Wide-ranging and imaginative, this volume provides an incisive guide to the rich heritage of European literature. The book gives a lively account of major figures and texts as well as previously marginalised writers, assessing their relevance to the broad European tradition and the social, political and intellectual issues which shaped it. Structured around the major literary movements of the period - Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism, Modernism, the Literature of Political Engagement and Postmodernism - the book will be invaluable to all students of modern literature and European cultural history. Each chapter concludes with a detailed chronology of the major literary texts of each movement, covering fiction, drama and poetry. A detailed, annotated bibliography also guides the student through the seminal works of critical scholarship in the field.