Famous English Authors and Their Contributions to Literature

The vast scope of literature includes entertaining and enlightening works

that span numerous geographic locations, cultural traditions and historical
periods. Every category presents its own unique flavor and holds strong
literary merit, but English literature has long captivated readers with its
compelling themes and vivid descriptions.

It’s difficult to appreciate the true scope and power of English literature
without paying homage to the myriad of literary geniuses who have
contributed to this impressive body of work. Keep reading for an overview of
the most famous English authors, ranging from Middle English poets to
contemporary English writers.

The Foundation of English Literature

The term “English literature” is often described as the body of works penned
by those living in the British Isles — beginning during the 7 th century and
extending to the present day. The poem Beowulf is often highlighted as the
earliest verifiable work of English literature, but it is challenging to date and
attribute the works of the 1st millennium.

Middle English helped usher in the literary formats and themes we take for
granted today. The transition from Middle English to Early Modern English
was marked by two literary masters who were clearly ahead of their time:
Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare.

Geoffrey Chaucer and the Middle Ages

Often referred to as the father of English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer is best

known as the creative force behind The Canterbury Tales. That said, he
penned many other poems and was also a philosopher, an astronomer and a
civil servant.
Chaucer’s works were as eclectic as his numerous interests and professional
pursuits. Philosophical quandaries were integrated into many of his poems,
along with plenty of humor.

During the 1390s, Chaucer set to work on his magnum opus, The Canterbury
Tales. Primarily written in verse, these tales center around a group of
storytelling pilgrims who engage in a contest as they travel on horseback to
a shrine in Canterbury. In addition to being wonderfully entertaining and
thought-provoking, this series of stories popularized the use of Middle
English in literature.

William Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era

No discussion of famous English authors would be complete without a deep

dive into the fascinating life of William Shakespeare. Arguably history’s most
famous poet and playwright, Shakespeare deserves credit for creating some
of the most iconic characters not only in Elizabethan era literature, but of all
time. Many of his concepts and even his phrases remain relevant to this day.

Highly prolific, Shakespeare is believed to have penned 38 plays. These

include many noteworthy works that remain popular on the stage, in high
school classrooms, on the silver screen and beyond:

Romeo and Juliet

Midsummer Night’s Dream

Hamlet

Macbeth

Othello

The Evolution of the Novel

As one of the most significant literary formats of the last few centuries, the
novel has the unique power to transport us to different worlds while helping
us form close connections with compelling characters.
While the novel seems like the quintessential form of English literature, its
history is rather short compared to English literature as a whole. The origins
of the English novel are believed to lie with early works such as Robinson
Crusoe and Pilgrim’s Promise. Talented female writers are believed to have
brought extra emotional intensity to this format.

Jane Austen and the Rise of Realism

Featuring compelling heroines who seek both romance and self-actualization,

Jane Austen’s novels are rife with social commentary. She is, perhaps, best
known for the relatable novel Pride & Prejudice. This is one of the world’s
most consistently popular novels and is believed to have sold over 200
million copies. Pride and Prejudice themes like social class and reputation
blend with a page-turning plot to achieve almost universal appeal.

But Pride & Prejudice is just the beginning. Austen wrote many other novels
that felt just as relatable, including Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park and
Emma. Readers are still drawn to her work, in part, because her characters
feel so realistic. This stems from one of her primary writing techniques,
which is weaving characters’ thoughts into the narrative. While common
today, this was unusual for the time.

Charles Dickens and Social Commentary

Like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens had a knack for creating memorable
characters who left a deep impression on readers. Also, like Austen, Dickens
incorporated social commentary into his work, although he was more likely
to discuss issues such as poverty and inequality.

Dickens was celebrated in his time and has consistently remained among the
most popular novelists since his death in 1870. His most noteworthy works
include:

Oliver Twist

A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield

Great Expectations

Through his compassionate work, Dickens introduced readers to the tragic

struggles of street children and the infuriating corruption underscoring their
plight. It is due to this frequent exploration of poverty and other social ills
that similarly themed works are now referred to as “Dickensian.” Beyond
this, he was influential simply because he helped to solidify the novel as a
popular source of entertainment.

Romanticism and Gothic Literature

The 18th and 19th centuries were dominated by two closely aligned literary
movements, Romanticism and Gothic literature. The former represented a
clear rejection of order and harmony, instead bringing imaginative and
spontaneous attitudes to the forefront.

Creating an atmosphere of terror, Gothic literature delivered a uniquely

foreboding feel using fascinating plots involving curses and revenge. The
settings were often gloomy with supernatural beings, and often, passionate
romances built into these alluring works.

Mary Shelley and the Birth of Science Fiction

When most people think of science fiction, contemporary works involving

space or advanced technology come to mind. However, this genre has
fascinated readers for centuries. As one of the most notable Gothic literature
authors, Mary Shelley helped usher in an appreciation of the weird and
wonderful through her iconic novel Frankenstein.

Capturing the still-relevant fear that modern science could usher in

destructive forces, Frankenstein delved into the potentially horrific
consequences of humans playing god. The novel’s writing style was also
unique as an epistolary form, featuring a series of letters that functioned as
narrative.
The Brontë Sisters and the Exploration of the Psyche

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë enjoyed writing from a young age. While
each presented distinct writing styles, they were linked not only as sisters,
but also by their use of emotions to bring their characters to life.

Among the best-known works from this amazing sisterhood includes

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, which emphasized the search for love,
independence and self-control. Featuring an intimate first-person style and a
surprisingly revolutionary subtext, this novel was ahead of its time.

The destructive power of passion dominated Emily Brontë’s Wuthering

Heights, which featured wonderfully complex characters. A typical Wuthering
Heights analysis will also highlight a setting so gloomy, yet compelling, it
feels like a character in and of itself.

Anne Brontë, while not as well-known today, penned one of the earliest
works that could arguably be classified as feminist, The Tenant of Wildfell
Hall. It detailed the effects of abuse while defying social conventions of the
time.

The Modernists

Spanning a period beset with huge social and economic changes (between
1890 and World War II), the Modernist era fostered experimental writing
styles while integrating then cutting-edge philosophical and psychological
concepts. Feelings such as disillusionment pervaded many of these works,
although there was also frequently an undercurrent of optimism.

Virginia Woolf and the Stream of Consciousness

Virginia Woolf pioneered the stream of consciousness, emphasizing non-

linear writing techniques to capture the nuances of the mind and the unique
flow of characters’ thought processes. By focusing on the power of the
interior monologue, this approach played a significant role in her well-known
novel, Mrs. Dalloway, revealing how memories can influence current
perceptions and tackling important themes such as isolation and privilege.
Woolf also wrote many essays on women’s history and politics, including A
Room of One’s Own. Critiquing the patriarchal system and its stifling of
female creativity, this impactful essay argued that women could only achieve
their full creative potential if they also achieved financial independence.

James Joyce and the Reimagining of the Novel

Irish author James Joyce also relied on stream of consciousness techniques

while experimenting with absurdism and integrating numerous points of
view. With the short story collection Dubliners, he hoped to hold up a “nicely
polished looking-glass” in the Irish community so that readers could finally
recognize (and hopefully address) what the writer regarded as a troubling
paralysis.

Joyce took his penchant for experimental writing to a new level with Ulysses.
Structured to align with Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses featured a wide array of
narrative styles. Over the years, Ulysses has gained what The New Yorker
regards as a “fearsome reputation for difficulty.” Still, there is no denying its
status as one of the most influential works of the 20 th century.

Post-War British Literature

It is impossible to overstate the influence of World War II on British literature.

This was used as a backdrop for many powerful novels and the conceptual
framework for both dystopian sagas and historic fiction. There was a distinct
bleakness to this period’s most acclaimed works, which decades later,
continue to feel hauntingly relevant.

George Orwell and Dystopian Fiction

George Orwell’s initial breakthrough came with the allegorical novella Animal
Farm, which used anthropomorphic animals to reveal the struggle to achieve
a free and just society. This novella was inspired by the Bolshevik revolution,
with characters representing Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
Today, Orwell is best known for the dystopian novel 1984, set in an imagined
future involving three totalitarian states constantly at war. One of these is
known as Oceania, in which the brainwashed population shows obedience
and reverence for the leader Big Brother. Featuring a direct writing style and
bleak language, 1984 had a huge impact on the dystopian genre and
contains compelling themes that still resonate.

Doris Lessing and the Exploration of Identity

A true visionary and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Doris
Lessing was an outspoken novelist who discussed everything from
environmentalism to race relations. She was inspired by her childhood in
Africa, with several of her early works set in what was then known as
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

While she penned a variety of poems, essays and short stories, Lessing’s
most acclaimed work is easily the novel The Golden Notebook, which told the
story of the divorced writer Anna Wulf and her mental breakdown. Featuring
a fragmented style meant to reflect the similar fragmentation of society, this
saga aimed to reveal how “any kind of single-mindedness, narrowness,
obsession, was bound to lead to mental disorder, if not madness.”

Contemporary Voices

During the last few decades, contemporary writers have demonstrated a

clear desire to explore social themes such as inequality and racial tension.
There is an ongoing effort to push boundaries while playing with unreliable
narrators, non-linear timelines and self-conscious formats such as
metafiction.

Zadie Smith and the Multicultural Novel

Zadie Smith took the literary scene by storm when she released her much-
anticipated debut novel White Teeth in 2000. An ambitious multicultural work
and an immediate bestseller, this satirical family story played heavily with
themes that would continue to prove popular in the decades to come. This
includes the often-significant gaps between expectations and reality.
A tale of an accidental friendship between a Bengali Muslim and an
Englishman, White Teeth is chock full of sass and beautiful storytelling. Smith
has since published several other novels and short stories, along with the
play The Wife of Willesden. Many of these works continue to feature
culturally diverse characters and reflections on concepts such as identity and
authenticity.

Ian McEwan and the Psychological Novel

Initially devoted to Gothic stories, Ian McEwan quickly scored the nickname
“Ian Macabre” with his bleak writing style. His efforts to shock were found
both in his early novels and in the infamous suspension of his play Solid
Geometry. He earned critical acclaim with thought-provoking works such as
Amsterdam and especially Atonement, which was later adapted into an
award-winning film.

While he often addresses broad themes by examining the impact of social

events on private lives, McEwan’s work involves an intimate glimpse at the
human psyche, bringing the interior worlds of his detailed characters to life.
He has described one of his central goals in vivid terms, to “incite a naked
hunger in readers.”