17th-18th Century English Literature

17th and 18th-Century Authors

• The term "The fair triumvirate of wit" refers to the three 17th and 18th-century authors Eliza Haywood, Delarivier Manley, and Aphra Behn.
• Eliza Haywood's first novel is Love in Excess; Or, The Fatal Enquiry.
• Aphra Behn is regarded as the first successful female playwright.

Aphra Behn's Works

• Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (1688) is a work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn.

Gothic Novel

• The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole is the first Gothic novel in English literature.
• Lord Byron regarded The Castle of Otranto as "the first romance in the language".
• The subtitle of The Castle of Otranto is A Gothic Story.
• Important characters in The Castle of Otranto include Manfred, Conrad, Isabella, Hippolita, and Matilda.

Thomas Love Peacock

• Nightmare Abbey (1818) is a work by Thomas Love Peacock.
• Other works by Thomas Love Peacock include Headlong Hall (1816), Melincourt (1817), Crotchet Castle (1831), and Gryll Grange (1860).
• Peacock, an official of the East India company, wrote a poem titled A Day at the India Office.
• The popular critical essay by Thomas Love Peacock is The Four Ages of Poetry (1820), which was responded to by Shelley's Defence of Poetry.
• The Four Ages of Poetry refers to the four ages of poetry.

Other Authors

• The satire Macbett (1972) is written by Eugene Ionesco.
• Sir Tom Stoppard, a Czech-born British playwright, was knighted for his contribution to theater by Queen Elizabeth in 1997.
• Arcadia (1993) is a play by Tom Stoppard.
• George Bernardshaw was the first person to be awarded both the Nobel prize for literature and an Oscar.
• Some popular essays written by Shaw include The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891), Preface to Major Barabara (1905), and A Treatise on Parents and Children (1910).
• Some popular plays of George Bernardshaw include Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and the Man, and Man and Superman.
• The last play written by Bernardshaw was Why She Would Not: A Little Comedy (1950).
• Harold Pinter won the Nobel prize in 2005.
• Some best-known plays of Harold Pinter include Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978).

Samuel Beckett

• Krapp's Last Tape (1958) is a one-act play written by Samuel Beckett.

James Joyce

• Dubliners (1914) is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce.
• Some popular works of James Joyce include A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegans Wake (1939).
• Stephen Dedalus is a character that appears in James Joyce's works A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.
• Leopold Bloom and Molly Bloom are characters from Joyce's Ulysses.
• The only extant play written by James Joyce is Exiles (1918).

D.H. Lawrence

• The White Peacock (1911) is the first novel by D.H Lawrence.
• Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), Women in Love (1920), and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) were the subject of censorship.

Virginia Woolf

• Orlando (1928) is a biography written about a fictitious character, Orlando, inspired by Virginia's real-life friend and lover Vita Sackville-West.
• Flush: A Biography (1933) is an imaginative biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel.
• Mrs. Dalloway (1925) is a novel by Virginia Woolf.
• A Room of One's Own (1929) is a book on women's independence and creativity.
• Shakespeare's sister is an essay/excerpt from A Room of One's Own.
• Virginia Woolf alludes to the four Marys: Mary Beaton, Mary Seaton, Mary Carmichael, and Mary Hamilton.
• Woolf invents a fictional character, Shakespeare's sister Judith.
• Jacob's Room (1922) is the third novel by Virginia Woolf.
• Freshwater (1935) is the only play written and published by Virginia Woolf.
• Lord Alfred Tennyson appears as a character in Woolf's Freshwater.
• I am Christina Rosetti (1950) is an essay by Virginia Woolf.

Arthur Conan Doyle

• The Sign of the Four (1890), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and The Valley of Fear (1915) are works of Arthur Conan Doyle.
• A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle.
• The White Company (1891) is a historical adventure novel by Conan Doyle, set during the Hundred Years' War.
• The Lost World (1912) is a science fiction novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, with Professor Challenger as the protagonist.

Dylan Thomas

• Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet.
• Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night (1951) is a Villanelle written by Dylan Thomas, dedicated to his father.
• Dylan Thomas' poetry collections include 18 Poems (1934), The Map of Love (1939), and Deaths and Entrances (1946).
• Under Milk Wood (1954) is a radio drama by Dylan Thomas.
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940) is an autobiographical prose stories collection by Dylan Thomas.