Major Literary Figures

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James, Henry: Expatriate American writer and critic at the turn of the 19th century whose novels include "The Turn of the Screw" and "Daisy Miller"
Hesse, Hermann: Swiss-born German writer who wrote often about the duality of life. His novels include "Siddhartha" and "Steppenwolf"
Sappho: Greek female poet of whose work little remains today except fragments of love poems
Thoreau, Henry David: Nineteenth-century American thinker and essayist who, along with his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, championed the Transcendentalist movement. his book "Walden" is a classic text in Western thought.
O'Neill, Eugene: Twentieth-century playwright widely thought to be America's greatest dramatist. His major works include "Desire under the Elms," "The Hairy Ape," and "The Iceman Cometh"
Woolf, Virginia: British novelist and a major influence in modern fiction, her unconventional stream of consciousness style has influenced many writers. Among her most well known works are "To the Lighthouse" and "Mrs. Dalloway"
Eliot, T.S.: American born British Modernist poet whose wrote the obscure and referential poems "The Wasteland" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Walker, Alice: African American novelist who wrote "The Color Purple"
Proust, Marcel: French novelist who wrote complex novels and stories, among which are the series of books that make up "Remembrance of Things Past"
Virgil: Roman poet who wrote the epic "Aeneid"
Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin: French playwright and actor that helped define modern theater with such acclaimed plays as "Tartuffe" and "The Misanthrope"
Poe, Edgar Allen: One of the 19th century America's greatest writers and forefather of the modern horror genre. His works include the poem "The Raven" and the stories "The Tell-tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado"
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: Prominent German writer, critic and scientist is most famous for his classic "Faust"
Bellow, Saul: American novelist awarded the Novel Prize in Literature in 1976. his words include the novels "Herzog" and "Humboldt's Gift."
Shelley, Percy Bysshe: English poet during the Romantic movement was also the husband of writer writer Mary Shelley (Frankenstein). A vocal social critic, he published the great lyrical drama "Prometheus Unbound"
Miller, Arthur: Acclaimed 20th-century American playwright who wrote many Pulitzer Prize-winning plays including "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible"
Stein, Gertrude: An American writer who lived most of her life in Paris in the 1920s, coining the term "lost generation" in reference to her fellow expatriate writers (including Hemingway and Fitzgerald)
Wilde, Oscar: Controversial Irish writer whose works included "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Salome"
Carroll, Lewis (Charles Dodgson): Prominent British writer, mathematician, and artist, Carroll wrote the classic children's tales "Alice and Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass"
Williams, Tennessee: Major American playwright from the South who wrote, among others, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Glass Menagerie"
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth: Popular 19th-Century American Romantic poet who wrote "Songs of Hiawatha"
Aesop: Ancient Greek fabulist whose allegorical fables have inspired many writers
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich: Late 19th- and early 20th- century Russian playwright and short-story-writer who composed "The Seagull" and "The Cherry Orchard"
Ovid: Roman poet whose poems, including the crucial "Metamorphoses," were a major source of inspiration for Renaissance and Baroque writers
Plath, Sylvia: American poet and novelist of the confessional school whose tempestuous life was the subject of many of her poems. The author of "Daddy" and the novel "The Bell Jar" committed suicide in 1963
Joyce, James: Irish author is one of the towering figures of modern literature due to his froundbreaking narratives, shown most spectacularly in the novels "Ulysses" and "Finnegan's Wake"
Scott, Sir Walter: Scottish novelist whose historical novels were extremely popular. His most famous work is "Ivanhoe"
Byron, Lord George: Prominent Romantic Poet known for his adventurous life and writings. Important works include "Don Juan" and "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage."
Austen, Jane: Nineteenth-century English author whose novels include "Sense and Sensibility", Pride and Prejudice," and "Emma."
Fitzgerald, F. Scott: One of the 20th-century's literary stars, his writing chronicled the Jazz Age. His novel "The Great Gatsby" is considered an American masterpiece
Hammett, Dashiell: Popular American writer of noir, or detective, fiction. Many of his novels, including "Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man" became successful movies
Tolstoy, Count Leo: Prominent Russian novelist and philosopher who wrote some of the world's most famous novels, including "War and Peace" and Anna Karenina"
Shakespeare, William: Considered the master of playwrights in the English language, Shakespeare has influenced much of modern literature from poetry to tragedy. Just a few of his major works include "Romeo and Juliet," "Othello," "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and "King Lear"
Melville, Herman: One of the greatest American novelists, his works include the masterpiece "Moby Dick" and the short story "Bartleby the Scrivener"
Swift, Jonathan: Irish-born English writer who is widely acknowledged as one of the world's greatest satirists. he published the classic "Gulliver's Travels" and the widely acclaimed satire "A Modest Proposal"
Stevenson, Robert Louis: English writer of the 19th century who wrote such novels such as "Treasure Island" and "the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
Orwell, George (Eric Blair): English author who penned the satirical political novels "1984" and "Animal Farm." Also known for his critical works and essays.
Bronte, Emily: One of three literary sisters, this English novelist wrote under the pen name Ellis Bell. Her novel "Wuthering Heights" is considered one of the great Romantic novels.
Steinbeck, John: Twentieth-century American novelist whose stories often centered around the plight of the worker. he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 and his novels include "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden"
Cervantes, Miguel de: Spanish writer whose book "Don Quixote" is considered the first modern novel
Dickens, Charles: English writer immensely popular with his Victorian audience. A contemporary of Thomas Hardy, some important works are "A Tale of Two Cities," "Great Expectations," and "A Christmas Carol"
Anderson, Sherwood: American short-story writer whose most famous collection is "Winesburg,Ohio"
Marlowe, Christopher: English playwritht was Shakespeare's contemporary and is often thought to have influenced him greatly. He wrote "Tamburlaine the Great" as well as "Dr. Faustus"
Beckett, Samuel: Irish-born French novelist and playwright whose Existentialist works include "Malloy" and "Waiting For Godot."
Yeats, William Butler: Irish playwright and poet who penned "The Winding Stair"
Whitman, Walt: One of the greatest American poets, whose seminal collection, "Leaves of Grass," is still considered among the greatest of American poetical works
Faulkner, William: Acclaimed American Southern novelist had a major influence on contemporary literature. Some major works include "The Sound and the Fury" "Absolom! Absolom!" and "As I Lay Dying"
Pound, Ezra: American born poet and editor (of poet T.S. Eliot and others) who typified the Modernist movement
Bunyan, John: English preacher and writer of allegorical stories, most famously "The Pilgrim's Progress."
Nabokov, Vladimir: Russian American writer and essayist who is probably best known for his controversial novel "Lolita" and its effete protagonist Humbert Humbert
Chaucer, Geoffrey: Early English poet who wrote the influential "The Canterbury Tales"
Blake, William: British artist, poet, and engraver who wrote "Songs of Innocence and Experience."
Rushdie, Salman: British novelist most notable for the death sentence imposed on him by the Ayatollah Khomeini, who thought his novel "The Satanic Verses" to be blasphemous
Frost, Robert: Popular American poet of the 20th century who penned such notable poems as "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "Mending Wall"
Sophocles: Greek dramatist who, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, wrote some of the greatest Greek tragedies. His classic "Oedipus Rex" is among the greatest plays ever written
Updike, John: Contemporary American novelist who wrote many popular novels, including "Rabbit, Run" and "Bech at Bay"
Eliot, George (Mary Ann Evans): Victorian English female novelist who wrote the realist novels "Middlemarch" and "Adam Bede"
Keats, John: English Romantic poet who wrote "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode to a Grecian Urn," among many others
Zola, Emile: French writer and essayist from the naturalist school whose most famous work is "J'Accuse," and article decrying the French government's role in the Dreyfus Affair.
Milton, John: Considered one of the great English-language poets. An outspoken essayist during the Reformation, his major works include "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained"
Johnson, Samuel: The leading thinker of his era, this English writer wrote the first modern dictionary in 1755
Voltaire: Important 18th-century French philosopher and author whose achievements helped shape the Age of Enlightenment. Principal among his work is the masterpiece "Candide."
Shaw, George Bernard: Irish playwright and Nobel Prize-winner wrote many notable plays including "Pygmalion" and "Saint Joan"
Donne, John: English writer, essayist,. and religions scholar considered the greatest of the metaphysical poets due to his highly original poems, including "The Flea" and "Death Be Not Proud"
Hardy, Thomas: One of the great English writers of the 19th century, his popular novels include "Far From the Madding Crowd" and "Tess of the D'Urbevilles"
Camus, Albert: French writer and Existentialist best known for his novels "The Stranger" and "The Plague"
Wordsworth, William: Poet of the English Romantic movement who, along with Coleridge, published the seminal "Lyrical Ballads"
Kerouac, Jack: American Beat poet and novelist and voice of the counterculture who wrote "On the Road"
Hughes, Langston: Twentieth-century African American poet who helped shape the Harlem Renaissance. Major works include "Weary Blues" and "Selected Poems"
Aligheri, Dante: Early Renaissance Italian writer is called the father of modern literature. His "Divine Comedy" is one of literature's great triumphs
Coleridge. Samuel Taylor: One of the first English Romantics, widely remembered for "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Together with William Wordsworth, he published "Lyrical Ballads" in 1798
Conrad, Joseph: Polish-born British writer whose most famous books are the novella "Heart of Darkness" and the novel "Under Western Eyes"
Aeschylus: Ancient Greek dramatist specialized in tragedies, among them "Prometheus Bound"
Ginsberg, Allen: American Beat poet and active political figure who became the face of a generation's underground. perhaps his most famous work is the collection "Howl"
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens): One of America's greatest 19th-century writers and humorists whose novels, including "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" are considered classics of American lierature
Hawthorned, Nathaniel: Important 19th-century American writer who wrote celebrated novels and short stories, including "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Minister's black Veil"
Kafka, Franz: German existentialist novelist who penned the classic "The Metamorphosis"
Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Prominent Russian Novelist whose major works include "Crime and Punishment" and "The Idiot"
Dreiser, Theodore: American writer of the naturalist school whose novels include "Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy"
Spenser, Edmund: A master of the epic poem and friend of prominent British statesmen, Spenser is best known for his elegant "The Faerie Queen"
Morrison, Toni: Contemporary African American novelist whose fiction is widely acclaimed, she won the Nobel Prize in 1993. Her major works include "Beloved" and "Song of Solomon"
Balzac, Honore de: Early 19th-century French writer best known for his series "La Comedie Humaine"
Petrarch: Renaissance Italian poet whose love poems and writings were widely translated and had great influence on 16th and 17th century British writers
Flaubert, Gustave: French writer who coined the phrase le mot just (the perfect word) had a notoriously meticulous style. His masterpiece is Madame Bovary
Euripedes: Along with Sophocles and Aeschylus, a preeminent Ancient Greek dramatist
Hemingway, Ernest: Holds a place as one of America's most influential writers due to a terse style he honed as a journalist. Best known among his works are the novels "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Farewell to Arms"
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Important American Transcendentalist writer and philosopher. The mentor of Thoreau, he wrote the essay "Nature"
Homer: Ancient Greek writer sometimes called the father of literature. His epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are two of history's most important achievements
Colette, Sidonic-Gabrielle: Late 19th-century French female author who published the Claudine novels as well as "The Innocent Wife"
Miller, Henry: Twentieth-century American writer who wrote several controversial works, including "Tropic of Cancer"
Crane, Stephen: American author of the Civil War novel "Red Badge of Courage"
Dickinson, Emily: One of American's great 19th-century poets whose emotional poems were never published in her lifetime
Plutarch: Greek essayist and biographer whose monumental tome, "The Parallel Lives," influenced many scholars and writers, including Shakespeare
Bronte, Charlotte: English novelist, sister to Emily, who wrote under the pen name Currer Bell. Best known for the novels "Jayne Eyre" and "Shirley."
Hugo, Victor: Prominent Victorian French novelist who wrote "Les Miserables"

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