress the people, they could not suppress the people’s demand that foreign rulers should quit India.

Impact of Kasturba Gandhi’s Death on Mahatma Gandhi

One of the most devastating incidents in Gandhiji’s personal life was the demise of his wife, Kasturba Gandhi in 1944. Kasturba was an unlettered woman when she entered Gandhiji’s life in 1883. It was Gandhiji who gave her the first lessons in learning how to read and write. She respected the ideals of her husband, though she had disagreements with him on many grounds. Kasturba, an ardent supporter of Gandhiji throughout his life, was affectionately called ‘Ba’ by Gandhiji. Kasturba worked alongside her husband. When Gandhi became involved in the agitation to improve the working conditions of Indians in South Africa and gave them the power to represent themselves, Kasturba eventually decided to join the struggle.

In September 1913, she was arrested, and sentenced to three months, imprisonment with hard labor. After Gandhiji’s return to India, Kasturba took Gandhiji’s place when he was under arrest and was always closely associated with the freedom struggle of India, giving encouragement to women volunteers. Kasturba was active in supervising the activities of the ashram and lived like a satyagrahi. She joined the Quit India Movement along with Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhiji was arrested during the Quit India Movement in 1942. Later, Kasturba too got arrested along with many followers of Gandhiji. She was confined in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. Kasturba Gandhi spent her last hours in the prison, and she breathed her last in the lap of Gandhiji on 22nd February 1944. After her death, Gandhi indeed lost a pillar of strength in his life. “I cannot imagine life without Ba … her passing has left a vacuum which will never be filled,” Gandhi wrote.

Formation of Interim Government

The Interim Government of India was formed on September 2nd, 1946, to help the transition of India from British rule to independence. In August 1946, the Congress decided to join the Interim Government in response to the call of the British Government to facilitate the process of transfer of power. The Interim Government was headed by the Viceroy, Lord Wavell.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the Vice-President of the Council, with the powers of a Prime Minister. Leaders like Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Jagjivan Ram, C. Rajagopalachari, etc. also held prominent positions. This government was entrusted with the mission of assisting the transition of India and Pakistan from British rule to independence as two separate nations.

The Interim Government was in place till 15th August 1947, when the nations of India and Pakistan received independence from colonial rule. Until August 15th, 1947, India continued under the rule of the United Kingdom and the Interim Government set out to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, such as the United States of America. For the time being, the Constituent Assembly, from which the Interim Government was created, had the challenging task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India.

Idea of Partition

During the second half of the nineteenth century, when British dominance had been firmly established throughout the Indian subcontinent, some novel trends were in the making. Colonialism boosted a spirit of nationalism, but at the same time, also caused feelings of communalism to rise up. Thus, the colonial rule had a dubious role in the making of India. The flare-up of the communal issue ultimately resulted in the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan.

In fact, the Congress opposed the partition up to 1945, but it had to accept it subsequently, as a remedial measure. Nationalist historians blame this on the colonial policy of divide and rule, but imperial ideologues maintain that the Indian socio-cultural milieu caused it.

The demand of the Muslim League and Jinnah for a separate nation was found unreal by Congress leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru. But when the League rejected long term provisions of the Cabinet Mission plan and announced the ‘Direct Action’ from 16th August 1946, the Congress leaders were compelled to reconsider their approach towards the demand. The League envisaged the Congress as a Hindu elitist group and was fearful of the Hindu Swaraj. This led to the partition of India, despite all of the peace-making efforts of the Congress Party.

Lord Louis Mountbatten

Shortly after his arrival in India on 24th March 1947, Lord Mountbatten took part in discussions with Indian political leaders. He had free and frank discussions with Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhiji, and other prominent leaders. He had talks with the members of the Muslim League too.

Mountbatten worked sincerely with the goal of persuading the Congress and the League to agree to an acceptable plan, to end the rule of the British Raj, and to work out the modalities for the withdrawal of the British. He also wanted to keep India in the Commonwealth of Nations. The time was also favorable for his plans. India was tormented by communal wars.

Brutality and human sacrifice were spiraling beyond human endurance. Being the last British Viceroy in India, Mountbatten got abundant freedom to solve the prevailing issues without any interference from Britain. Since the time at his disposal was very short, he wanted to prepare for the transfer of power without wasting time. Mountbatten knew the art of dealing with the political leaders of India in a dignified way. Mahatma Gandhi alone opposed the idea of partition among the leaders. But ultimately, he too accepted the decision with a deep sense of sorrow.

Mahatma Gandhi and First Independence Day

On 15th August 1947, when the day of independence finally arrived, it was celebrated with gusto everywhere in the country. Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India, hoisted the Indian national flag at the Red Fort in Delhi. But in Calcutta, disturbed by the partition, Gandhiji was on his tireless pursuit to end the violence that had torn the nation apart.

Gandhiji refused to participate in any merriment along with his protege Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who was the last person to fight partition till the very end. He believed that the kind of freedom India had got contained the seeds of future conflict between India and Pakistan. Gandhiji’s fears came true at the time of partition. Many people lost their lives. India and Pakistan witnessed fifteen crores of its citizens migrating from one place to another. Soon communal riots broke out.

On 9th August, Gandhi reached Calcutta ready to move on to Noakhali, a place torn by communal riot. Gandhiji decided to stay at Hyderi Manzil, adjacent to a Muslim dominated slum called Miabagan. There, he held prayer meetings.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Last Fast

Gandhiji began his last fast on 13th January 1948. He announced his intention to fast till death. He was then aged 78, and it was his eighteenth fast. Gandhiji’s health declined very quickly during this time. On 18th January, after five very difficult days, political and religious leaders came to assure Gandhiji that attacks would end.

They promised to restore communal peace and friendship by every possible effort. Gandhiji broke his fast on the sixth day. But, without giving time for his body to recover from the fast, he again started working. But, there was a fraction of a society that disliked Gandhi, and slowly, their number was growing.

On one of his evening prayer meetings, a bomb was thrown. It didn’t injure anyone. But it was clearly a warning sign that Gandhiji’s life was under threat. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then minister of home affairs, was fearful that Gandhiji would be killed. He wanted to search for everyone attending the prayer meeting. But Gandhi refused to agree to this proposal.

The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30th January 1948, by Nathuram Godse at Birla House in New Delhi. At 5:17 pm on 30th January 1948, Gandhiji walked to the prayer grounds. His grandnieces held his arms, as he had trouble walking alone. Gandhiji was weakened by fasting. Hundreds of people had assembled for the prayers. Gandhiji reached the stage and greeted the audience.

Suddenly, a young man rushed forward. He kneeled before Gandhiji, and then rose to pull out a pistol and fired three bullets. Everything finished within minutes. Gandhiji fell down dead. His last words were “Hey Ram”. The assassin was Nathuram Godse. He was an extremist who believed that Gandhiji was associating with Muslims, against Hindus. Nathuram Godse was seized immediately. Godse had planned the murder along with Narayan Apte, another extremist, and six others. Both Godse and Apte were executed in 1949. The other conspirators were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral procession took place on January 31st. The Mahatma had specified before he died, that he did not want his body preserved, but instead, wanted a traditional cremation. Gandhi’s body was placed upon a flower-bedecked military weapons carrier, which was pulled, using ropes, by two hundred men from the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force. The vehicles had their engines switched off. It took four and a half hours for the procession to cover eight kilometers, beginning at the Birla House and proceeding to the banks of the Yamuna River.

Ramdas, the third son of Gandhiji, lit the funeral pyre. People shouted the slogan ‘Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai’. The next day, the second service was held by his friends and relatives by collecting the ashes in a khadi bag, and then, the bag was placed in a copper urn. Ashes of Gandhiji were carried through the streets of Allahabad in procession.

After thirteen days of mourning, Gandhiji’s ashes were sprinkled in seven sacred rivers of India. On his death, Nehru remarked, “the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere . . .” Gandhiji’s monument at Raj Ghat attracts visitors from around the world, as well as noted personalities who wish to pay their respects to the father of the nation. People around the world adopted the idea of Gandhiji and became famous as Gandhi of their country .

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Britain’s top British writers

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We list the top British writers who make up our great literary landscape, from William Shakespeare to Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond

British writers

1. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

William Shakespeare – also known as the Bard – is the most famous of British writers. The playwright is still commemorated for having coined nearly 1,700 of the words and phrases we still use today. He began as a playwright and as an actor in London although he is as known for his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon where many of his plays are still performed. Shakespeare died in 1616 leaving most of his estate to his daughter Susanna. The only mention of his wife, Anne Hathaway, in his last will and testament was to leave her his “second best bed”.

British writers

2. Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Paving the way for female British writers everywhere, for a woman to write, and to write about women, in her time was not the ‘done thing’ so it comes as no surprise to hear that the name we know so well today, Jane Austen, published her novels anonymously. Her books deal with the lives of the upper and middle classes in England. Sense and Sensibility came first, but all her books were a resounding success – Emma , Mansfield Park , Northanger Abbey , Persuasion – while Pride and Prejudice was famously described by Austen as her ‘darling child’ and remains a national favourite. Her house in Chawton in Hampshire is open to visit.

British writers

3.  Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

From A Christmas Carol to Oliver Twist , it is difficult not to recognise one of Charles Dickens’ iconic tales. The Victorian writer is quintessential of his time. He dealt with the struggles of contemporary life with unforgettable characters. Dickens was also a lover of theatre – both writing and performing – and performed for Queen Victoria in 1851. His birthplace museum in Portsmouth is open for visitors.

British writers

4. Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)

The eldest of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte outlived both her sisters and their successes. Jane Eyre , her most famous novel, created an enduring image of the wild moors of Yorkshire and introduced her criticism of society’s treatment of women. She did not actively seek to defy the roles set for women at the time, as others like George Sand did, but used her words in a modest feminist stand against the times.

5. George Eliot (1819-1880)

Hiding behind her pen name, George Eliot, Mary Ann Evans wanted to be taken seriously as a novelist at a time when women’s writing was often associated with romantic novels. She met her partner George Henry Lewes through her literary circle in London. As he was married, their relationship was shunned by friends and family but they lived together despite the scandal. Her most famous novel, Middlemarch helped her to gain social acceptance through her psychological insights.

6. CS Lewis (1898-1963)

Born in Northern Ireland, Lewis studied at Oxford University. After serving as a soldier in WW1, he settled into life as a professor first at Oxford and then Cambridge university. Although renowned for his children’s fantasy tales, he also wrote profusely on religion and theology. However, his first book in his Chronicles of Narnia series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, released in 1950, remains one of the most beloved of his published works.

British writers

7. George Orwell (1903-1950)

Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell adopted his pen name shortly before his first book in 1933 called Down and Out in Paris and London . By the time he published his first big novel, Animal Farm in 1945, he was an established, and indeed prolific, journalist. He had dealt with British colonies, unemployed miners, civil wars and communism in his work – all of which had a profound impact on his writing. Animal Farm shows his anti-Stalin beliefs through a political, farmyard fable. Several years later Nineteen Eighty-Four came out and secured his longevity as an author.

8. Ian Fleming (1908-1964)

The writer of the Bond novels created a winning framework for the world of spy literature. However, he did not begin to create and develop the Bond character until the age of 43. After a successful career working in newspapers, as a broker and in Naval Intelligence – where his creative genius may well have been sparked – he settled in his house in Jamaica where Bond was born. After writing  Casino Royale , the first adventure of James Bond, he continued to publish 13 more titles, which have been played out in iconic blockbuster hits since. Diverging from the adult scene just once, he wrote the story of the flying car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for his only son Caspar.

 9.  Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

British novelist, Roald Dahl, has straddled both the adult short story and the children’s story genre and is certainly one of the most-loved British writers of all time. Many believe his first book to be James and the Giant Peach , but it was in fact a picture book called The Gremlins , which was adapted from the script for the potential, but unrealised, Walt Disney film. He did not publish another children’s book until he was a father and decided to concentrate on his short stories for adults, which he later continued alongside his prolific books. Dahl created many wonderful characters such as the BFG, the Twits and Willy Wonka in his children’s books and wrote in a magical ‘whizz-popping’ language that still enthrals readers.

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103 Famous Writers in English Literaure and Their Special Titles

103 Famous Writers in English Literaure and Their Special Titles

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2 thoughts on “103 Famous Writers in English Literaure and Their Special Titles”

Charls Lamb is known as the Prince of English essays.

Mulk Raj Anand is called as Charles Dickens of India

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25 Famous Female Authors Who Transformed Literature

Get to know the famous female authors who left their mark on the literary landscape. From classics to contemporary masterpieces, discover their stories!

Famous female authors are central to breaking conventions. By offering the female perspective, they reshaped the literary world to be more diverse and inclusive.

Did you know that there are more female writers in America? It’s not a wide gap. But to make up 50.45% of the industry that did not recognize women authors until the 1840s — isn’t that a win?

This progress was not easy, but it brought us the best female authors we celebrate today. In her 1981 speech , renowned writer Toni Morrison said: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” And write women did — there is no literary genre that doesn’t have a female writer.

Read on to discover the brave women who broke literary barriers!

Check out the debut novels nominated for the 2023 Women’s Prize For Fiction !

1. Charlotte Brontë, 1816 – 1855

2. jane austen, 1775 – 1817, 3. louisa may alcott, 1832 – 1888, 4. mary wollstonecraft, 1759 – 1797, 5. virginia woolf, 1882 – 1941, 6. elizabeth strout, 1956 –, 7. emily brontë, 1818 – 1848, 8. margaret atwood, 1939 –, 9. george eliot, 1819 – 1880, 10. alice walker, 1944 –, 11. j.k. rowling, 1965 –, 12. chimamanda ngozi adichie, 1977 –, 13. harper lee, 1926 – 2016, 14. maya angelou, 1928 – 2014, 15. zadie smith, 1975 –, 16. agatha christie, 1890 – 1976, 17. anne brontë, 1820 – 1849, 18. mary shelley, 1797 – 1851, 19. toni morrison, 1931 – 2019, 20. geraldine brooks, 1955 –, 21. edith wharton, 1862 – 1937, 22. harriet beecher stowe, 1811 – 1896, 23. joan didion, 1934 – 2021, 24. beatrix potter, 1866 – 1943, 25. gertrude stein, 1874 – 1946, the best female authors of all time.

Charlotte Bronte

Born in Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire, Charlotte Brontë started creating poetry at age 13 . Her 1847 novel, Jane Eyre , published under the pen name Currer Bell, is her most known work. The first-person narrative fiction tells the story of a heroine who undergoes spiritual and moral growth. Despite societal expectations and challenges, she remains humble but strong-willed, making her a likable, relatable protagonist. Its feminist themes and Gothic elements make Jane Eyre an English literature classic, with adaptations in various mediums such as films, radio, and theater.

Charlotte Brontë’s subsequent novels, Shirley and Villette, also center around strong female characters. Her sharp observations of women’s struggles and realistic depiction of the Victorian era cement Charlotte Brontë as a pioneer in women’s literature.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” Charlotte Brontë , Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

Jane Austen initially published her novels under the anonymous author By a Lady. Today, she’s one of the most prominent literary figures, best remembered for her romance novels, particularly Pride and Prejudice . It has a stubborn heroine with a strong sense of identity, memorable supporting characters, and an easy-to-follow plot structure.

Free indirect discourse — a literary style that combines third-person and first-person narration — is also credited to Austen . It gives readers access to the characters’ internal musings, fostering intimacy and creating emotional bonds.

Other notable Austen novels criticizing the then social hierarchy are Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion. Austen’s literary portfolio has inspired many adaptations.

“But for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.” Jane Austen

Pride & Prejudice

Novelist and short story writer Louisa May Alcott has always been dedicated to literature, starting with poetry at the age of eight . However, what cemented her as a distinguished literary and feminist writer is her children’s coming-of-age book, Little Women.

Drawing from her experiences, Little Women recounts a middle-class family’s life during the Civil War. In particular, it focuses on the family’s four sisters and their transition from little girls to women. Her prose is complex but balanced and digestible, making her work accessible to all age groups.

A sequel to Little Women was published in 1871, titled Little Men . Although published more than 150 years ago, the list of Little Women adaptations only continues to grow.

“I like good strong words that mean something…” Louisa May Alcott , Little Women

Little Women (Puffin in Bloom)

Mary Wollstonecraft was a passionate British advocate for women’s equality. As such, most of her writings revolve around granting women economic independence through proper education.

Wollstonecraft demonstrated women’s capacity through her writings. Her arguments in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , for instance, were organized and detailed. Not only to persuade readers but primarily for them to take her seriously, regardless of gender.

Many ideas in Western feminist theory echo that of Wollstonecraft, so she’s regarded as the “ Mother of First-Wave Feminism .” Her other works include Thoughts on the Education of Daughters and Mary, A Fiction .

Wollstonecraft had two daughters: Fanny Imlay and Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein .

“All the sacred rights of humanity are violated by insisting on blind obedience.” Mary Wollstonecraft , A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Virginia Woolf often experimented with her writing, making her a Modernist author . Modernists defied the rules of 19th-century Realism and pursued new forms of writing.

Woolf notoriously used stream-of-consciousness, a narrative style that portrays a character’s thought process in a lifelike, non-linear manner. She first applied this technique in her 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway . It narrates a day in the life of a 51-year-old upper-class woman as she prepares to host a party. During her preparations, she reminisces, reflects, regrets. Mrs. Dalloway is one of the most influential Modernist novel s today. It has been adapted into a 1997 film and a 2011 play, Septimus and Clarissa .

The English author also wrote about society’s unfair treatment of women. In A Room of One’s Own , Woolf underlined the importance of women’s independence and privacy in curating excellent literature. In To the Lighthouse , she critiques traditional gender roles and expectations.

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Mrs. Dalloway

On her website, Elizabeth Strout shares that she has always considered herself a writer. In 1998, she finally released her first novel, Amy and Isabelle . It’s a domestic fiction about a single mother and her estranged daughter, who, unbeknownst to her, was being groomed by her teacher. It won many awards, including the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction , and was turned into a 2001 drama film, Amy & Isabelle .

Strout’s writing is polished, modest, and emphatic. One of her literary feats is earning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction with her book Olive Kitteridge . It comprises 13 short stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Each can be read as a standalone, with various themes offering a snapshot of human existence. In 2014, it became a TV mini-series .

“I don’t think there was a particular book that made me want to write. They all did. I always wanted to write.” Elizabeth Strout

Amy and Isabelle: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)

With little record of her life and only a single novel to examine, Emily Brontë remains a mystery.

Emily Brontë (aka Ellis Bell) has always kept her heart at home, often feeling homesick and returning to Haworth, Yorkshire, where she would eventually die of consumption (tuberculosis). Unsurprisingly, her only novel, Wuthering Heights , was set in the Yorkshire moorlands. “Wuthering” is a Yorkshire term for “stormy weather.” Over the centuries, the novel inspired many film, TV, opera, radio, and even graphic novel adaptations.

Wuthering Heights is now an English literary classic. It highlights Emily Brontë’s modern prose, combining Gothic elements and Romanticism — an uncommon literary style in Victorian times where most writers used Realism . Her novel was risky for that era, filled with passionate dialogue and romantic imagery, pulling readers into the intense affair between the characters.

“… take my books away, and I should be desperate!” Emily Brontë , Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights (Wordsworth Classics)

Image Caption: Margaret Atwood started writing at age five .

In a 2017 interview , Margaret Atwood shared, “ My interest was in women of all kinds — and they are of all kinds. “ True to her words, most of Atwood’s works concern women and how they interact — with themselves, others, and the world around them.

Her most prominent work is the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale . Though published almost four decades ago, the book remains relevant. Atwood’s use of real-world events , like Romania’s Decree 770 (where women must have four babies) and the People of Hope cult (which brainwashed women into subservience), in creating the novel underscores just how close it is to reality. The Handmaid’s Tale speaks of every woman’s fear of losing agency and only being valued by their ability to bear children. It inspired many adaptations, such as the 2017 TV series where Atwood made a cameo.

The Canadian author values individualistic writing and often uses flashbacks to present multidimensional characters. She has written over 40 books , with other remarkable works like The Circle Game and The Blind Assassin .

“I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.” Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale

Like many female novelists in the Victorian era, Mary Ann Evans adopted a male pseudonym so she could be taken seriously as a writer. However, it was also partly to hide her identity. Her lifestyle choices (such as cohabitating with a separated but still legally married George Lewes ) made her a social outcast.

After creating three well-received short stories under the pen name “George Eliot,” she published her first novel, Adam Bede . It’s a story inspired by the real murder trial of Mary Voce , who killed her own baby. The novel put George Eliot in the literary spotlight, prompting Evans to reveal herself.

Her masterpiece is the realist novel Middlemarch , originally divided into eight books . It’s an extensive read, with many characters and storylines that offered Evans room to comment on various 19th-century social issues. Her writing highlights the character’s complex emotional and intellectual depth, urging the use of psychological analysis in literature. It became a mini-series in 1994 .

“It is always fatal to have music or poetry interrupted.” George Eliot , Middlemarch

Middlemarch (Book Center)

A childhood accident left Alice Walker blind in one eye. It made her reclusive but also pushed her to read and write poetry. Although she grew up poor, Walker didn’t give up on education. She endured the same struggles as part of the African American community, so her themes often focus on the community’s oppression. Her writing is persuasive and calls for readers’ involvement.

Walker also became an active participant in the civil rights movement . Her poetry ( Once , Revolutionary Petunias ) and novels ( The Temple of My Familiar , Possessing the Secret of Joy ) highlight Black feminism.

The self-proclaimed “ womanist ” is best known for her novel, The Color Purple . The book set her as the first African American woman to take home the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction . It follows the plight of a 14-year-old girl as she navigates a world of abuse and patriarchy. It was adapted into a 2023 musical film .

“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.” Alice Walker

The Color Purple

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) had the front row seats in experiencing the magic created by British author J.K. Rowling through the Harry Potter series. Almost 30 years later, the power of the Wizarding World still lingers in pop culture. Its eight-movie adaptation only made it more popular.

The novel series ran from 1997 to 2007, earning Rowling a loyal fanbase. It took Rowling five years to write the franchise’s first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone . Her straightforward lexicon, simple sentence structure, and detailed (but never confusing) narration made the series an easy and highly entertaining read.

After finishing Harry Potter, Rowling moved on to books with more adult themes, such as The Casual Vacancy (adapted into a drama mini-series ) and the crime fiction series Cormoran Strike, under the pen name Robert Galbraith (adapted into a TV series C.B. Strike ).

“Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.” J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was fortunate to grow up in an educated family in Southeastern Nigeria. She was a bookworm, but it wasn’t until she read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart that she realized books could also be about someone like her. Things Fall Apart centers around the colonization of the Igbo people and their culture.

Adichie later accepted a scholarship and moved to America. In 2003, she published her award-winning first novel, Purple Hibiscus . It’s a tale of a girl in post-colonial Nigeria. Although the book dives into serious issues of history, religion, and Nigerian politics, it’s ultimately about hope and freedom.

Her prose is to the point, with Igbo expressions to showcase authenticity. She’s also an excellent author of multiple perspectives, demonstrated in her second book, Half of a Yellow Sun , where she offers five points of view. The novel is one of the most significant fiction of the Nigerian Civil War. Her other notable works are Americanah and The Thing Around Your Neck .

“I want to make it valid, to dream about books and writing.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus: A Novel

Like the settings of her widely acknowledged 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee grew up in a small town in Alabama. The protagonist’s father — the lawyer Atticus Finch — was also modeled after Lee’s father.

Lee had already penned many short stories and essays before dedicating her time to creating a novel. To Kill a Mockingbird initially received mixed reviews. Some found Lee’s depiction of an innocent mind’s realization of critical social issues admirable. Others found her narrative dogmatic. Indeed, the book highlights moral themes since it discusses prejudice, courage, and evil.

Since the novel’s events are seen through a child’s eyes, Lee’s writing is informal but realistic and nuanced. She won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction , with a 1962 movie adaptation furthering the novel’s reach. The only other book Lee published was Go Set a Watchman .

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Harper Lee , To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird Publisher, 50th Anniversary Edition

When she was eight, Maya Angelou gave up her voice, refusing to speak for almost five years. She was sexually assaulted and later testified against the man. He was convicted, released, and then found beaten to death. All little Angelou could think about was that her tongue — she — caused a man’s death.

Angelou shares more of her early childhood in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , her first memoir and debut book. The autobiography was suggested to her by fellow Harlem Writers Guild (the oldest African American writers’ organization) member, James Baldwin . By then, she had already accumulated a colorful array of experiences — she was a singer, dancer, and trouper.

The novel, sporting conversational and straightforward writing, was meant to be a response to the abuse she endured. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became an instant success . It earned awards and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for two years .

Angelou also published several poems. One of her most notable poetry collections is the Pulitzer Prize-nominated work Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie .

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Zadie Smith’s literary career started with three things: An incomplete manuscript, a two-book deal, and a quarter million advance payment . This stunt to show faith in her writing came with high expectations. In 2000, her first book, White Teeth , became a classic international bestseller and won many accolades. The 480-page book follows three generations of London immigrant families. It features many subplots, each rich with timeless themes, such as cultural identity, assimilation, and race and ethnicity. In 2002, it was adapted into a mini-series .

Though young, Smith’s writing already captivated readers and critics alike. The New Republic even included her among those who spearheaded the new literary genre “hysterical realism” — fiction with elements of Realism wrapped in elaborate, even absurd prose.

Smith’s subsequent works proved she isn’t a one-shot wonder. Her On Beauty won the Orange Prize for Fiction , and NW was a Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction nominee.

“The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.” Zadie Smith

White Teeth: A Novel

One of the most recognizable women writers in the detective fiction genre is Agatha Christie. She wrote 66 detective novels and is the world’s bestselling fiction writer .

A sudden bet from her sister encouraged the Queen of Crime to pen her first detective fiction. In October 1920, she published The Mysterious Affair at Styles , where she introduced the charming Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Another iconic character, the amateur detective but highly skilled Miss Marple, first appeared in The Murder at the Vicarage .

She draws readers in with sharp dialogues, fast-paced narration, and clever plot twists. Her skills in misdirecting the audience on where the story goes continue to astound many. Christie’s literary prowess makes her one of the best in the genre, even after her passing.

“Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child can’t do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because they’ve seen it often before.” Agatha Christie , Murder at the Vicarage

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Anne Brontë was the youngest of the Brontë siblings and an often overlooked member of the Brontë Sisters. Although she was an excellent writer in her own right, Anne Brontë refused to romanticize violent men. Instead, her novels focus on “unpalatable” realities most readers would rather forget when reading fiction.

Anne Brontë’s writing is sharp, bold, realistic — a stark contrast to her sisters’ romantic narrations. Her first novel, Agnes Grey , is a fictionalized record of her real-life experiences as a governess. It’s a peek at the horrors Victorian women had to suffer, but it also contains wits and humor echoing that of Jane Austen. A famous Irish novelist, George Moore, once remarked : “If Anne Brontë had lived ten years longer, she would have taken a place beside Jane Austen, perhaps even a higher place.“

Her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell , tells the story of a wife hiding from her abusive, alcoholic husband. Anne Brontë modeled this novel’s antagonist to his disgraced brother, Branwell, who, by that time, was addicted to drugs and alcohol.

“Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.” Anne Brontë , Agnes Grey

Agnes Grey

After her mother’s death and her father’s remarriage, Mary Shelley had to bear a difficult home life with a stepmother who never favored her. Reading and writing became her escape. Years later, when an acquaintance suggested writing a horror story, Shelley was up for the challenge. At age 19, she published Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus , anonymously. It’s an epistolary novel with Gothic and Romantic literary elements.

What started as friendly competition between close acquaintances became Shelley’s literary legacy. In 1818, it was accepted as a Gothic novel but also heavily criticized for its gruesome and insane nature. Today, Frankenstein is widely regarded as the first science fiction novel. It offered a template for literary works to question morals, ethics, and the pursuit of knowledge. It now has many adaptations,

Shelley penned more books after Frankenstein , such as Valperga (1823) , The Last Man (1826), and Mathilde (1959), which was published after her death.

“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilise the mind as a steady purpose.” Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text

Toni Morrison grew up appreciating her rich Black culture. With a deep understanding of the struggles and experiences of her community, especially as a Black woman, she published her first novel, The Bluest Eyes . It centers around a Black girl, Pecola, who wants to have blue eyes. Rather than mere beauty standards, the “blue eyes” refer to Pecola’s need to be accepted and loved by those around her. The Bluest Eyes only sold 2,000 copies in its original publication and was deemed controversial for its mature themes.

Morrison continued to write about her people, detailing real issues via descriptive vocabulary and stream-of-consciousness narrative to foster empathy between her characters and readers. Her third book, Song of Solomon , bagged the National Book Critics Circle Award and brought Morrison national attention. But what pushed her to the peak of literary fame is the historical fiction Beloved , which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction award. It became a 1998 film starring Oprah Winfrey.

In 1993, Morrison accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was the first African American woman to be awarded so.

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” Toni Morrison , Beloved

Beloved: Pulitzer Prize Winner (Vintage International)

See our list of authors like Toni Morrison !

Geraldine Brooks

As a foreign correspondent for many newspapers, Geraldine Brooks has stayed in dangerous territories like the Middle East and the Gulf States and witnessed wars’ impacts. Her experience in the field greatly influenced her detailed, poetic writing. In her 2001 novel Year of Wonders , Brooks used a terrifying part of history — the bubonic plague — to highlight faith and courage. It became a bestseller and won many honors.

In 2006, Brooks took home a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for March , a novel showcasing the perspective of the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Brooks gave a new spin to the children’s tale, embedding it with mature themes of marriage and morals during the Civil War.

“A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand.” Geraldine Brooks , People of the Book

Year of Wonders: A Novel

Born into aristocracy, Edith Wharton’s literary career began with a collection of poetry, Verses , published when she was 16 . After marriage, she co-authored a non-fiction book on design on architecture, The Decoration of Houses. At The Mount — an estate she built and designed — she wrote The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome . Both books offered an insider perspective on her upper-class society and called out its hypocrisies.

Still, with her social position, Wharton could easily escape the First World War. Instead, she stayed in Paris and became a war journalist and humanitarian. After the war, she wrote the romance novel The Age of Innocence which put her in the legendary position of being the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction . Wharton’s simple yet elegant and vivid prose makes it easy to imagine old New York’s opulence and strict moral codes. It was later adapted into a 1993 film .

“No children of my own age… were as close to me as the great voices that spoke to me from books.” Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence

Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up in a religious family that supported her education and was open about social issues. She was a talented teacher, debater, and essayist.

Stowe already met many enslaved escapees and even saw slavery’s impact when she visited Kentucky. But it was only when her 18-month-old died of cholera did she fully felt the loss of enslaved mothers who had their children taken and sold.

The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (recapturing and returning escaped enslaved individuals to their “owners”) tipped Stowe to create Uncle Tom’s Cabin . A publisher of the newspaper The National Era requested her to “ paint a word picture of slavery ,” and Stowe did, vividly portraying slavery with her oratorical and sentimental prose. Her writing was clear, with biblical overtones that urged the public to support anti-slavery. The book greatly directed American politics and “ helped precipitate the Civil War .” It has theatrical, cartoon, TV, and film adaptations.

“There is more done with pens than with swords.” Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A Vogue essay contest started her career, but Joan Didion’s willingness to push the boundaries of traditional reporting made her a pioneer of New Journalism . She shifted the public’s eye to the reality of post-war America, focusing on the period’s social unrest and broken American spirit. Her sharp observations and no-nonsense cultural criticism are apparent in her writing, such as in her first essay collection, Slouching Towards Bethlehem .

Didion also published fiction, with the mystery novel Run River being her first. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for her memoir Year of Magical Thinking — a heartfelt book about her husband’s death as she takes care of her daughter. She enjoyed various honors, with many of her books having on-screen adaptations .

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.” Joan Didion

The Year of Magical Thinking (Vintage International)

Encouraged to draw at a young age, Beatrix Potter would later become one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators and writers of all time.

Potter was offered formal art education, but she always preferred informal training, observing and drawing the world around her. In 1893, she started sending her former governess’ children illustrated letters. The very first one shows a rabbit she called Peter. Potter compiled the series of letters she sent over the years and created the rough version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit .

After finding a publisher to work with, the first book became an instant success, Potter would end up releasing 23 books in total. She wrote and illustrated more books aside from the stubborn rabbit, Peter, and his adventures. Her works continue to spark children’s imaginations and inspire other illustrators.

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” Beatrix Potter

The Classic Collection of Children's Rabbit Books

Although Gertrude Stein enjoyed learning in America, she found the country restrictive. Moving to Europe offered her the chance to rediscover her talents. Stein’s early books, Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha, and the Gentle Lena and The Making of Americans both center around her personal life and musings.

She was an extreme Modernist writer. Stein experimented with language, aiming to strip it of all historical or cultural connotations. Such is demonstrated in her 1914 novel, Tender Objects . It features everyday objects made unfamiliar with Stein’s unorthodox writing style. She was a passionate advocate for novel forms of expressing art and literature.

“Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing.” Gertrude Stein

Tender Buttons

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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43 of the Most Iconic Short Stories in the English Language

From washington irving to kristen roupenian.

Last year, I put together this list of the most iconic poems in the English language ; it’s high time to do the same for short stories. But before we go any further, you may be asking: What does “iconic” mean in this context? Can a short story really be iconic in the way of a poem, or a painting, or Elvis?

Well, who knows, but for our purposes, “iconic” means that the story has somehow wormed its way into the general cultural consciousness—a list of the best short stories in the English language would look quite different than the one below. (Also NB that in this case we’re necessarily talking about the American cultural consciousness, weird and wiggly as it is.) When something is iconic, it is a highly recognizable cultural artifact that can be used as a shorthand—which often means it has been referenced in other forms of media. You know, just like Elvis. (So for those of you heading to the comments to complain that these stories are “the usual suspects”—well, exactly.) An iconic short story may be frequently anthologized , which usually means frequently read in classrooms, something that can lead to cultural ubiquity—but interestingly, the correlation isn’t perfect. For instance, Joyce’s “Araby” is anthologized more often, but for my money “The Dead” is more iconic . Film adaptations and catchy, reworkable titles help. But in the end, for better or for worse, you know it when you see it. Which means that, like anything else, it all depends on your point of view—icon status is (like most of the ways we evaluate art) highly subjective.

So, having acknowledged that there’s no real way to make this list, but because this is what we’re all here to do, here are some of the most iconic short stories for American readers in the English language—and a few more that deserve to be more iconic than they are.

Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) I agonized over whether I should pick “Rip Van Winkle” or “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from Irving’s oeuvre. Both have many, many adaptations to their name and are so ubiquitous as to have drifted into the folklore realm. The latter certainly has more memorable recent adaptations, but the former  is the only one with a bridge named after it . Ah, screw it, we’ll count them both.

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) Poe’s early stream-of-consciousness horror story, unreliable narrator and heart beating under the floorboards and all, is certainly one of the most adapted—and even more often referenced —short stories in popular culture, and which may or may not be the source for all of the hundreds of stories in which a character is tormented by a sound only they can hear. (Still not quite as ubiquitous as Poe himself , though . . .)

Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1853) Once, while I was walking in Brooklyn, carrying my Bartleby tote bag , a woman in an SUV pulled over (on Atlantic Avenue, folks) to excitedly wave at me and yell “Melville! That’s Melville!” Which is all you really need to know about that .

Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890) I will leave it to Kurt Vonnegut, who famously wrote , “I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce. It isn’t remotely political. It is a flawless example of American genius, like “Sophisticated Lady” by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) Odds are this was the first overtly Feminist text you ever read, at least if you’re of a certain age; it’s become a stand-in for the idea of women being driven insane by the patriarchy—and being ignored by doctors, who deem them “hysterical.” This is another one with lots of adaptations to its name, including a memorable episode of The Twilight Zone , which concludes: “Next time you’re alone, look quickly at the wallpaper, and the ceiling, and the cracks on the sidewalk. Look for the patterns and lines and faces on the wall. Look, if you can, for Sharon Miles, visible only out of the corner of your eye or… in the Twilight Zone.”

Henry James, “The Turn of the Screw” (1898) Technically a novella, but discussed enough as a story that I’ll include it here (same goes for a couple of others on this list, including “The Metamorphosis”). It has, as a work of literature, inspired a seemingly endless amount of speculation, criticism, unpacking, and stance-taking. “In comment after comment, article after article, the evidence has been sifted through and judgments delivered,” Brad Leithauser wrote in The New Yorker . Fine, intelligent readers have confirmed the validity of the ghosts (Truman Capote); equally fine and intelligent readers have thunderously established the governess’s madness (Edmund Wilson).” And nothing that inspires so much interpretive interest could escape the many interpretations into other media: films, episodes of television, and much other literature.

Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Toy Dog” (1899) Widely acknowledged as one of Chekhov’s best stories, if not  the  best, and therefore almost no students get through their years at school without reading it. Has been adapted as a film, a ballet, a play, a musical, and most importantly, a Joyce Carol Oates short story.

W. W. Jacobs, “The Monkey’s Paw” (1902) So iconic—be careful what you wish for, is the gist—that you probably didn’t even know it started out as a short story. My favorite version is, of course, the Laurie Anderson song .

O. Henry, “The Gift of the Magi” (1905) According to Wikipedia, there have been 17 different film adaptations of O. Henry’s classic short story about a couple’s thwarted Christmas; the essential format—Della sells her hair to buy Jim a watch chain; Jim sells his watch to buy Della a set of combs—has been referenced and replicated countless times beyond that. I even heard Dax Shepard refer to this story on his podcast the other day, and so I rest my case.

James Joyce, “The Dead” (1914) The last story in Joyce’s collection  Dubliners and one of the best short stories ever written; just ask anyone who wanted to have read some Joyce but couldn’t crack  Ulysses . (Or anyone who could crack  Ulysses  too.) And let’s not forget the John Huston movie starring Anjelica Huston as Gretta.

Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” (1915) Everyone has to read this in school, at some point—which is probably the reason why it’s been parodied, referenced, and adapted many times in just about every format . And why not? What could be more universal than the story of the man who wakes up to find himself transformed into an enormous insect?

Richard Connell, “The Most Dangerous Game” aka “The Hounds of Zaroff” (1924) “The most popular short story ever written in English” is obviously the one about aristocrats hunting people. Widely adapted , but one of my favorite versions is the episode of Dollhouse in which a Richard Connell (no relation except the obvious) hunts Echo with a bow.

Ernest Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927) I was tempted to include “Hills Like White Elephants” because of the number of people forced to read it to learn about dialogue (happily, there are other options ), but “The Killers,” while less often anthologized, is more influential overall, and gave us not only two full length film adaptations and a Tarkovsky short but Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” which I do think is a very good story to learn from, if not for dialogue, then for story-making.

Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933) Hurston is most famous for  Their Eyes Were Watching God , but those who know will tell you that this story of love, marriage, betrayal, and love again—which was also made into a 2001 film—is a classic, too.

Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” (1948) The short story that launched a thousand letters to  The New Yorker —or if not a thousand , then at least “a torrent . . . the most mail the magazine had ever received in response to a work of fiction.” Still taught widely in schools, and still chilling.

J. D. Salinger, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948) The very first story to destroy many a young mind. In a good way, obviously.

Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950)

Bradbury’s work has thoroughly permeated pop culture; plenty of his stories are widely adapted and referenced, so I could have chosen a few others here (“The Veldt” is my personal favorite). But every year, the image of a smart house going on long after the death of its occupants becomes more chilling and relevant an image; we can’t help but keep going back to it.

Daphne du Maurier, “The Birds” (1952) I know it’s really the Hitchcock film adaptation that’s iconic, but you wouldn’t have the Hitchcock without the du Maurier.

Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (1953) Another oft-assigned (and oft-argued-over) story, this one with so many title rip-offs .

Elmore Leonard, “Three-Ten to Yuma” (1953) I know, I know, it’s “Fire in the Hole” that gave us  Justified , and we’re all so very glad. But “Three-Ten to Yuma” has more name recognition—after all, it was adapted into two separate and very good films, the former of which (1957) actually created contemporary slang : in Cuba, Americans are called yumas and the United States is  La Yuma .

Philip K. Dick, “The Minority Report” (1956) As a whole, Philip K. Dick’s work has had massive influence on literature, film, pop culture, and our cultural attitudes toward technology. Most of his best-known works are novels, but when a short story gets made into a Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise film, you’re basically assuring iconic status right there. (Or at least that’s how it used to work…)

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (1957) Baldwin’s best known short story pops up in plenty of anthologies, and can be thanked for being the gateway drug for many budding Baldwin acolytes.

Alan Sillitoe, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” (1959) Not only is the story itself widely known and read—just ask Rod Blagojevich ( remember him? )—that title has been rewritten and reused thousands of times for varying ends—just ask the reporter who wrote that piece about Blagojevich. Or Adrian Tomine .

John Cheever, “The Swimmer” (1964) Cheever’s most famous story nails something essential about the mid-century American sensibility, and particularly the mid-century American suburbs, which is probably why everyone knows it (it’s also frequently anthologized). Or maybe it’s more about Burt Lancaster’s little shorts ? Either way.

Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966) Another frequently anthologized and unwaveringly excellent short story; and look, it’s no one’s fault that Laura Dern turns everything she touches iconic.

Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (1972) Yet another story often assigned in schools (the good ones, anyway), which hopefully means one day we’ll wake up and find out that everyone has read it.

Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973) As others have pointed out before me , Le Guin’s most read and most famous short story is almost always chillingly relevant.

Donald Barthelme, “The School” (1974) This one might only be iconic for writers, but considering it’s one of the best short stories ever written (according to me), I simply couldn’t exclude it.

Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (1978) Another staple of a writer’s education, and a reader’s; “are you really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” being a kind of bandied-about shibboleth.

Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (1981) I struggled choosing a Carver story for this list—”Cathedral” is more important, and probably more read, but “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” has transcended its own form more completely, at least with its title, which has spawned a host of echoes, including Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running , and Nathan Englander’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank , to the point that I think it’s recognizable to just about everyone. A quick Google search will reveal that the framing has been used for almost everything you can think of. There’s—and I kid you not—a What We Talk About When We Talk About Books/War/Sex/God/The Tube/Games/Rape/Money/Creative Writing/Nanoclusters/Hebrew/The Weather/Defunding the Police/Free Speech/Taxes/Holes/Climate/The Moon/Waste/Cancel Culture/Impeachment/Gender/Digital Inclusions/Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/COVID-19 . You see what I’m getting at here.

Stephen King, “The Body” (1982) Otherwise known, to the general public, as  Stand By Me .

Amy Hempel, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” (1983) Want to feel bad about your writing? This was the first short story Amy Hempel ever wrote.

Lorrie Moore, “How to Be an Other Woman” (1985) A very very good short story that has given rise to so many bad ones.

Mary Gaitskill, “Secretary” (1988) Bad Behavior  is iconic as a whole , but probably the story to have most acutely permeated the wider culture is “Secretary,” on account of the film adaptation starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader—despite the fact that it totally butchers the ending.

Amy Tan, “Rules of the Game” (1989) This story originally appeared in The Joy Luck Club , Tan’s mega-bestseller, so probably almost everyone you know has read it. The film version didn’t hurt either.

Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (1990) Why, it’s only the most anthologized short story of the last 30(ish) years. That’s why even the people you know who haven’t picked up a book in their adult lives have read it.

Denis Johnson, “Emergency” (1992) When I left New York to go get my MFA, a friend gave me a copy of Jesus’ Son with the inscription “Because everyone in your MFA will talk about it and you don’t want to be the girl who hasn’t read it. (It’s also really good).” He was not wrong.

Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain” (1997) Everybody knows this story—even if they only know it from its (massively successful and influential, not to mention the true Best Picture Winner of 2006) film adaptation—and not for nothing, coming out when it did, it went a long way towards making some Americans more comfortable with homosexuality. Open the floodgates, baby.

Jhumpa Lahiri, “A Temporary Matter” (1998) The story that made Lahiri a household name.

Ted Chiang, “Story of Your Life” (1998) Otherwise known as  Arrival . (Also technically a novella.)

Alice Munro, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” (2001) At this point, almost everyone has read at least some  Alice Munro, right? This story is one of the best from one of the greats, and was also adapted into a fantastic but heartbreaking film,  Away From Her .

Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person” (2017) Sure, it’s recent, so it’s not quite as ingrained as some of the others here, but it’s also the story that broke the internet —and quite possibly the only New Yorker  story that thousands of people have ever read.

Finally, as is often the case with lists that summarize the mainstream American literary canon of the last 200 years, it is impossible not to recognize that the list above is much too white and male. So for our future and continuing iconography, your friends at Literary Hub suggest reading the following stories, both new and old:

Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.” (1941) Clarice Lispector, “The Imitation of the Rose” (1960) Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (1969) Ralph Ellison, “Cadillac Flambé” (1973) Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild” (1984) Bharati Mukherjee, “The Management of Grief” (1988) John Edgar Wideman, “Fever” (1990) Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek” (1991) Christine Schutt, “To Have and to Hold” (1996) ZZ Packer, “Brownies” (2003) Edward P. Jones, “Marie” (2004) Karen Russell, “Haunting Olivia” (2005) Kelly Link, “Stone Animals” (2005) Edwidge Danticat, “Ghosts” (2008) Yiyun Li, “A Man Like Him” (2008) Claire Vaye Watkins, “Ghosts, Cowboys” (2009) Ottessa Moshfegh, “Bettering Myself” (2013) Amelia Gray, “House Heart” (2013) Zadie Smith, “Meet the President!” (2013) Carmen Maria Machado, “The Husband Stitch” (2014) Diane Cook, “The Way the End of Days Should Be” (2014) Kirstin Valdez Quade, “Five Wounds” (2015) NoViolet Bulawayo, “Shhhh” (2015) Mariana Enriquez, “Spiderweb” (2016) Ken Liu, “State Change” (2016) Helen Oyeyemi, “Sorry Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” (2016) Lesley Nneka Arimah, “What Is a Volcano?” (2017) James McBride, “The Christmas Dance” (2017) Viet Thanh Nguyen, “War Years” (2017) Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, “Friday Black” (2018). . .

Honestly, this list could go on forever, but let’s stop and say: more short stories of all kinds in the hands of the general public, please!

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English Literature: Literary Periods & Genres

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famous writers english literature

    Literary Periods : A brief overview is located below:

  • Literary periods are spans of time for literature that shares intellectual, linguistic, religious, and artistic influences.
  • The following links,  organized by literary period, are  to the library's catalog for works by author, title, literary movement, type of work, etc.
  • For further information on materials related to a specific literary period  click the "Literary Periods & Genres" tab on the above dropdown menu.

*The text below was taken from Dr. Wheeler's page from Carson Newman College.*

I. The Classical Period (1200 BCE - 455 CE)

Bust of Homer

Greek legends were passed along orally, including Homer 's  The Iliad and The Odyssey . This is a chaotic period of warrior-princes, wandering sea-traders, and fierce pirates.

II. CLASSICAL GREEK PERIOD       (800-200 BCE)

Greek writers, playwrights, and philosophers include  Gorgias , Aesop , Plato , Socrates , Aristotle , Euripides , and Sophocles . The fifth century (499-400 BCE) in particular is renowned as The Golden Age of Greece. This was the sophisticated era of the polis, or individual City-State, and early democracy. Some of the world's finest art, poetry, drama, architecture, and philosophy originated in Athens.

Statue of Julius Caesar

III. CLASSICAL ROMAN PERIOD         (200 BCE-455 CE)

Greece's culture gave way to Roman power when Rome conquered Greece in 146 CE. The Roman Republic was traditionally founded in 509 BCE, but it was limited in size until later. Playwrights of this time include Plautus and Terence . After nearly 500 years as a Republic, Rome slid into a dictatorship under Julius Caesar and finally into a monarchial empire under Caesar Augustus in 27 CE. This later period is known as the Roman Imperial period. Roman writers include Ovid , Horace , and Virgil . Roman philosophers include Marcus Aurelius and Lucretius . Roman rhetoricians include Cicero and Quintilian .

The Confessions of Saint Augustine

Early Christian writers include  Saint Augustine , Tertullian ,  Saint Cyprian , Saint Ambrose and Saint Jerome . This is the period when Saint Jerome first compiled the Bible , Christianity spread across Europe, and the Roman Empire suffered its dying convulsions. In this period, barbarians attacked Rome in 410 CE, and the city finally fell to them completely in 455 CE.

III. The Renaissance and Reformation (1485-1660 CE)

(The Renaissance took place in the late 15th, 16th, and early 17th century in Britain, but somewhat earlier in Italy and southern Europe and somewhat later in northern Europe.)

Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene

The War of the Roses ended in England with Henry Tudor (Henry VII) claiming the throne. Martin Luther's split with Rome marks the emergence of Protestantism , followed by Henry VIII's   Anglican schism , which created the first Protestant church in England. Edmund Spenser is a sample poet.

William Shakespeare

Queen Elizabeth saved England from both Spanish invasion and internal squabbles at home. Her reign is marked by the early works of Shakespeare , Marlowe , Kyd , and Sidney .

III. Jacobean Period         (1603-1625)

Shakespeare's later work include  Aemilia Lanyer , Ben Jonson , and John Donne .

John Milton's Paradise Lost

John Milton , George Herbert , Robert Herrick , the " Sons of Ben " and others wrote during the reign of Charles I and his Cavaliers .

V. Commonwealth Period/Puritan Interregnum      (1649-1660)

Under Cromwell's Puritan dictatorship , John Milton continued to write, but we also find writers like Andrew Marvell and Sir Thomas Browne .

V. The Romantic Period (1790-1830 CE)

Thoreau's Walden

Gothic writings  (c. 1790-1890) overlap with the Romantic and Victorian periods. Writers of Gothic novels (the precursor to horror novels) include Radcliffe , "Monk" Lewis , and Victorians like Bram Stoker in Britain. In America, Gothic writers include Poe and Hawthorne .

VII. The Modern Period (1914-1945 CE)

Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

II. The Medieval Period (455 CE-1485 CE)

King Alfred Coins

The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occured after Rome fell and barbarian tribes moved into Europe. Franks, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Goths settled in the ruins of Europe, and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrated to Britain displacing native Celts into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Early Old English poems such as Beowulf , The Wanderer , and The Seafarer originated sometime late in the Anglo-Saxon period. The Carolingian Renaissance (800- 850 CE) emerged in Europe. In central Europe, texts include early medieval grammars, encyclopedias, etc. In northern Europe, this time period marks the setting of Viking sagas.

Bayeux Tapestry

In 1066, Norman French armies invaded and conquered England under William I . This marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy and the emergence of the Twelfth Century Renaissance (c. 1100-1200 CE). French chivalric romances--such as works by Chretien de Troyes --and French fables --such as the works of Marie de France and  Jeun de Meun --spread in popularity. Abelard and other humanists produced great scholastic and theological works.

Late or "High" Medieval Period  (c. 1200-1485 CE)

Canterbury Tales manuscript

IV. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical) Period (1660-1790 CE)

" Neoclassical " refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon these centuries. The Neoclassical Period is also called the " Enlightenment " due to the increased reverence for logic and disdain for superstition. The period is marked by the rise of Deism , intellectual backlash against earlier Puritanism, and America's revolution against England.

John Dryden's adaptation of Virgil

This period is marked by the imitation of Virgil and Horace's literature in English letters. The principal English writers include Addison , Steele , Swift , and Alexander Pope . Abroad, Voltaire was the dominant French writer.  

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

This period marks the transition toward the upcoming Romanticism though the period is still largely Neoclassical. Major writers include Dr. Samuel Johnson , Boswell , and  Edward Gibbon who represent the Neoclassical tendencies, while writers like Robert Burns , Thomas Gray ,  Cowper , and Crabbe show movement away from the Neoclassical ideal. In America, this period is called the Colonial Period. It includes colonial and revolutionary writers like Ben Franklin , Thomas Jefferson , and Thomas Paine .

VI. The Victorian Period and the 19th Century (1832-1901 CE)

Depiction of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott

VIII. The Postmodern Period (1945 - onward)

T.S. Eliot's Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock

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