Born at a time when serious poetry was produced across the Channel, Chaucer would live to put the English language on the literary map. He began with the spoken word, pioneering the use of English in the royal court in a time when French was the tongue of choice. In the transition to writing, Chaucer

Charming, Funny, Gritty, Medieval fiction, Medieval poetry, Playful, Whimsical, Witty

As the story goes, Don Quixote has read too many books about knights and experiences the world through the eyes of a valiant soldier. He is a hero and a fool. He is, simply speaking, insane. When Don Quixote encounters windmills, he sees giants and attacks them as any good knight would. As his

16th century (renaissance) literature, Epic, Funny, Hallucinatory, Huge, Layered, Parody, Pioneering, Playful

'Moli're was not just a playwright,' wrote scholar Ethan Mordden. 'Moli're was a thespian, wholly of the theater, and his compositions breach the gulf between literature and performance, between language as its own art and language as a tool of art.' Like Shakespeare, who was an actor first, Moli're

Clever, Dystopic, Excessive, Funny, In-your-face, Ironic, Renaissance theater

The typical male in a Nick Hornby novel is mentally adolescent, moody, consumed with boyish fetishes, and disconcertingly good at wasting free time. These characters often incite irritation or pangs of furtive embarrassment in readers, depending on the latter's gender. Male readers begin to wonder wh

Agitated, Charming, Contemporary comedianism, Depressive, Funny, Pop