English & European Literature

The term "European literature" refers to literature produced in Europe. Modern written works in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech, and Russian, as well as works by Scandinavians and Irish authors, are among the most important of European literature. Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse, Medieval French, and the Renaissance Italian Tuscan dialect are all important classical and mediaeval traditions. European literature, sometimes known as Western literature, is literature published in the setting of Western civilization in one or more geographically or historically related languages in Europe. European literatures, like Indo-European languages, are diverse, yet they are all part of a common history that belongs to a proud race that boasts Homer, who wrote the Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil, who wrote the Aeneid, Dante, who wrote the Divine Comedy, and Chaucer, who wrote the Canterbury Tales. These and other literary masterpieces are considered part of the Western Canon. The Western Canon's list of works differs depending on the critic's perspective on Western civilization and the relative prominence of its defining traits. The Great Books of the Western World is a 60-volume collection that attempts to provide the Western canon in a single package.