Western literature

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History of Literature
Bronze Age literature: Sumerian Egyptian Assyro-Babylonian
Classical literatures: Chinese Greek Latin Pahlavi Pali Sanskrit Syriac Tamil
Medieval literature Anglo-Saxon Arabic Byzantine French German Hebrew Indian Irish Italian Japanese Kannada Nepal Bhasa Norse Persian Welsh
Early Modern literature Renaissance literature Baroque literature
Modern literature 18th century 19th century 20th century
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Western literature refers to the literature of the Indo-European languages, as well as several languages geographically or historically related to the Indo-European languages (Basque, Hungarian, and so forth). Western literature is considered one of the defining elements of Western civilization.

The best of Western literature is considered to be the Western Canon. The list of works in the Western Canon varies according to the critic's opinions on Western culture and the relative importance of its defining characteristics.

Western literature includes literature in many languages:

• Danish literature
• Dutch literature
• English literature
• German literature
• Greek literature
• French literature
• Italian literature
• Latin literature
• Polish literature
• Portuguese literature
• Russian literature
• Spanish literature

Please consult the separate entries for more specifics on literature in each language.