THE LITERATURE BOOK THE LITERATURE BOOK DK LONDON original styling by CONTRIBUTORS STUDIO8 DESIGN SENIOR EDITOR Sam Atkinson produced for DK by SENIOR ART EDITOR JAMES CANTON, CONSULTANT EDITOR COBALT ID Gillian Andrews ART EDITOR ART EDITORS Our consultant and coauthor James Canton Saffron Stocker Darren Bland, Paul Reid is a lecturer in literature at the University MANAGING EDITOR EDITORS of Essex, England, where he teaches the Gareth Jones Richard Gilbert, Diana Loxley, MA “Wild Writing: Literature and the Kirsty Seymour-Ure, Marek Walisiewicz, Environment.” His published work includes MANAGING ART EDITOR Christopher Westhorp Lee Griffiths From Cairo to Baghdad: British Travellers in Arabia (2011) and Out of Essex: Re-Imagining US EDITORS First American Edition, 2016 Jane Perlmutter, Margaret Parrish Published in the United States by a Literary Landscape (2013), which explores DK Publishing the ties between our landscapes and our ART DIRECTOR 345 Hudson Street selves, delving into the natural world and Karen Self New York, New York 10014 its wonders. He is currently writing a tale ASSOCIATE PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Copyright © 2016 about a journey across Britain’s wildest Liz Wheeler Dorling Kindersley Limited lands on the trail of prehistoric worlds. DK, A Division of Penguin Random House LLC PUBLISHING DIRECTOR 16 17 18 19 20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Jonathan Metcalf 001—274739—March/2016 HELEN CLEARY JACKET DESIGNER All rights reserved. Natalie Godwin Without limiting the rights under the copyright A nonfiction writer and editor, Helen Cleary JACKET EDITOR reserved above, no part of this publication may be studied English literature at Cambridge Claire Gell reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval University, England. She went on to complete system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means the prestigious creative writing MA at the JACKET DESIGN DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, Sophia MTT or otherwise), without the prior written permission University of East Anglia, where she was of the copyright owner. taught by W. G. Sebald and Lorna Sage. Helen SENIOR PRODUCER, PRE-PRODUCTION Tony Phipps Published in Great Britain by is a published writer of poetry and short fiction Dorling Kindersley Limited. as well as nonfiction. PRODUCER, PRE-PRODUCTION Nadine King A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ANN KRAMER SENIOR PRODUCERS Mandy Innes, Rita Sinha ISBN: 978-1-4654-2988-9 A writer and historian, Ann Kramer worked DK books are available at special discounts when for various publishers, including DK, before ILLUSTRATIONS purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, becoming a full-time writer. Over the years James Graham fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street, she has written numerous books for the New York, New York 10014 general reader on subjects ranging from DK DELHI [email protected] art, literature, and the humanities through JACKET DESIGNER Printed and bound in China. to women’s history. Having a deep love of Dhirendra Singh books and literature, Ann has also taught SENIOR DTP DESIGNER adult literacy and literature classes. Harish Aggarwal A WORLD OF IDEAS: SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW MANAGING JACKETS EDITOR Saloni Singh www.dk.com ROBIN LAXBY HILA SHACHAR NICK WALTON A freelance editor and writer, Robin Laxby A lecturer in English literature at De Montfort Nick Walton is Shakespeare Courses has a degree in English from Oxford University, University, England, and writer for The Development Manager at the Shakespeare England, and has worked as a publishing Australian Ballet, Hila Shachar has a doctorate Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, director in London. He has reviewed fiction in English literature from The University of England. He has written introductory material for The Good Book Guide and has published Western Australia. She has published widely for the Penguin editions of Timon of Athens five books of poetry since 1985. The Society on literature and film, including her New York and Love’s Labour’s Lost, and is coauthor of Authors recently awarded him a grant to Times featured book, Cultural Afterlives and of The Shakespeare Wallbook. He is also a complete a 30,000-word prose poem. Screen Adaptations of Classic Literature (2012). contributor to DK’s The Shakespeare Book She is also the author of several studies on in the Big Ideas series. DIANA LOXLEY the adaptation of literary works, feminism in literature, and popular and classic fiction. MARCUS WEEKS Diana Loxley is a freelance editor and writer, She is currently writing a monograph on and a former managing editor of a publishing literary biopics, examining the screen Marcus Weeks studied music, philosophy, and company in London, England. She has a adaptation of the figure of the author. musical instrument technology, and had a doctorate in literature from the University varied career, first as a teacher of English as a of Essex. Her published works include an ALEX VALENTE foreign language, then a musician, art-gallery analysis of colonial and imperial ideology manager, and instrument restorer before in various key texts of 19th-century fiction. A researcher at the University of East Anglia, becoming a full-time writer. He has written England, literary translator, and writer, and contributed to numerous books on the ESTHER RIPLEY Alex Valente has contributed to the Oxford humanities, arts, and popular sciences aimed Companion to Children’s Literature (2015), at making big ideas accessible and attractive, Esther Ripley has a first-class degree in the Cultures of Comics Work (2016), and including many titles in DK‘s Big Ideas’ series. literature with psychology and has worked several smaller poetry and prose publications, for many years as a journalist, education in both Italian and English. He has also taught PENNY WOOLLARD magazine editor, book reviewer, and short- first-year English literature modules at the story competition judge. A former managing University of East Anglia. A theater studies administrator at the editor at DK, she has written books for children University of Essex, England, Penny Woollard and now writes on a range of cultural subjects. BRUNO VINCENT has a doctorate in literature, from the same university, titled “Derek Walcott’s Americas: MEGAN TODD As a former bookseller, then a book editor, the USA and the Caribbean.” She has lectured and now a freelance writer, Bruno Vincent on Walcott and has also taught American A senior lecturer in social science at the has spent his entire working life around books literature at Essex university. University of Central Lancashire, England, and the written word. He is the author of ten Megan Todd has a degree in English literature titles, including two Sunday Times top ten from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. best sellers and two volumes of Dickensian She taught English literature at a grammar Gothic horror stories for children. school in Cumbria and completed a Masters in gender studies at Newcastle University, with a focus on women’s writing. 6 CONTENTS 10 INTRODUCTION 47 Real things in the darkness 72 Laughter’s the property of seem no realer than dreams man. Live joyfully The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Gargantua and Pantagruel, Shikibu François Rabelais HEROES AND LEGENDS 3000 BCE–1300 CE 48 A man should suffer greatly 74 As it did to this flower, the for his Lord doom of age will blight The Song of Roland your beauty 20 Only the gods dwell forever Les Amours de Cassandre, in sunlight 49 Tandaradei, sweetly sang Pierre de Ronsard The Epic of Gilgamesh the nightingale “Under the Linden Tree,” 75 He that loves pleasure must 21 To nourish oneself on Walther von der Vogelweide for pleasure fall ancient virtue induces Doctor Faustus, Christopher perseverance 50 He who dares not follow love’s Marlowe Book of Changes, attributed command errs greatly to King Wen of Zhou Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, 76 Every man is the child of Chrétien de Troyes his own deeds 22 What is this crime I am Don Quixote, Miguel de planning, O Krishna? 52 Let another’s wound be Cervantes Mahabharata, attributed my warning to Vyasa Njal’s Saga 82 One man in his time plays many parts 26 Sing, O goddess, the anger 54 Further reading First Folio, William Shakespeare of Achilles Iliad, attributed to Homer 90 To esteem everything is to esteem nothing 34 How dreadful knowledge RENAISSANCE TO The Misanthrope, Molière of the truth can be when ENLIGHTENMENT there’s no help in truth! 91 But at my back I always hear 1300–1800 Oedipus the King, Sophocles Time’s winged chariot hurrying near 40 The gates of hell are open 62 I found myself within a Miscellaneous Poems, night and day; smooth the shadowed forest Andrew Marvell descent, and easy is the way The Divine Comedy, Dante Aeneid, Virgil Alighieri 92 Sadly, I part from you; like a clam torn from its shell, I go, 42 Fate will unwind as it must 66 We three will swear and autumn too Beowulf brotherhood and unity of The Narrow Road to the Interior, aims and sentiments Matsuo Basho¯ 44 So Scheherazade began… Romance of the Three One Thousand and One Nights Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong 93 None will hinder and none be hindered on the journey 46 Since life is but a dream, 68 Turn over the leef and to the mountain of death why toil to no avail? chese another tale The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, Quan Tangshi The Canterbury Tales, Chikamatsu Monzaemon Geoffrey Chaucer 7 94 I was born in the Year 1632, DEPICTING REAL LIFE in the City of York, of a good family 1855–1900 Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe 158 Boredom, quiet as the spider, 96 If this is the best of all was spinning its web in the possible worlds, what are shadowy places of her heart the others? Madame Bovary, Gustave Candide, Voltaire Flaubert 120 Who shall conceive the 98 I have courage enough to walk horrors of my secret toil 164 I too am a child of this through hell barefoot Frankenstein, Mary Shelley land; I too grew up amid The Robbers, Friedrich Schiller this scenery 122 All for one, one for all The Guarani, José de Alencar 100 There is nothing more difficult The Three Musketeers, in love than expressing in Alexandre Dumas 165 The poet is a kinsman in writing what one does not feel the clouds Les Liaisons dangereuses, 124 But happiness I never Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Pierre Choderlos de Laclos aimed for, it is a stranger Baudelaire to my soul 102 Further reading Eugene Onegin, Alexander 166 Not being heard is no reason Pushkin for silence Les Misérables, Victor Hugo 125 Let your soul stand cool ROMANTICISM AND THE and composed before a 168 Curiouser and curiouser! RISE OF THE NOVEL million universes Alice’s Adventures in Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 1800–1855 126 You have seen how a man 172 Pain and suffering are 110 Poetry is the breath and the was made a slave; you shall always inevitable for a large finer spirit of all knowledge see how a slave was made intelligence and a deep heart Lyrical Ballads, William a man Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Wordsworth and Samuel Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dostoyevsky Taylor Coleridge Douglass, Frederick Douglass 178 To describe directly the life 111 Nothing is more wonderful, 128 I am no bird; and no net of humanity or even of a nothing more fantastic than ensnares me single nation, appears real life Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë impossible Nachtstücke, E. T. A. Hoffmann War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 132 I cannot live without my life! 112 Man errs, till he has ceased I cannot live without my soul! 182 It is a narrow mind which to strive Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë cannot look at a subject Faust, Johann Wolfgang from various points of view von Goethe 138 There is no folly of the beast Middlemarch, George Eliot of the Earth which is not 116 Once upon a time… infinitely outdone by the 184 We may brave human laws, Children’s and Household Tales, madness of men but we cannot resist Brothers Grimm Moby-Dick, Herman Melville natural ones Twenty Thousand Leagues 118 For what do we live, but 146 All partings foreshadow the Under the Sea, Jules Verne to make sport for our great final one neighbours, and laugh Bleak House, Charles Dickens at them in our turn? Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 150 Further reading 8 185 In Sweden all we do is to 234 The old world must crumble. BREAKING WITH celebrate jubilees Awake, wind of dawn! The Red Room, August TRADITION Berlin Alexanderplatz, Strindberg Alfred Döblin 1900–1945 186 She is written in a foreign 235 Ships at a distance have tongue 208 The world is full of obvious every man’s wish on board The Portrait of a Lady, things which nobody by any Their Eyes Were Watching God, Henry James chance ever observes Zora Neale Hurston The Hound of the Baskervilles, 188 Human beings can be awful Arthur Conan Doyle 236 Dead men are heavier than cruel to one another broken hearts The Adventures of Huckleberry 209 I am a cat. As yet I have no The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler Finn, Mark Twain name. I’ve no idea where I was born 238 It is such a secret place, 190 He simply wanted to go I Am a Cat, Natsume So¯seki the land of tears down the mine again, to The Little Prince, Antoine de suffer and to struggle 210 Gregor Samsa found himself, Saint-Exupéry Germinal, Émile Zola in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin 240 Further reading 192 The evening sun was now Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka ugly to her, like a great inflamed wound in the sky 212 Dulce et decorum est pro Tess of the d’Urbervilles, patria mori POSTWAR WRITING Thomas Hardy Poems, Wilfred Owen 1945–1970 194 The only way to get rid of a 213 Ragtime literature which temptation is to yield to it flouts traditional rhythms 250 BIG BROTHER IS The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot WATCHING YOU Oscar Wilde Nineteen Eighty-Four, 214 The heaventree of stars hung George Orwell 195 There are things old and with humid nightblue fruit new which must not be Ulysses, James Joyce 256 I’m seventeen now, and contemplated by men’s eyes sometimes I act like I’m Dracula, Bram Stoker 222 When I was young I, too, about thirteen had many dreams The Catcher in the Rye, 196 One of the dark places of Call to Arms, Lu Xun J. D. Salinger the earth Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 223 Love gives naught but itself 258 Death is a gang-boss aus and takes naught but Deutschland 198 Further reading from itself Poppy and Memory, Paul Celan The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran 259 I am invisible, understand, 224 Criticism marks the origin of simply because people progress and enlightenment refuse to see me The Magic Mountain, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison Thomas Mann 260 Lolita, light of my life, fire 228 Like moths among the of my loins. My sin, my soul whisperings and the Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov champagne and the stars The Great Gatsby, F. Scott 262 He leaves no stone unturned, Fitzgerald and no maggot lonely Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett