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1:The Brothers Grimm Tokybook
*Real Names: Jacob Ludwig Karl, Wilhelm Karl Grimm
*Country: Germany
*Birth-Death Years: 04/01/1785-20/09/1863 and 24/02/1786-16/12/1859
*Era: Late 18th century, early 19th century
*Genre: Folk literature, fairy tales
Notable Works: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Snow Queen, The Little Shepherd Boy, Hansel and Gretel The Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, were two of nine children born to Philipp Wilhelm Grimm in a city in the Hesse region of Germany. In their twenties, the Grimm brothers began studying linguistics and folk literature. They achieved immense accomplishments in the field of fairy tales and folklore. Stories narrated by the Grimm brothers, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Snow Queen, The Little Shepherd Boy, and Hansel and Gretel, have become immensely popular and have stood the test of time. These works have profoundly influenced the culture and fairy tales of many other countries, have been adapted into films numerous times, and are still preserved in the Grimm’s Fairy Tales collection, narrated by parents to their children.
2:William Shakespeare
*Real Name: William Shakespeare
*Country: England
*Date of Birth-Death: 23/04/1564-23/04/1616
*Era: 16th century
*Genre: Historical, Tragedy
*Notable Works: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Richard II, Richard III, Macbeth, Othello
William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, considered the greatest writer in the English language and a pre-eminent dramatist. His theatrical works are categorized into three types: comedies, tragedies, and histories, including timeless masterpieces such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare is also regarded as a titan of Western literature for pioneering narrative techniques, character development, plot construction, climaxes, and particularly tragedies. In the realm of linguistics, he is credited with coining many new words, which were later incorporated into the dictionary. Although criticized by renowned international figures such as Voltaire and Friedrich the Great, Shakespeare’s influence permeated subsequent generations of great writers, with Charles Dickens being a prime example.
3:Lev Tolstoy
Real Name: Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Country: Russia
Date of Birth-Death: 28/08/1828-20/11/1910
Era: 19th century
Genre: Social realism, pacifism, anarchism
Notable Works: War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Childhood, Boyhood, Father Sergius, A Confession, Resurrection
Count Lev Tolstoy was a great Russian Christian writer, advocate for pacifism and anarchism. In Russia, Tolstoy’s literary and poetic greatness surpassed even Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Anton Chekhov, making him the greatest Russian writer, especially with his timeless masterpieces Anna Karenina and War and Peace. These two works rank 1st and 3rd in Time magazine’s 100 greatest books of all time. According to the former chancellor of Oxford University, Lev Tolstoy was the greatest writer of the 19th century, while The Guardian in the US also voted Tolstoy as the greatest writer of all time.
4:Charles Dickens
*Real Name: Charles John Huffam Dickens
* Country: England
* Date of Birth-Death: 07/02/1812-09/06/1870
* Era: 19th century
*Genre: Children’s literature, adventure, realism, short stories
* Notable Works: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Hard Times, The Old Curiosity Shop
Charles Dickens was born in a suburb of Portsmouth, located in the Hampshire region of England, into a middle-class family of civil servants. He once worked as a shorthand clerk for a court, then as a reporter for the Morning Star, and was also the founder of the Daily News in 1846. Charles Dickens began writing in 1833, and his fame quickly spread throughout Europe. He is considered the greatest novelist writing in the English language and was the most famous writer of the Victorian era.
5:Victor Hugo
*Real Name: Victor Hugo
* Country: France
* Date of Birth-Death: 26/02/1802-22/05/1885
* Era: 19th century
* Genre: Romanticism, French Revolution, Socio-political
Notable Works: Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, The Man Who Laughs, Ninety-Three
In the annals of French literature, Victor Hugo occupies an immensely significant position. He was not only a poet, novelist, and playwright but also an influential thinker and politician in 19th century France. His works spanned across various domains, such as lyrical poetry, romantic drama, social novels, and romantic fiction. He also stands as a representative figure for Romanticism in Europe. Victor Hugo’s works are deeply rooted in the “Art for Life’s Sake” approach, vividly depicting the social realities of his time, embodying human morality, love, and progressive political ideals against the prevailing monarchist and feudal thoughts that dominated France and Europe. Thanks to his contributions not only in literature but also in art, philosophy, and politics, Victor Hugo emerged as a prominent figure of his era. Upon his death, he was honored with a national funeral, and his remains were interred in the prestigious Pantheon.
6:Mark Twain
Name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Country: United States
Birth-Death Year: November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
Era: 19th century
Notable Works: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Gilded Age,” “Concerning the Jews,” “Life on the Mississippi,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
In the 19th century, while France had Victor Hugo, England had Charles Dickens, and Russia had Lev Tolstoy, the United States, a nation born later but subsequently becoming a leading literary powerhouse in the world, had Mark Twain as its foremost literary luminary. Mark Twain, with his satirical and humorous style, conversational prose, and keen ability to describe the social psyche, played a significant role in the fight against superstitions, feudal ideas, oppressive rule, and particularly racial discrimination against African Americans during the era of slavery in the United States.
6:Pushkin
*Name: Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin
* Country: Russia
*Birth-Death Year: June 6, 1799 – February 10, 1837
*Era: Early 19th century
*Genres: Romanticism, epic poetry, realism
*Notable Works: “The Old Man and the Sea,” “Eugene Onegin,” “The Little House in Kolomna,” “I Love You” (poetry)
Pushkin is a literary giant, revered as the “Sun of Russian Poetry.” He is considered the pioneer and inspiration for many famous Russian writers who came after him, such as Lev Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Nikolai Ostrovsky, and particularly for his contributions to the Russian literary language. He is an icon of 19th-century Russian Romantic literature. Pushkin tragically died in a duel with a cavalry officer of the Imperial Guard at the young age of 37.
8:Marcel Proust
*Name: Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust
* Country: France
* Birth-Death Year: July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922
* Era: Late 19th century, early 20th century
* Genres: Autobiographical novel, introspective, Impressionism
* Notable Work: “In Search of Lost Time” (À la recherche du temps perdu)
Marcel Proust was a French writer and translator, known for his seven-volume work, “In Search of Lost Time.” This is almost his sole and immensely famous literary creation. “In Search of Lost Time” achieved resounding success and was ranked 8th in Time magazine’s list of the greatest books of all time. He was hailed by novelist Graham Greene as the “greatest writer of the 20th century,” and “writers born at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were almost inevitably marked by two great influences: Proust and Freud.”
9:Ernest Hemingway
*Name: Ernest Miller Hemingway
*Country: United States
* Birth-Death Year: July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961
* Era: 20th century
*Genres: War, romance
Notable Works: “The Old Man and the Sea,” “A Farewell to Arms,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Garden of Eden,” “A Moveable Feast,” “Across the River and Into the Trees,” “The Sun Also Rises,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” “Death in the Afternoon”
Ernest Hemingway, an American writer of French descent, was a part of the “Lost Generation,” a term he coined himself, referring to the young people who came of age during World War I and felt disillusioned by the world. Hemingway became the most prominent writer in modern American literature, known for his famous “iceberg theory” in literature. Many consider him even greater than F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of “The Great Gatsby,” despite their close friendship, because Hemingway produced more famous works, and his “iceberg theory” was a unique and groundbreaking concept in literature.
Ernest Hemingway received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for “The Old Man and the Sea” and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. In 1961, he tragically took his own life with a shotgun at his home.
10:Voltaire
*Name: Francois-Marie Arouet
*Country: France
*Birth-Death Year: November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778
*Era: 17th century
*Genres: Epic poetry, history, Enlightenment
* Notable Works: “La Henriade,” “Letters on the English,” “History of Charles XII, King of Sweden,” “The Age of Louis XIV,” “The Age of Louis XV,” “The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great”
Voltaire was a renowned writer, poet, philosopher, and intellectual figure of the 17th century. He was born into an aristocratic family in Paris and received education from Jesuit priests, becoming fluent in Greek, Latin, English, Italian, and Spanish. Despite his noble background, Voltaire was a staunch critic of the French monarchy and the Catholic Church. He is considered one of the most influential philosophers of his time, although some of his ideas, such as racial discrimination (against Black people and Jews), disdain for the bourgeoisie, and lack of support for democracy, were later criticized by Victor Hugo in “Les Misérables.”
Nevertheless, Voltaire is recognized as a great writer with a deep understanding of history and epic poetry. He had a significant impact on the Enlightenment movement, promoting the values of reason, tolerance, and freedom of thought.
11:Goethe
*Name: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* Country: Germany
*Birth-Death Year: August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832
*Era: Late 18th century, early 19th century
*Genres: Enlightenment, Romanticism
*Notable Works: “Faust” (dramatic poem), “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” “Minna Herzlieb,” “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the most enlightened and versatile literary geniuses in the world of literature. He was not only a writer and poet but also a playwright, scientist, and painter. Goethe’s most famous work is “Faust,” consisting of two parts and written as a dramatic poem. It is considered the pinnacle of world poetry. Goethe stands as a quintessential figure in German literature, leading literature away from the classical Weimar era.
12:Dostoevsky
*Name: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky
*Country: Russia
*Birth-Death Year: November 11, 1821 – February 9, 1881
*ra: 19th century
Genres: Social psychology, socio-political, social realism, existentialism
Notable Works: “The Idiot,” “Crime and Punishment,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Notes from Underground,” “The Gambler,” “Poor Folk,” “Demons” (also known as “The Devils” or “The Possessed”)
Dostoevsky, along with Leo Tolstoy, is one of the greatest literary giants of 19th-century Russia. He is highly regarded by critics, with many considering him a pioneer or precursor of existentialism. In Russia, following the October Revolution, Dostoevsky’s works were not initially recognized, and it wasn’t until 1972 that he was reevaluated and properly appreciated in his homeland.
13:Franz Kafka
Name: Franz Kafka
Country: Czech Republic (formerly part of Austria-Hungary)
Birth-Death Year: July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924
Era: Late 19th century, early 20th century
Genres: Absurdist literature, social psychology, surrealism
Notable Works: “The Metamorphosis,” “The Trial,” “The Castle,” “The Stoker,” “In the Penal Colony,” “America,” “A Country Doctor,” “A Hunger Artist,” “Description of a Struggle,” “Josefine the Singer or the Mouse People”
Franz Kafka was a writer born in Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic) who wrote in German. He is considered one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. His works often exhibit surreal and absurd elements, laying the groundwork for existentialism. After Kafka’s death, he left behind a manuscript with instructions for his close friend Max Brod to destroy all his unfinished writings. However, Max Brod chose to edit and publish them instead. The posthumously published works, known as “The Last Novels,” include two of Kafka’s most famous works, “The Trial” and “The Castle,” while “The Metamorphosis” was already well-known during Kafka’s lifetime.
14:George Orwell
Name: Eric Arthur Blair
Country: United Kingdom
Birth-Death Year: June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950
Era: 20th century
Genres: Political, social
Notable Works: “1984,” “Animal Farm,” “The Road to Wigan Pier,” “Homage to Catalonia,” “Burmese Days”
George Orwell was a renowned British writer and journalist, widely admired as one of the most influential voices of the 20th century. He was born into what he referred to as the “lower-upper-middle-class” (as Orwell described it) and had a diverse career, serving in the Imperial Police in Burma (now Myanmar), fighting against Fascists in the Spanish Civil War, working as a plongeur (dishwasher) and a teacher, and eventually becoming a prolific journalist and author.
In Spain, Orwell was involved with the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and always believed he made the right choice by joining POUM instead of the International Brigades led by Soviet Communists. His works, such as “Animal Farm” and “1984,” are iconic literary critiques of totalitarianism, particularly the Soviet-style communism under Stalin. George Orwell held strong beliefs in democracy and the welfare of the common people, and he had great faith in democratic socialism in Northern Europe.
15:J. R. R. Tolkien
Name: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Country: United Kingdom
Birth-Death Year: January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973
Era: 20th century
Genres: Fantasy, Legendarium
Notable Works: “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit”
R. R. Tolkien was a British novelist who served in World War I and later became a professor of linguistics at the University of Oxford. The world of Middle-earth, which he created in his works “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” is a vast and intricate realm with its own history, geography, languages, and races. Tolkien is widely regarded as the greatest author in the fantasy genre, and the world he crafted has given rise to a field of academic study known as Tolkien Studies, dedicated to exploring the intricacies of his fictional universe, often referred to as the Legendarium.
16:Arthur Conan Doyle
Name: Arthur Conan Doyle
Country: Scotland
Birth-Death Year: May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930
Era: Late 19th century, early 20th century
Genres: Mystery, historical fiction
Notable Works: “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Return of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “The Lost World,” “Sir Nigel”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer born in Ireland but later became a Scottish citizen. He is regarded as the king of the detective genre, known for his famous work “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” which has become incredibly renowned and is considered a classic in the field of mystery literature. Doyle was even knighted by Queen Victoria for his contributions to literature.
17:Agatha Christie
Name: Agatha Mary Clarissa
Country: United Kingdom
Birth-Death Year: September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976
Era: 20th century
Genres: Mystery, romance
Notable Works: “The Mysterious Affair at Styles,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “The A.B.C. Murders,” “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas,” “And Then There Were None,” “The Crooked House,” “The Mystery of the Blue Train,” “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” “Sleeping Murder”
If Sherlock Holmes is considered the king of detective fiction, then Agatha Christie is undoubtedly the queen of mystery. Agatha Christie is the best-selling mystery author of all time and the second-best-selling author of all time when considering all genres, trailing only behind Shakespeare. It is estimated that Agatha Christie’s works have sold approximately 1 billion copies in English and an additional 1 billion copies in translations into other languages worldwide.
18:F. Scott Fitzgerald
Name: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
Country: United States
Birth-Death Year: September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940
Era: 20th century
Genres: Social critique, social psychology
Notable Works: “The Great Gatsby,” “Tender Is the Night,” “This Side of Paradise,” “The Beautiful and Damned,” “The Crack-Up”
Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest writers of the “Lost Generation,” alongside his close friend Ernest Hemingway. His work, “The Great Gatsby,” is seen as a depiction of the darker side of the American Dream during the Jazz Age and is considered one of the cornerstones of modern American literature.
19:J. D. Salinger
Name: Jerome David Salinger
Country: United States
Birth-Death Year: January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010
Era: 20th century
Genres: Autobiographical novel, social commentary
Notable Works: “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Franny and Zooey,” “Nine Stories,” “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”
D. Salinger was an American writer known for his reclusive personality. The success of his works only contributed to his inclination for privacy, and by 1965, he had ceased to publish new works. His most acclaimed work, “The Catcher in the Rye,” is considered a cornerstone of modern American literature, even though it faced criticism from some literary circles and censorship in libraries across the United States.
20:Harper Lee
Real Name: Nelle Harper Lee
Country: United States
Birth-Death Years: 28/04/1926-19/02/2016
Era: 20th Century
Genres: Autobiographical, Social, Southern Gothic
Notable Works: To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman Harper Lee was an American female author and lawyer, as well as a journalist. Throughout her career, she only wrote two novels, with one of them being To Kill a Mockingbird, which dealt with issues of racial discrimination and, along with The Great Gatsby, became one of the “four pillars” of modern American literature.
21:Jack Kerouac
Real Name: Jack Kerouac
Country: United States
Birth-Death Years: 12/03/1922-21/10/1969
Era: 20th Century
Genres: Religion, Social, Travelogue, Music
Notable Works: On the Road, The Town and the City, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac is the final name associated with the novel On the Road, which is part of the “four pillars” of modern American literature. He is considered a literary iconoclast. At the age of 47, Jack Kerouac died from internal bleeding caused by alcohol abuse.
22:Miguel de Cervantes
Real Name: Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra
Country: Spain
Birth-Death Years: 29/09/1547-23/04/1616
Era: 16th Century
Genres: Satire, Burlesque
Notable Works: Don Quixote, Journey to Parnassus, La Galatea, Eight Comedies and Interludes Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer, poet, and playwright, renowned for his classic work, Don Quixote (Full title: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, also known as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza). Don Quixote is the first novel written in modern European language and holds a position of great importance in European literature.
23:Alexandre Dumas
Real Name: Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie
Country: France
Birth-Death Years: 24/7/1802-05/12/1870
Era: 19th Century
Genres: Romanticism, Historical, Adventure
Notable Works: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Ten Years Later, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte of Bragelonne, The Red Sphinx, The Black Tulip, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, The Women’s War, Queen Margot, The Chevalier d’Harmental, Napoleon, Celebrated Crimes.
Alexandre Dumas was a prolific French writer with a strong creative output, producing around 250 works, including 100 novels, 91 plays, and the rest consisting of essays, memoirs, and journalism. His most famous works are The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. These are renowned literary works that have been adapted into numerous films.
24:Oscar Wilde
Real Name: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
Country: Ireland
Birth-Death Years: 16/10/1854-30/11/1900
Era: Late 19th Century, 20th Century
Genres: Aestheticism, Art for Art’s Sake
Notable Works: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories.
Oscar Wilde was a renowned writer and poet who had a significant influence on European literature and was the first to articulate the “Art for Art’s Sake” movement, which later contrasted with Victor Hugo’s “Art for Humanitarianism.” His most famous work is The Picture of Dorian Gray.
25:Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Real Name: Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez
Country: Colombia
Birth-Death Years: 06/03/1928-17/04/2014
Era: 20th Century, early 21st Century
Genres: Magical Realism
Notable Works: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, No One Writes to the Colonel, Autumn of the Patriarch, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, In Evil Hour, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Living to Tell the Tale, Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is the greatest writer of South America, known for his magical realism, with the iconic work being One Hundred Years of Solitude. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1972 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
26:Jane Austen
Real Name: Jane Austen
Country: England
Birth-Death Years: 16/12/1775-18/07/1817
Era: Late 18th Century, early 19th Century
Genres: Humanism, Romance, Culture, Society
Notable Works: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey Jane Austen is the most esteemed female writer in England, known for her classic work Pride and Prejudice. The character of Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, with her strong, witty, and sharp personality, is considered one of the most captivating characters in English literature.
27:O’Henry
Real Name: William Sydney Porter
Country: United States
Birth-Death Years: 01/09/1862-05/06/1910
Era: 19th Century, early 20th Century
Genres: Life, Society, Humanism, Satire
Notable Works: The Last Leaf, After Twenty Years, The Gift of the Magi, The Ransom of Red Chief, A Retrieved Reformation, The Cop and the Anthem, Hearts and Hands
Henry is a famous American writer known for his short stories. O. Henry’s short stories are often simple, portraying everyday people in society, but they feature highly interesting, clever, and sometimes ironic plots that are rich in humanism and social satire. His most famous short story is “The Last Leaf.”
28:A. Chekhov
Real Name: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Country: Russia
Birth-Death Years: 29/01/1860-17/03/1904
Era: 19th Century
Genres: Social Realism, Satire
Notable Works: The Man in the Case, The Mask, The Hedgehog, Two Enemies, The Steppe, The Neurotic, A Dreary Story, The Death of a Government Clerk
If O. Henry is the renowned American short story writer, then in Russia, there is A. Chekhov. A. Chekhov had worked as an illustrator, practiced medicine, but he achieved his greatest success in writing short stories and plays. His most famous short story is “The Man in the Case.”
29:Vladimir Nabokov
Real Name: Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
Country: Russia
Birth-Death Years: 22/04/1899-02/07/1977
Era: 20th Century
Genres: Dark Humor, Education, Psychology
Notable Works: Lolita, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Pale Fire, Look at the Harlequins!, King, Queen, Knave, The Defense
Vladimir Nabokov is one of the most famous Russian writers of the 20th century, known for his controversial work, Lolita. Later on, Lolita became a globally renowned novel, considered a “classic of postmodern literature” and containing profound themes of education and the protection of adolescents.
30:Emily Bronte
Real Name: Emily Jane Bronte
Country: England
Birth-Death Years: 30/07/1818-19/12/1848
Era: 19th Century
Genres: Humanism, Romance
Notable Work: Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is the only novel by English writer Emily Bronte, but it is regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces in literature. In addition to the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte also composed poetry, although very few of her poems have survived.
