Dickens
some of the greatest
novels in the english
language are the work
of charles Dickens
(1812-70). He wrote
colorful and exciting
novels, such as Oliver
Twist, Nicholas Nickleby,
and David Copperfield,
which also drew
attention to the poverty
and social injustices of
19th-century england.writers and poets579
cHaucer
Geoffrey chaucer (c 1340-1400) was an
english government official. He wrote poems
in english at a time when most english writers
were writing in French and Latin. chaucer
began his most famous work, the Canterbury
Tales, in about 1386. it is a collection of stories
told by pilgrims traveling from London
to canterbury. The stories tell us much about
14th-century life and are often very amusing.LonGFeLLow
During his lifetime, Henry wadsworth
Longfellow (1807-82) was the most popular poet
in the united states. His Song of Hiawatha, which
was published in 1855, sold more than one
million copies while Longfellow was still alive.
The poem tells the story of a native american
tribe before america was colonized by europeans.
Longfellow wrote on many subjects and in many
styles, but he is best remembered for his romantic
“picture poems” about american life.LITERARY FILE
c. 2300 bce ancient
egyptian writers create
the world’s first literature,
The Pyramid Texts.
c. 600 bce Greek poet
sappho writes early lyric
poetry (poetry with music).
c. 500 bce Greek poet
aeschylus (525-456 bce)
writes the earliest dramas.
c. 100 ce Greek writer
Plutarch (46-120 ce)
writes The Parallel Lives, a
collection of biographies.
1420 Zeami Motokiyo
(1363-1443), the greatest
writer of Japanese noh
dramas, writes Shikadosho
(Book of the way of the
Highest Flower).
1740-42 englishman
samuel richardson
(1689-1761) writes one
of the first english novels,
Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded.
1765 Horace walpole
(1717-97), an englishman,
writes a ghost story, The
Castle of Otranto.
1819-20 american
washington irving
(1783-1859) publishes one
of the first books of short
stories, which includes
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
and Rip Van Winkle.
1841 american writer
edgar allan Poe (1809-49)
publishes The Murders in the
Rue Morgue, the first
detective story.
1847 english novelist
charlotte Brontë writes
Jane Eyre under the false
name currer Bell, because
it is still unacceptable for
“respectable” women to
write fiction.
1864 Jules Verne
(1828-1905), a Frenchman,
writes the first science-
fiction story, Journey to the
Center of the Earth.
1956 The performance
of Waiting for Godot by irish-
French dramatist samuel
Beckett (1906-89) opens
the way for modern drama.
1993 american novelist
Toni Morrison (born 1931),
author of Song of Solomon and
Beloved, becomes the first
african-american to win the
nobel Prize for Literature.neiL siMon
Playwright neil simon was born in new
York city on July 4, 1927. He has written
more than 25 plays and musicals, many
of which have been made into movies.
Most of his plays deal with aspects
of ordinary american life. However,
the writer’s insight and sense of humor
ensure that his plays appeal to people
of all nationalities.The Goodbye Girl, one of Neil Simon’s
best-loved movies, is set in New York.HarrieT BeecHer sTowe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a powerful antislavery novel
written by Harriet Beecher stowe (1811-96) in 1852.
it became extremely popular all over the world,
even in some southern states of america, where
printing a copy was illegal at the time.Find out more
Literature
Movies
slavery
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