T. S. Eliot looked out on the landscape of the modern world after World War I and saw a place of disillusionment, shattered community, and lost spirituality. His poems describe the greyness of this sterile terrain and summon the traditions of the past -- both literary and religious -- to transcend t

Bloomsbury, Death, Elegant, Existentialist literature, Melancholy, Modernist literature, Modernist poetry, The lost generation

Wary friend of Existentialism and gentle foe of nature's illusions, Irish novelist, poet, and playwright Samuel Beckett is one of the foremost artists of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the most influential. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1969 against his more modest wishes, Beckett specializ

Absurd, Depressive, Existentialist literature, Minimal, Modernist literature, Repetition, Repetitive, Theater of the absurd

From an early age, Joyce disdained what he saw as the shabby Philistinism of his birthplace, Dublin, rejecting the Catholicism that dominated Irish culture in favor of a literary faith and a rebel's stance. Absolutely convinced of his genius, Joyce left for self-imposed exile in Europe in 1904, and b

Composed, Excessive, Expansive, Formless, Layered, Modernist literature, Moody, Playful, Postmodern fiction, Profane, Religious, Sprawling, Subtle

Both as a novelist and as an essayist, Virginia Woolf was a pioneer of what Marguerite Duras would later call "ecriture feminine." Her unusual style, lyrical and slow as aging, is best exemplified in her later novels, which include "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925), "To The Lighthouse" (1927), and "Orlando" (19

Bloomsbury, Feminine, Feminism, Intimate, Modernist literature, Queer literature, Quirky, Sprawling, Women's literature