Questions tagged [history-of-literature]
Questions about historical development within literature: for example, the history of a particular literary theme or idea, or of literature in a particular country or context. For questions about real-world history as it relates to literature, use [historical-context] instead. For questions about publication dates of specific works or editions, use [textual-history].
238 questions
6
votes
1
answer
347
views
Who coined the term ‘Shakespearean sonnet’?
So far, we have had at least two questions about the early history of the English sonnet:
Who introduced the sonnet to English literature? Wyatt or Shakespeare?
Why are Shakespearean sonnets called ...
- 9,963
-2
votes
2
answers
759
views
Was Harry Potter the first magic series to use wands?
Was Harry Potter the first magic series to use wands? I can't really think of any other series that used them.
- 14.3k
3
votes
2
answers
88
views
What was the first published book set during a Covid-19 lockdown?
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world and many people's lives in countries all over the world in 2020. Much has been written about how writers of fiction have needed to change or shelve ...
- 664
2
votes
1
answer
335
views
Was Anton Chekhov the earliest to use stream-of-consciousness technique in his works?
Anton Chekhov was a famous Russian short story writer and dramatist. Early in his career, he mastered the form of the one-act play and produced several masterpieces of this genre.
I remember I ...
- 51.1k
6
votes
0
answers
574
views
What's the first "reverse" poem?
I recently discovered an interesting type of poetry. When read one way, it says one thing and when read a different way, the opposite, all with the same words.
A sub-type of these is known as the ...
- 2,004
3
votes
0
answers
269
views
How and when did the term "spoilers" originate?
Nowadays, the word "spoilers" is frequently used to describe a twist, major plot point, or anything which, if known beforehand, might spoil the experience of reading a story. This whole ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
232
views
Etymology of "iamb", as a genre and a type of metre
An excellent verbose answer says that:
Etymologically, the word iambos is related to the Greek word for cripple, with the short syllable representing the lame leg and the long the strong one. ...
- 31.5k
15
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why did iambic pentameter become so 'standard' in classical English poetry?
Iambic pentameter is probably the most prevailing and widely used meter in classical English poetry, and it's the 'standard' form of verse in many forms of poetry such as sonnets. From Wikipedia (...
- 31.5k
0
votes
1
answer
101
views
What is the origin of the plot device where a character changes negative views about someone after spending time with them?
I feel like this is a common story element. Someone has a negative view about a person/group of people, and their worldview is changed after they are forced to spend time with that person/group. This ...
- 7,099
11
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How has knowledge of the Ur-Hamlet evolved over the centuries?
I recently read in an excellent verbose answer that the existence of the Ur-Hamlet, on which Shakespeare's Hamlet is presumed to have been based, is known from a throwaway line of Thomas Lodge, ...
- 31.5k
26
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Did Borges invent the idea of writing reviews/summaries of imaginary literary works?
In reading short stories by the great Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, I've noticed a repeated theme: many of these stories are written in the style of a review or summary of a much larger and ...
- 51.1k
9
votes
1
answer
333
views
Was J.R.R. Tolkien building on a past tradition when relying heavily on languages he made up?
It is a uncontested and well known fact that Tolkien was a linguist, and he wrote Middle-Earth as a setting for his languages.
However, what interests me is whether the approach he took was out of ...
- 51.1k
9
votes
2
answers
639
views
Are there earlier incidences than Merchant of Venice of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other?
In act 2, scene 2 of The Merchant of Venice, Launcelot Gobbo is conflicted regarding whether to run from Shylock, or continue working for him. Shakespeare expresses this internal conflict by ...
- 76.7k
1
vote
0
answers
330
views
What characteristics make The Faerie Queene an example of Renaissance literature?
Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene was published in the years 1590 (books I–III) and 1596 (books I–VI, i.e. complete).
It is primarily an allegorical work, and allegories were not new in the ...
- 51.1k
12
votes
0
answers
101
views
When was the Holy Grail first depicted as an object to be owned by its seeker?
While the Holy Grail was always depicted as an important or powerful relic, in medieval literature I have never seen a quest to own the Grail, only to seek it in a spiritual sense. In early stories, ...
- 9,963
21
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Were English poets of the sixteenth century aware of the Great Vowel Shift?
The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of English vowel sounds, marking the dividing line between Middle English and Modern English. A wholesale shift of sounds took place ...
- 51.1k
3
votes
1
answer
689
views
Why are Shakespearean sonnets called Shakespearean sonnets?
The term Shakespearean sonnet is frequently used for sonnets with a particular verse pattern and rhyme scheme, namely ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. But from what I can find with a little reading online, this ...
- 51.1k
1
vote
0
answers
24
views
What is the change in the characterization of the explorers in arctic novels in the past two centuries?
Has the general image of explorers or exploring teams in Arctic novels in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries really changed in essence?
- 93
20
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Was Paradise Lost the first major work of literature to give "sympathy for the devil"?
John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost was first published in England in 1667. While this is long after the Protestant Reformation where alternative ideas about Christianity became slightly more ...
- 31.5k
2
votes
0
answers
219
views
What is the origin of the charge that Romantic literature is escapist?
It is somewhat of a cliché that Romantic literature is escapist or at least tends to be escapist. Here is an example:
The study and understanding of reasons and nature of the presence of this ...
- 51.1k
0
votes
1
answer
72
views
Are there well-known examples of "fanfictions" of works written because an author disagreed with the original? [closed]
I wonder if either of these two scenarios ever happened:
Author A: writes story
Author B: This stinks. writes derivative work of A's work that fixes perceived weakness from the original
Or
Author A:...
2
votes
1
answer
206
views
What is the evidence for the width of the trap in the stage of Elizabethan playhouses?
Scholars of Elizabethan theatre agree that the stage in Elizabethan playhouses could have a trap door, for example in the Globe Theatre (built in 1699) and the Red Lion. In his study Shakespeare: The ...
- 3,275
5
votes
0
answers
129
views
Was Roald Dahl the first to use the "Hitler twist?"
In his story "Genesis and Catastrophe" [1959] , also called "A fine son", Roald Dahl uses a plot twist that has been done so often that it is an eye-roller: revealing near the end ...
- 76.7k
2
votes
1
answer
334
views
Where exactly did Colin Wilson describe Lovecraft as one of the pioneers of the "assault on rationality"?
The Wikipedia article about H. P. Lovecraft contains a section on the critical reception of Lovecraft's work that contains the following unsourced statement:
In 1962 Colin Wilson, in his survey of ...
- 51.1k
8
votes
1
answer
446
views
Why does literature not have a governing body for content ratings?
(Note this question will be based heavily on my experience as an American and the systems we have in place.)
I was reading some questions on this and another SE site about age appropriateness for so ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
338
views
What is the evidence that Flemish fables or fairy tales began with the words “back when the animals could still speak”?
In an answer to the question Why do many Korean folk tales start with “back when tigers smoked”?, user @Flater, who comes from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (i.e. Flanders), claims that the Dutch ...
- 51.1k
3
votes
1
answer
407
views
Was it traditional to omit the prologue from Shakespeare's plays in the First Folio?
In an older question about the purpose of the prologue in Romeo and Juliet, Cory Howell asked in a now deleted answer:
For what it's worth, the Prologue is not included in the First Folio version of ...
- 51.1k
3
votes
1
answer
73
views
Did Maupassant and Richepin know each other?
One of the first questions in the Guy de Maupassant reading challenge was Political backdrop to “The Lancer's Wife” (Franco-Prussian War)?. After I was unable to find the story in French, it turned ...
- 51.1k
6
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Who introduced the sonnet to English literature? Wyatt or Shakespeare?
Who brought sonnet to English literature? Thomas Wyatt or William Shakespeare?
Their contributions to English literature: Shakespeare wrote a book that contains 154 sonnets, but I couldn't find ...
- 31.5k
49
votes
1
answer
2k
views
History of Spoilers
I live in the USA, where people react poorly if you spoil a move or a book for them. However, the question What is the benefit in the Prologue "spoiling" the play in Romeo + Juliet? raises ...
- 141
1
vote
1
answer
98
views
Which publication first defined the theatre convention of the fourth wall?
One of the questions on this site asks Do a lot of Shakespeare characters break the fourth wall?
However, assuming a "fourth wall" in English Renaissance theatre appears to be anachronistic since
...
- 51.1k
3
votes
2
answers
97
views
What is the earliest known concept of a fictional advanced appliance for either cooking or eating?
Robots and automation once again have become very popular, introducing for example cooking robots.
What would be the earliest reference to an advanced appliance for either cooking or eating?
My two ...
CommunityBot
- 1
6
votes
2
answers
195
views
Who was the first scholar who used the term Henriad to refer to a subset of Shakespeare's history plays?
A recent chatroom discussion about how to tag the question Portrayal of Henry Bolingbroke through different Shakespeare plays led to the question what "Henriad" actually means.
According to ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
0
answers
51
views
Frank Kermode's prelude to modernism
Frank Kermode's The Genesis of Secrecy has the following quote:
One motive of... modernism was the desire to break with a tradition of writing supposed to have been based on a mistaken or dishonest ...
5
votes
0
answers
65
views
Earliest European novel that was set during an epidemic
Wikipedia's list of epidemics shows that epidemics have plagued us for almost as long as recorded history.
Some great works of literature describe events caused or triggered by an epidemic, for ...
- 51.1k
5
votes
3
answers
382
views
What percentage of clay tablets found in Mesopotamia contain literature?
Most of the major cuneiform tablet discoveries date from the 1840s and later. Cuneiform was used to write several languages, including Sumerian (a language isolate according to the current state of ...
- 51.1k
7
votes
1
answer
61
views
What is meant by «le Saint-Siège de la rue Sébastien-Bottin et la chapelle Sixtine de la rue Jacob»?
A recent issue of the French magazine Marianne (3-9 January 2020) contained an article entitled Matzneff : de l'écrivain tendance au vieux dégueulasse by Guy Konopnicki.
The article contains the ...
- 51.1k
5
votes
1
answer
116
views
In what tradition are sagas named some variation of the protagonist's name?
I know some novels or sagas where the title of the work appears to be some variation of the protagonist's name. For example, the Aeneid is named after Aeneas. In high fantasy, the Belgariad is named ...
- 4,360
2
votes
0
answers
63
views
What is the literary origin of the ability to sense somebody else's powers or "force"?
"The force is strong with this one" is apparently a trope and its meaning has already been discussed in Science Fiction & Fantasy SE. The Star Wars franchise started in 1977, but the ability to ...
- 51.1k
3
votes
0
answers
117
views
Earliest work of English literature featuring “human hunting”
George R. R. Martin's first novel, Dying of the Light (1977) contains a manhunt. This is not a manhunt in the context of law enforcement or a military operation, but refers to a “hunting party” in ...
- 51.1k
0
votes
2
answers
189
views
What does it mean to say "the future of the English language is grand but as far as its literature is concerned it seems bleak"?
An English professor commented that "the future of the English language is grand but as far as its literature is concerned it seems bleak".
How can this sentence be interpreted? What exactly is the ...
- 139
11
votes
1
answer
520
views
Why did attitudes change towards tragedy?
Views on whether or not tragedy provides a fulfilling end to a work have changed over the centuries and it has slipped in and out of popularity in contemporary works of a given period. Great literary ...
- 2,176
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What is the origin of the trope of an evil character whose name is not permitted to be spoken?
Many works of fantasy involve an evil leader or "dark lord" whose real name is known but usually not permitted to be spoken, either by his own followers (out of respect?) or by others (out of fear?) ...
- 51.1k
-4
votes
2
answers
185
views
Earliest example of a story where an animal or object gains the ability to talk
I'm looking for the earliest example for a story with an animal or object that gains the ability to talk.
Animal/object needs to have a name of their own, and the gaining of the ability to speak is ...
CommunityBot
- 1
6
votes
0
answers
327
views
Lack of Proper Ending in Stories by Old Indian Authors
I have read quite a few stories by old Indian authors who wrote in Hindi and Urdu in the early twentieth century.
I noticed a trend of them not completing their stories or providing an ending and ...
- 76.7k
5
votes
1
answer
483
views
When was Shakespeare's The Tempest first analysed from a "post-colonial" perspective?
A recent answer from verbose mentioned:
Postcolonial approaches to The Tempest cast Prospero as colonizer, exercising imperial control over the original inhabitants of the island: Caliban and Ariel....
- 76.7k
3
votes
1
answer
73
views
Albert Thibaudet and the Geneva School?
I'm learning about the literary critic Albert Thibaudet. I read on Wikipedia that he was the co-founder of the Geneva School of literary criticism, but I don't remember my tutor mentioning that about ...
- 4,880
6
votes
1
answer
242
views
What was the first novel written in the present tense?
Although many novels are still written in the past tense, it seems that many other novels nowadays are written in the present tense. When did this begin?
What was the first novel written primarily in ...
- 63.9k
3
votes
3
answers
531
views
For Saintsbury, which English novelists constituted the "great quartet of the mid-eighteenth century"?
In the anthology Shorter Novels: Elizabethan, first published in 1929, George Saintsbury writes in the introduction that the English novel had something like a false start in the Elizabethan era and ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
1
answer
149
views
When did the first Dramatis Personae appear outside of theatre?
According to the Wikipedia article about Dramatis Personae, Dramatis Personae began in plays and later moved into the other forms of literature. This led me to ask: When did Dramatis Personae first ...
- 63.9k