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Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, published in 1688, is a major work of literature from Restoration England. Its content reflects early criticism of England's expanding colonial structure, but its form is most significant. Behn's turn towards the individual and away from aristocracy is not total: Oroonoko is still a prince, but, by moving away from Europe in setting and focusing on an individual, she is at the forefront of a realist tradition which eventually evolves into the eighteenth-century novel. -
Voltaire, Lettres Philosophiques
Voltaire's Lettres Philosophiques is a work from the early enlightenment which covers many subjects, from religion and politics to arts and science. Importantly, he compares and contrasts English and French artists, saying that English artists are free to create without worry, whereas in France, artists are not recognized for their worth and have to face controversial censorship laws. -
Voltaire, Questions sur L'Encyclopedie
Voltaire's Questions sur L'Encyclopedie reflects the growing curiosity within the Enlightenment period. Its content is in conversation with Diderot's Encyclopedie, showing the evolution of an intellectual community within the Enlightenment. Voltaire's manipulation of the publishing market (by working with many publishers 'exclusively') is also representative of an Enlightenment ideal: to share work as widely as possible and spread 'enlightenment.' -
Charles Dickens, "A Walk in the Workhouse"
Charles Dickens' "A Walk in the Workhouse," published in 1850, is critical of Victorian society. Dickens was born into the low-middle class, but still succeeded as an artist. This is the beginning of an important cultural shift, seeing as, previously, popular writers were mainly born into wealth and privilege. Dickens' focus on the working class struggle ties the passage originally moved by Behn full circle, into an unequivocal focus on the lower classes over aristocracy. -
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
Published in 1915, The Metamorphosis is an example of the burgeoning modernist tradition within Germany and the rest of Europe. Gregor Samsa's overnight transformation into a "monstrous vermin" has been tied to Freud's psychological theories and indeed shows the modernist 'rise of the psychological man' which is concerned with psychology, such as mental health after the first world war or subconscious desires repressed by societal expectations.