European

Literature
Introduction to European
literature
 European literature refers to the literature of
Europe. European literature includes literature in
many languages; among the most important of
the modern written works are those in English,
Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian,
Modern Greek, Czech and Russian and works
by the Scandinavians and Irish. Important
classical and medieval traditions are those in
Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse , Medieval
French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of the
renaissance.
• European literature, also known as Western
literature, is the literature written in the context of
Western culture in the languages of Europe, as
several geographically or historically related
languages. Diverse as they are, European literatures,
like Indo-European languages, are parts of a
common heritage belonging to a race of proud
nations which boast the likes of Homer who wrote
Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil who wrote the Aeneid,
Dante who wrote Divine Comedy, Chaucer who
wrote Canterbury Tales. These, and other literary
masterpieces form part of what we call as Western
Canon.
Indo-European Languages
and Literatures
 The common literary heritage is
essentially that originating in ancient
Greece and Rome. It was preserved,
transformed, and spread by Christianity
and thus transmitted to the vernacular
languages of the European Continent,
the Western Hemisphere, and other
regions that were settled by Europeans.
• European literature, also known as Western
literature, is the literature written in the context
of Western culture in the languages of Europe,
as several geographically or historically related
languages. Diverse as they are, European
literatures, like Indo-European languages, are
parts of a common heritage belonging to a
race of proud nations which boast the likes of
Homer who wrote Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil who
wrote the Aeneid, Dante who wrote Divine
Comedy, Chaucer who wrote Canterbury Tales.
These, and other literary masterpieces form part
of what we call as Western Canon.
The Divisions of European
Literature
Ancient Literature
 This covers the five ancient civilizations of Babylonia,
Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome including the
culture of the Israelites in Palestine—each came into
contact with one or more of the others not necessarily
in order but essentially by the influence each exerted
over the others.
 The use of clay tablets, papyrus paper scrolls paved
the way for the writing of the Holy Scriptures which is
very much influential in European literature. Likewise,
songs, poems, fables, anecdotes and parables were
all invented during this period.
 Influential works of the Ancient Literature
include but not limited to:

• The Epic of Gilgamesh – the world’s oldest epic

• The Code of Hammurabi – the world’s first
codified law
• The Book of the Dead – the compilation of
Egyptian pantheon, rituals
• The Holy Bible – the sacred scriptures of Jews
• Iliad and Odyssey – the epics of Greece
• Metamorphoses – the compilation of Roman
mythology and culture
• Aeneid – the Epic of Rome
Medieval Literature
 The Fall of the Roman Empire marked the beginning of
the Medieval or Middle Ages. Also known as Dark Ages,
due to the prevailing conditions during this period,
barbarian invasion and Muslim conquests marked this
era. Wars, famine, plagues and decline in culture and
learning.
 The use of vellum (goat skin paper), parchment (sheep
skin paper), and wooden tablets covered in green or
black wax to fashion books which are more durable
than scrolls became widespread. Hence, the greatest
number of books published during this era were bound
with plain wooden boards, or with simple tooled leather
for more expensive volumes.
The popular books during this period include
but not limited:

• King Arthur – Geoffrey of Monmouth

• Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer
• History of British People – Venerable
Bede
• Divine Comedy – Alighieri Dante
• Beowulf – Anglo-Saxon tradition
• Norse Mythology – Norse Tradition
• City of God – St. Augustine of Hippo
Renaissance Literature

 The term Renaissance (rebirth or revival) is given to

the historical period in Europe that succeeded the
Middle Ages. This period marked the reawakening of
a new spirit of intellectual and artistic inquiry, which
was the dominant feature of this political, religious,
and philosophical phenomenon, was essentially a
revival of the spirit of ancient Greece and Rome.
 In literature this meant a new interest in and analysis
of the great classical writers. Scholars searched for
and translated lost ancient texts, whose
dissemination was much helped by developments in
printing in Europe from about 1450. Written short
stories, novella and tales were born in this period.
Influential persons during this era include but
are not limited to:

• Johannes Gutenberg – invented the movable

type printing press
• Desiderius Erasmus – initiated the Humanism
Movement
• Martin Luther – initiated the Reformation in
Europe
• Christopher Columbus – discovered the New
World (the Americas)
• Christopher Marlowe – wrote Doctor Faustus
17th Century Literature

 The 17th century was a period of unceasing

disturbance and violent storms, no less in
literature than in politics and society. The
great question of the century, which
confronted serious writers from John Donne to
John Dryden, was Michel de Montaigne’s
What do I know?
 This includes the ascertainment of the grounds
and relations of knowledge, faith, reason, and
authority in religion, metaphysics, ethics,
politics, economics, and natural science.
Hence, this period is also known as Age of
Reason.
Some monumental European masterpieces
were written during this period including but
are not limited to:
 Discourse on Methods – Rene Descartes
 Pensees – Blaise Pascal
 Complete Essays – Francis Bacon
 Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes
 Iphigenie – Jean Racine
 Absalom – John Dryden
 The Tragedies – William Shakespeare
 Don Quixote – Miguel De Cervantes
 Life is a Dream – Pedro Calderon
 Paradise Lost – John Milton
18th Century Literature

 The 18th century was marked by two main

impulses: reason and passion. The respect
paid to reason was shown in pursuit of order,
symmetry, decorum, and scientific
knowledge. The cultivation of the feelings
stimulated philanthropy, exaltation of
personal relationships, religious fervor, and
the cult of sentiment, or sensibility.
 In literature the rational impulse fostered
satire, argument, wit, plain prose. The other
inspired the psychological novel and the
poetry of the sublime. Novel and satire were
born in this period.
World-class masterpieces were written during
this period. Some of them include:
 Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
 A Tale of the Tub – Jonathan Swift
 An Essay on Understanding – Alexander Pope
 Encyclopedie – Denis Diderot
 Elegy written in a country churchyard – Thomas Gray
 Candide – Voltaire
 Social Contract Theory – Jean Jacques Rousseau
 Poems of Scottish Dialect – Robert Burns
 The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
 A Dictionary of the English Language – Samuel Jonson
19th Century Literature

 The 19th century was one of the most vital

and interesting periods of all. This period has
special interest as the formative era from
which many modern literary conditions and
tendencies derived. Influences that had
their origins or were in development in this
period – Romanticism, Symbolism, Realism.
 These literary movements are reflected in
the current of modern literature, and many
social and economic characteristics of the
20th century were determined in the 19th.
Some literary giants who stood out during this
period include:
 William Wordsworth – Lyrical Ballads
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Rime of the Ancient
Mariner
 John Keats – Ode to Psyche
 Percy Bysshe Shelley – Ode to the West Wind
 Lord Byron – Don Juan
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment
 Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility
 Guy de Maupassant – The Diamond Necklace
 George Eliot – Middlemarch
 Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities
 Thomas Hardy – Desperate Remedies
20th Century Literature
 The 20th century features an interest in the
unconscious and the irrational was reflected
in their work and that of others of about this
time. This period marked an increasing sense
of crisis and urgency, doubts as to the 19th
century’s faith in the psychological stability of
the individual personality, and a deep
questioning of all philosophical or religious
solutions to human problems.
 In the 1930s these qualities of 20th-century
thought were not abandoned but, rather,
were expanded into a political context, as
writers divided into those supporting politic.
European Literature
Periods
Renaissance
 The creation of the printing press by Johannes
Guttenberg in 1440 allowed for much of the literature
during this time to be read by a much larger audience.
 With the new wave of knowledge, many writers of this
time period drew on classical methods and styles from
the ancient greats. These included Aristotle, Homer,
Plato, and Socrates. Some Romans that were modeled
were Cicero, Horace, Sallust, and Virgil.
 Politics were often an influence on Renaissance
literature. Some writers wrote directly about politics,
and gave advice to rulers, seen by Niccolo
Machiavelli’s famous work, The Prince.
 Another source of inspiration was Christianity, which
had immense influence during this time.
Important Renaissance Works
 Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
 Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Sp-
anish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As -
founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears
high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as
the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as
the authors' choice for the "best literary work ever written".
 William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
 is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1591-1595,
and it remains one of his most popular and frequently performed
plays. The romance between Romeo and Juliet has become the
foundation for many derivative romantic works and established the
title characters as the best known of any young lovers in literature.
 Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron
 The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a
group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a
secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death,
which was afflicting the city.
 Petrarch, Trionfi
 Trionfi is a series of poems by Petrarch in the Tuscan language
evoking the Roman ceremony of triumph, where victorious generals
and their armies were led in procession by the captives and spoils
they had taken in war.
 Sir Francis Bacon, New Atlantis
 is an incomplete utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published in
1627. In this work, Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human
discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for
humankind. The novel depicts the creation of a utopian land where
"generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendour, piety and
public spirit" are the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of
the mythical Bensalem.
 Sir Thomas More, Utopia
 The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island
society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects
of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries.
 John Milton, Paradise Lost
 The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Men: the
temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their
expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book
one, is to "justify the ways of God to men".
The Enlightenment Period
 This period in literature is marked by new emphasis on logic
and intellectualism
 Writers put more attention to useful rather than abstract
thought, and expressed desires for improving the conditions
of humanity through tolerance, freedom, and equality.
 With the reason of reason and logic, many writers began to
question the established churches of the time, and a rise of
deism was seen during this time.
 The philosophers in France during this time were important to
the period and contributed many new thoughts
characteristic of the Enlightenment.
 The rising middle class during this time made their
preferences of prose novels and short stories significant
literary genres.
Works of the Enlightenment
 Montesqueiu, Spirit of the Laws
 is a treatise on political theory, as well as a pioneering work in
comparative law, published by Baron de Montesquieu. Originally
published anonymously, partly because Montesquieu's works were
subject to censorship, its influence outside France was aided by its
rapid translation into other languages.
 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
 is a work by John Locke concerning the foundation of human
knowledge and understanding. He describes the mind at birth as a
blank slate (tabula rasa, although he did not use those actual
words) filled later through experience
 Marry Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
 is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it,
Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political
theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should
have an education. She argues that women ought to have an
education commensurate with their position in society, claiming
that women are essential to the nation because they educate its
children and because they could be "companions" to their
husbands, rather than mere wives
 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
 the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral
philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers
one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds
nations’ wealth, and is today a fundamental work in classical
economics. By reflecting upon the economics at the beginning
of the Industrial Revolution, the book touches upon such broad
topics as the division of labour, productivity, and free markets.
 Voltaire, Candide
 It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered
life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with
Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work
describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by
Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and
experiences great hardships in the world
 Denis Diderot, Encyclopedie
 The Encyclopédie is most famous for representing the thought of
the Enlightenment. According to Denis Diderot in the article
"Encyclopédie", the Encyclopédie’s aim was "to change the
way people think" and for people to be able to inform
themselves and to know things.
Romanticism
 This period was a movement away from the
enlightenment focus of reason and logic, focusing
more on imagination and emotions instead.
 Key characteristics of this period include an interest in
the common man and childhood, emotions and
feelings, the awe of nature, emphasis on the
individual, myths, and the importance of the
imagination.
 Symbolism was seen as superior because they could
suggest many things instead of the direct
interpretations of allegories
 Instead of the scientific view of the universe as a
machine, romanticism saw it as organic, such as a
living tree.
Romantic works
 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
 Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley (1797– 1851) that tells
the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a
hideous, sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
 Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
 is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the
English speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original
French title. Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June
Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of
several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean
Valjean and his experience of redemption.
 Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
 is a lengthy narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. It was
published between 1812 and 1818 and is dedicated to "Ianthe". The
poem describes the travels and reflections of a world weary young
man who, disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry, looks for
distraction in foreign lands. The title comes from the term childe, a
medieval title for a young man who was a candidate for knighthood
 Sir Walter Scott, Tales of the Crusaders
 Tales of the Crusaders is a series of two historical novels by Sir
Walter Scott released in 1825: The Betrothed and The Talisman.
Set at the time of the Crusades, Tales of the Crusaders is a subset
series which forms part of Scott's multi-novel series known as the
Waverley Novels released from 1814 to 1832.
 Chateaubriand, Genius of Christianity
 The Genius of Christianity is a work by the French author François-
René de Chateaubriand, written during his exile in England in the
1790s as a defense of the Catholic faith, then under attack during
the French Revolution
 Hegel, Phenomenology of Mind
 Hegel described the work as an “exposition of the coming to be
of knowledge”. This is explicated through a necessary self
origination and dissolution of “the various shapes of spirit as
stations on the way through which spirit becomes pure
knowledge”
Realism
 The realist movement portrayed the hypocrisy,
brutality, and dullness of life for the bourgeois.
 Scientific objectivity and observation were used to
influence literature during the period of realism.
 Realism often confronted readers with the harsh
realities that life had to offer.
 This movement rejected the idealization of nature,
the poor, love, and polite society during the
romantic period and instead showed the dark side
of life.
 Some writers portrayed the cruelty of the
developing industrialism in Europe during this time.
 Realist works
 Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
 Madame Bovary is the debut novel of French writer Gustave
Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives
beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and
emptiness of provincial life
 Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
 A dollʼs house- The play is significant for the way it deals with the
fate of a married woman, who at the time in Norway lacked
reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male dominated
world. It aroused a great sensation at the time, and caused a
“storm of outraged controversy” that went beyond the theatre to
the world newspapers and society
 George Benard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
 Mrs. Warren's Profession is a play written by George Bernard Shaw
in 1893, and first performed in London in 1902. The play is about a
former prostitute, now a madam (brothel proprietor), who
attempts to come to terms with her disapproving daughter. It is a
problem play, offering social commentary to illustrate Shaw's belief
that the act of prostitution was not caused by moral failure but by
economic necessity
 Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Oliver Twist
 Oliver Twist is Charles Dickens's second novel. The story centres
on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into
apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver
travels to London, where he meets "The Artful Dodger", a
member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly
criminal, Fagin.
 Emile Zola, L’Assommoir
 L'Assommoir (1877) is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty
volume series Les RougonMacquart. Usually considered one of
Zola's masterpieces, the novel—a study of alcoholism and
poverty in the working-class districts of Paris—was a huge
commercial success and helped establish Zola's fame and
reputation throughout France and the world
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
 It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of
Dostoevsky's full length novels following his return from 5 years
of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first
great novel of his "mature" period of writing.
Victorian Period
 The Victorian Period showed a much more sober view of
idealism than the visionary view seen in Romanticism.
 The Victorian saw nature as harsh and cruel, contrasting
the kind and harmonious view during the Romantic era.
 Some focuses of this era were the middle class, reality,
work, and nations as a whole instead of the individual.
 The trinity of the Victorian period was religion, science
and morality.
 Some of the values were earnestness, respectability,
utilitarianism, and a strong emphasis on duty.
 Major ideas of this period of literature included the
glorification of war, expansion of empires, industrialism,
economic prosperity, and reform.
Victorian Period writers
 Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
 Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis
Stevenson, narrating a tale of “buccaneers and buried gold.” Its influence is
enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as
treasure maps marked with an “X,” schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands,
and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders
 Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
 The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on
14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in
which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome
social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian
London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions
as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways.
 Anthony Trollope, Chronicles of Barsetshire
 The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels set in the fictitious English
county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester. The novels
concern the dealings of the clergy and the gentry, and the political, amatory,
and social manœuvrings that go on among and between them. Of the six
novels, the second in the series, Barchester Towers, is generally the best
known, while the last was Trollope's own favourite. Together, the series is
regarded by many as Trollope's finest work.
 Robert Browning, The Ring and The Book
 The Ring and the Book is a long dramatic narrative poem, and,
more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines, written by
Robert Browning. It was published in four volumes from 1868 to
1869 by Smith, Elder & Co.
 George Eliot, Adam Bede
 Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot, was
published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even
though Evans was a well published and highly respected
scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since
and is used in university studies of 19th-century English literature.
 Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd
 Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth
novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared
anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it
gained a wide readership
Modernism
 Like the period of Realism, Modernism was also
critical of middle class society and morality, but
wasn’t concerned by social issues like Realism was.
 Modernism was characterized as having a
concern for the aesthetic and beautiful.
 Many English writers challenged the values of the
Victorian time period.
 While it arose before World War I, it would flourish
after it because of the immense turmoil and social
problems it created.
 Experimentation and individualism become virtues,
while they had been discouraged in the past.
 This period was marked by quick and unexpected
shifts from traditional ways of viewing the world.
Modernist works
 Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
 A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf, first
published in September 1929.The work is based on two lectures Woolf
delivered in October 1928 at Newnham College and Girton College,
women's constituent colleges at the University of Cambridge.
 Leonard Woolf, The Village In the Jungle
 The Village in the Jungle is a novel by Leonard Woolf, published in 1913,
based on his experiences as a colonial civil servant in British controlled
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the early years of the 20th century.
Groundbreaking in Western fiction for being written from the native
rather than the colonial point of view, it is also an influential work of Sri
Lankan literature. It was republished by Eland in 2008.
 James Joyce, Ulysses
 Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first
serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March
1918 to December 1920 and then published in its entirety in Paris by
Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday. It is considered
to be one of the most important works of modernist literature and has
been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire
movement." According to Declan Kiberd, "Before Joyce, no writer of
fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking".
 William Butler Yeats, The Tower
 The Tower is a book of poems by W. B. Yeats, published in 1928.
The Tower was Yeats's first major collection as Nobel Laureate
after receiving the Nobel Prize in 1923. It is considered to be one
of the poet's most influential volumes and was well received by
the public.
 Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
 Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist
Joseph Conrad about a narrated voyage up the Congo River
into the Congo Free State in the so-called heart of Africa.Charles
Marlow, the narrator, tells his story to friends aboard a boat
anchored on the River Thames. This setting provides the frame for
Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which
enables Conrad to create a parallel between what Conrad calls
"the greatest town on earth", London, and Africa as places of
darkness.
 Alfred Doblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz
 Berlin Alexanderplatz is a 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin. It is
considered one of the most important and innovative works of
the Weimar Republic. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers the book
was named among the top 100 books of all time.
Postmodernism
 Postmodernism developed after World War II and utilized
techniques such as fragmentation, paradox, and
questionable narrators
 This was a reaction against Enlightenment ideas that
were seen in literature from Modernism
 Postmodernism tended to stray from the neatly tied-up
ending in modernism, and celebrated chance over
craft.
 Questioning of the distinctions between low and high
culture through a jumble of various ingredients, known as
pastiche, that before wasn’t seen as appropriate for
literature
 Metafiction was also often employed to undermine the
writer’s authority
Postmodernist works
 John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman
 The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1969 postmodern historical
fiction novel by John Fowles. The novel explores the fraught
relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson
and Sarah Woodruff, the former governess and independent
woman with whom he falls in love. The novel builds on Fowles’
authority in Victorian literature, both following and critiquing many of
the conventions of period novels.
 Venedikt Erofeev, Moscow-Petushki
 Moscow-petushki - The story follows an alcoholic intellectual, Venya,
as he travels by a suburban train on a 125 km (78 mi) journey from
Moscow along the Gorkovsky suburban direction of Moscow
Railway to visit his beautiful beloved and his child in Petushki, a town
that is described by the narrator in almost utopian terms.
 Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's novel by
British author Roald Dahl. The story features the dventures of young
Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier
Willy Wonka.
 George Perec, Life: A User’s Manual
 Life: A User’s Manual is Georges Perec's most famous novel,
published in 1978, Its title page describes it as "novels", in the
plural, the reasons for which become apparent on reading.
Some critics have cited the work as an example of postmodern
fiction, though Perec himself preferred to avoid labels and his
only long term affiliation with any movement was with the
Oulipo
 Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler
 If on a winter's night a traveler is a 1979 novel by the Italian
writer Italo Calvino. Each chapter is divided into two sections.
The first section of each chapter is in second person, and
describes the process the reader goes through to attempt to
read the next chapter of the book he or she is reading
 Alasdair Gray, Lanark: A Life in Four Books
 Lanark, subtitled A Life in Four Books, is the first novel of Scottish
writer Alasdair Gray. Written over a period of almost thirty years,
it combines realist and dystopian surrealist depictions of his
home city of Glasgow.
 Alan Moore, Watchmen
 Watchmen is a science fiction American comic book limited
series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave
Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published by DC Comics
in 1986 and 1987, and collected in a single volume edition in 1987.
Watchmen originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to
DC featuring superhero characters that the company had
acquired from Charlton Comics
 Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum
 Foucault's Pendulum is divided into ten segments represented by
the ten Sefiroth. The satirical novel is full of esoteric references to
Kabbalah, alchemy, and conspiracy theory—so many that critic
and novelist Anthony Burgess suggested that it needed an index.
The pendulum of the title refers to an actual pendulum designed
by French physicist Léon Foucault to demonstrate Earth's rotation,
which has symbolic significance within the novel.
 Walter Abish, How German Is It
 How German Is It is a novel by Walter Abish, published in 1980. It
received PEN/ Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1981. It is most often
classified as a postmodern work of fiction. The novel revolves
around the Hargenau brothers, Ulrich and Helmut, and their lives
in and around the fictional German town of Wurtenburg