REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS

AND AUTHORS FROM

NORTH AMERICA,
EUROPE, LATIN AMERICA
AND AFRICA
NORTH AMERICA
NORTH AMERICA WRITERS AND THEIR
WORKS
DAVID L. WEATHERFORD ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN
(SLOW DANCE) - POEM – (WHEN I WAS ONE-AND-
TWENTY) - POEM

KATE CHOPIN – (THE STORY JAMES GROVER THURBER –

OF AN HOUR) – SHORT (THE SECRET LIFE OF
STORY WALTER MITTY

ROBERT CHARLES – (MY

FACE) - ESSAY
DAVID L. WEATHERFORD
- is a child psychologist with
published poems in “chicken
soup for the soul””. He was born
on July 20, 1952 in Mount
Vernon, Jefferson County,
Illinois, USA. He died on January
7, 2010 at the age of 57. one of
his poem is “Slow Dance”.
ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN
- known as A.E. Housman, was an
English traditional researcher and
writer, most popular to the overall
population for his pattern of sonnets
“A Shopshire Lad”.
- he was one of the premier classicists
of his age and has been positioned as
probably the best researcher who ever
lived. One of his works is entitled
“When I was One-and-Twenty
KATE CHOPIN
- was an American creator of short
stories and books situated in
Louisiana. She is currently
considered by some scholars to
have been a harbinger of American
20th century women’s activist
writers of southern of Catholic
foundation. One of her work is
entitled “The Story of an Hour”
JAMES GROVER THURBER
- was an American sketch
artist, creator, comedian,
writer, dramatist, and
commended mind. He was most
popular for his kid’s show and
short stories, distributed
primarily in The New Yorker and
gathered in his various books.
ROBERT CHARLES BENCHLEY
- was an American comedian most
popular for his work as a paper
editorialist and film entertainer.
- is best associated with his
commitments to The New Yorker, where
his expositions, regardless of whether
effective or absurdist, impacted
numerous advanced comedians. He also
wrote essays. One of his works is
entitled “My Face”
EUROPE
LEO TOLSTOY (RUSSIA)
- Leo Tolstoy (September 9,
1828-November 20, 1910) was
a Russian writer, best known
for his epic novels. Born into
an aristocratic Russian family,
Tolstoy wrote:
WAR and PEACE
ANNA KARENINA
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (England)
- was a renowned English poet,
playwright, and actor born in 1564
in Stratford-upon-Avon. His
birthday is most commonly
celebrated on 23 April which is
also believed to be the date he
died in 1616.
works: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
and Macbet
FRANZ KAFKA (CZECH REPUBLIC)
- was the eldest of six children. He
had two younger brothers who died
in infancy and three younger
sisters (Gabriele (1889–1941),
Valerie (1890–1942), Ottilie (1892–
1943), all of whom perished in
concentration camps.
works: The Metamorphosis and
The Trial
VICTOR HUGO (FRANCE)
- Victor Hugo, a prominent nineteenth-
century French author, made significant
contributions to literature through novels,
poems, and dramatic works. His influential
career as a playwright, spanning almost
sixty years, focused on dramas and prefaces
written between 1826 and 1843, establishing
him as a key figure in the Romantic
movement's impact on French theater.
His works: Les Misérables
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY (RUSSIA)
- Russian novelist and short-story
writer whose psychological
penetration into the
darkest recesses of the human heart,
together with his unsurpassed
moments of illumination, had an
immense influence on 20th-
century fiction.
works: Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
(COLOMBIA, BUT LIVED IN
SPAIN)
- From 1967 to 1975 he lived in Spain.
Subsequently he kept a house in Mexico
City and an apartment in Paris, but he
also spent much time in Havana, where
Castro (whom García Márquez
supported) provided him with a mansion.
works: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Love in the Time of Cholera
JAMES JOYCE (IRELAND)
- Irish novelist noted for his
experimental use of language and
exploration of new literary methods
in such large works of fiction
as Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans
Wake (1939).
works: Ulysses
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man
JANE AUSTEN (ENGLAND)
- was an English novelist known
primarily for her six novels,
which implicitly interpret,
critique, and comment upon the
British landed gentry at the end
of the 18th century.
works: Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
HERMANN HESSE (GERMANY)
- was a German poet and writer. Known for
his emphasis on the spiritual development of
the individual, the themes of Hesse’s work
are largely reflected in his own life. While
popular in his own time, especially in
Germany, Hesse became hugely influential
worldwide during the 1960s countercultural
movement and is now one of the most
translated European authors of the 20th
century.
works:Siddhartha
Steppenwolf
GEORGE ORWELL
(ENGLAND)
- English novelist, essayist, and
critic famous for his
novels Animal Farm (1945)
and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949),
the latter a profound anti-
utopian novel that examines the
dangers of totalitarian rule.
LATIN AMERICA
JORGE LUIS BORGES (1899-
1986) – ARGENTINA
- He’s considered the godfather
of Latin American authors and is
arguably the 20th century’s most
important writer. His literature of
mirrors, reflections, and
labyrinths is unique and
unclassifiable.
JORGE LUIS
BORGES (1899-
1986) – ARGENTINA
Books: Fictions and
Labyrinths, The Aleph
OCTAVIO PAZ (1914-1998) – MEXICO
- Octavio Paz was a poet and
essayist who expressed the
Mexican soul through his writings
like nobody before him. He won the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990.
His book of essays, The Labyrinth
of Solitude, is the deepest
exploration of the Mexican identity
ever written.
OCTAVIO PAZ (1914-
1998) – MEXICO

Books: The Labyrinth

of Solitude,
Alternating Current
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) –
Chile
The “Poet of Love” was born Ricardo
Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto in
southern Chile. He changed his name
to avoid problems with his family,
who disapproved of him becoming a
poet. Neruda went on to win the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 and
held several diplomatic posts
throughout the world.
Pablo Neruda (1904-
1973) – Chile

Books: Twilight,
Twenty Love Poems
and a Song of Despair
Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003) –
Chile
One of the most famous post-
Boom Latin American authors,
Bolaño was a Chilean writer who
lived in and wrote about Mexico
and spent his final years in Spain.
Bolaño became a kind of literary
rock star as the founder of
the infrarrealismo movement.
Roberto Bolaño (1953-
2003) – Chile

Books: The Savage

Detectives, 2666
Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) – Chile
Born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga,
Gabriela Mistral was the
pseudonym of this Chilean poet.
She became the first Latin
American author to win the Nobel
Prize in Literature. According to
the Nobel Prize organization,
Mistral’s poetry expresses the
aspirations of Latin America
Gabriela Mistral
(1889-1957) – Chile

Books: Despair,
Tenderness
Julio Cortázar (1914-1984) –
Argentina
Cortázar is one of the Boom’s
biggest names and is widely
recognized as one of the greatest
Latin American authors of the
20th century. His famous
book Rayuela (“Hopscotch”)
was the first hypertext novel.
Julio Cortázar
(1914-1984) –
Argentina

Books: Hopscotch,
Blow-up
Isabel Allende (1942- ) – Chile
Isabel Allende’s godfather,
Salvador Allende, was the first
socialist president of Chile. He
was killed in the coup d’etat that
brought General Augusto
Pinochet to power. As a result of
the coup, Isabel had to go into
exile.
Isabel Allende (1942- )
– Chile

Books: The House of

the Spirits, Of Love and
Shadows, Eva Luna
Mario Vargas Llosa (1936- ) –
Peru
Called the “Elder Statesman of
Latin American Literature”
by The New York Times,
Vargas Llosa is the last living
member of the Boom authors.
He won the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 2010
Mario Vargas Llosa
(1936- ) – Peru

Books: Conversation
in the Cathedral, The
Green House
Juan Rulfo (1917-1986) – Mexico
No list of Latin American authors
could be complete without Juan
Rulfo, father of the “Magic
Realism” movement. With just
two books published, Rulfo
opened the floodgates. Many
subsequent Latin American
writers found inspiration in this
movement.
Juan Rulfo (1917-
1986) – Mexico

Books: Pedro Páramo,

The Burning Plain
AFRICA
CHINUA ACHEBE
- he was a Nigerian novelist,
poet, critic, and professor and
was honoured as Grand Prix
de la Memoir of the 2019
edition of the grand Prix
Literary Associations. His first
novel and masterpiece is
“Things Fall Apart”.
WOLE SOYINKA
- the first black African to be
awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize
for Literature. One of his
famous works is his first
important play “A Dance of the
Forests” which was written for
the Nigerian independence
celebration.
KOFI AWOONOR
- he was a Ghanian novelist
and poet who wrote “This
Earth, My Brother”, a cross
between a novel and a
poem. It was told on two
levels each representing a
distinct reality.
NGUNGI WA THIONG`O
- East Africa’s leading
novelist, a Kenyan writer
who wrote the famous
novel “Weep Not, Child”. It
was the first major novel
in English by an East
African.
OKOT p` BITEK
- A Ugandan poet, novelist,
and social anthropologist
who wrote the three verse
collections – Song of
Lawino (1066), Song of
Ocol (1970), and Two
Songs (1971).
NADINE GORDIMER
- A South African writer
and the recipient of the
1991 Nobel Prize in
Literature. She wrote the
joint winner of the Booker
– McConnell Prize novel
“The Conservationist”.
JACQUES RABEMANANJARA
- he was a Malagasy
playwright and poet and one
of the Madagascar’s most
prominent writers. He wrote
and published his play “Les
dieux malgaches”, the first
modern Malagasy play in
French.
ES`KIA MPHAHLELE
- he wrote the South African
classic authobiography
“Down Second Avenue”
about the story of a young
man’s growth into adulthood
with penetrating social
criticism.
THOMAS MOFOLO
- he was the greatest
writer from the Sotho
people in Africa. He
created the first
Western style novels in
the Bosotho language.
THANK YOU!