This comprehensive guide aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the most significant literary and artistic movements relevant for the UGC NET English examination. Each section will detail the movement's core tenets, key figures, and seminal works, offering a chronological and thematic overview.

1. The Renaissance (c. 14th - 17th Century)

The Renaissance, meaning "rebirth," was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic "rebirth" following the Middle Ages. It was characterized by a renewed interest in classical philosophy, literature, and art, leading to a profound shift in worldview from medieval scholasticism to humanism. The emphasis moved from the divine to the human, from the communal to the individual.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Italian Renaissance: Petrarch (often considered the father of Humanism), Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael.
• English Renaissance (Elizabethan Age): William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon.

Important Works:

• Literature:
  • Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy
  • Petrarch: Canzoniere
  • Boccaccio: The Decameron
  • Machiavelli: The Prince
  • Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier
  • Shakespeare: Plays (e.g., Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet), Sonnets
  • Marlowe: Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine the Great
  • Spenser: The Faerie Queene
  • Sidney: Astrophil and Stella, An Apology for Poetry
  • Ben Jonson: Volpone, The Alchemist
• Art (general influence):
  • Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa, The Last Supper
  • Michelangelo: David, Sistine Chapel Ceiling
  • Raphael: The School of Athens

2. Metaphysical Poets (17th Century)

A term coined by Samuel Johnson, this group of 17th-century English poets was known for their intellectual, intricate, and often paradoxical use of "conceits" (extended metaphors comparing dissimilar things). Their poetry explored profound questions of love, religion, morality, and human existence, often with a blend of intellect and emotion. They challenged conventional poetic forms and embraced a more argumentative and conversational tone.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• John Donne (often considered the leading figure)
• George Herbert
• Andrew Marvell
• Henry Vaughan
• Richard Crashaw
• Abraham Cowley

Important Works:

• John Donne: "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "The Flea," "Holy Sonnets" (e.g., "Death Be Not Proud"), Songs and Sonnets
• George Herbert: "The Altar," "Easter Wings," "Love (III)," The Temple
• Andrew Marvell: "To His Coy Mistress," "The Garden," "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland"
• Henry Vaughan: Silex Scintillans (e.g., "The Retreat," "The World")

3. Cavalier Poets (17th Century)

Contemporaries of the Metaphysical poets, the Cavalier Poets were royalist poets who supported King Charles I during the English Civil War. Their poetry was characterized by its elegance, wit, and emphasis on themes of love, loyalty, and living life to the fullest (carpe diem). They drew inspiration from Ben Jonson and classical Greek and Roman poets.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Robert Herrick
• Richard Lovelace
• Sir John Suckling
• Thomas Carew

Important Works:

• Robert Herrick: "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," "Delight in Disorder," Hesperides
• Richard Lovelace: "To Althea, from Prison," "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars"
• Sir John Suckling: "Why so pale and wan, fond lover?," "A Ballad Upon a Wedding"
• Thomas Carew: "Ask Me No More Where Jove Bestows," "The Rapture"

4. Neoclassicism / The Augustan Age (Late 17th - 18th Century)

Neoclassicism marked a return to the classical values of order, reason, balance, and wit, drawing inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman literature and art. It reacted against the perceived excesses of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, emphasizing restraint, decorum, and universal truths. The Augustan Age, specifically, refers to the early to mid-18th century in England, a period where writers consciously emulated the Augustan age of Roman literature (under Emperor Augustus) for its perceived literary excellence.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• John Dryden (transitional figure)
• Alexander Pope
• Jonathan Swift
• Joseph Addison
• Richard Steele
• Samuel Johnson
• Daniel Defoe
• Henry Fielding

Important Works:

• John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe, Absalom and Achitophel, "An Essay of Dramatick Poesie"
• Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Criticism, Dunciad
• Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal
• Joseph Addison & Richard Steele: The Spectator, The Tatler (periodical essays)
• Samuel Johnson: A Dictionary of the English Language, Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Rasselas
• Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders
• Henry Fielding: Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews

5. Romanticism (Late 18th - Mid-19th Century)

Romanticism was a powerful artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. It was a reaction against the industrial revolution and the rationalism of the Enlightenment, emphasizing emotion, individualism, the glorification of nature, the supernatural, and the past. Imagination, subjective experience, and the sublime were central to Romantic thought.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• First Generation English Romantics (Lake Poets): William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Second Generation English Romantics: Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats
• Prose Romantics: Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Sir Walter Scott
• American Romantics: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau (Transcendentalism), Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman

Important Works:

• William Wordsworth: Lyrical Ballads (with Coleridge), "Tintern Abbey," "Ode: Intimations of Immortality," The Prelude
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Lyrical Ballads (with Wordsworth), "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," Christabel, Biographia Literaria
• Lord Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Don Juan
• Percy Bysshe Shelley: "Ode to the West Wind," "To a Skylark," Prometheus Unbound
• John Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
• Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (Gothic novel)
• Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe, Waverley
• Edgar Allan Poe: "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher"
• Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
• Herman Melville: Moby Dick
• Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass

6. Gothic Novel (Late 18th - Early 19th Century)

A subgenre of Romanticism, Gothic fiction is characterized by its exploration of the uncanny, mysterious, and terrifying. It often features dilapidated castles, supernatural occurrences, oppressed heroines, and a brooding atmosphere, aiming to evoke fear and suspense in the reader.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Horace Walpole (often credited with initiating the genre)
• Ann Radcliffe
• Matthew Gregory Lewis
• Mary Shelley
• Charlotte Brontë (with Gothic elements)

Important Works:

• Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
• Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
• Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Monk
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

7. Transcendentalism (Mid-19th Century - American Romanticism)

An American philosophical and literary movement closely associated with Romanticism, Transcendentalism held that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members believed that intuition and individual conscience "transcend" experience and are therefore better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason. They emphasized self-reliance, spiritual insight, and reform.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (leading figure)
• Henry David Thoreau
• Margaret Fuller
• Bronson Alcott

Important Works:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Self-Reliance," "Nature," Essays
• Henry David Thoreau: Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Civil Disobedience
• Margaret Fuller: Woman in the Nineteenth Century

8. Victorian Era (1832 - 1901)

Named after Queen Victoria's reign, this era in British literature was marked by significant social, economic, and intellectual changes due to the Industrial Revolution, scientific advancements (Darwinism), and imperial expansion. Literature of this period often explored realism, social issues, class divisions, morality, and the tension between faith and doubt.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Poets: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold, Christina Rossetti, Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Novelists: Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Thomas Hardy, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Anthony Trollope
• Essayists/Thinkers: Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, John Stuart Mill

Important Works:

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson: In Memoriam A.H.H., Ulysses, The Charge of the Light Brigade
• Robert Browning: Men and Women, The Ring and the Book (known for dramatic monologues like "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover")
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Sonnets from the Portuguese
• Matthew Arnold: "Dover Beach," Culture and Anarchy
• Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, Bleak House, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities
• William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
• George Eliot: Middlemarch, Adam Bede
• Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure
• Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

9. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (Mid-19th Century - Artistic and Literary)

Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a secret society of young English painters, poets, and critics who rejected the conventions of academic art, particularly the influence of Raphael and his followers. They aimed to return to the artistic detail, vibrant colors, and intense realism seen before the time of Raphael, drawing inspiration from early Renaissance art and medieval romance. Their literary counterparts often explored themes of beauty, sensuality, medievalism, and mythological subjects.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Painters/Founders: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt
• Associated Literary Figures: Christina Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Morris

Important Works:

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti: "The Blessed Damozel," The House of Life (sonnet sequence)
• Christina Rossetti: "Goblin Market," "Remember"
• William Morris: The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, pioneering work in decorative arts and socialism

10. Aestheticism and Decadence (Late 19th Century)

"Art for Art's Sake" was the rallying cry of Aestheticism, a movement that emphasized beauty and sensory pleasure over moral or didactic concerns. Decadence, a related but more extreme movement, explored themes of artificiality, corruption, and the exotic, often characterized by a rejection of conventional morality and a fascination with the morbid or perverse.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Oscar Wilde
• Walter Pater (intellectual father of Aestheticism)
• Algernon Charles Swinburne
• Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
• Ernest Dowson

Important Works:

• Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome
• Walter Pater: Studies in the History of the Renaissance
• Algernon Charles Swinburne: Poems and Ballads
• Ernest Dowson: "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae"

11. Symbolism (Late 19th Century - Early 20th Century)

Originating in France, Symbolism was an artistic and literary movement that reacted against Realism and Naturalism. Instead of direct representation, Symbolists used symbols, evocative imagery, and suggestions to express emotional experiences, abstract ideas, and the subjective inner world. They believed that art should evoke, rather than describe, and explore hidden truths beyond objective reality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Stéphane Mallarmé (French poet, a key figure)
• Charles Baudelaire (French poet, precursor)
• Paul Verlaine (French poet)
• Arthur Rimbaud (French poet)
• Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgian playwright)
• William Butler Yeats (Irish poet, influenced by Symbolism)
• T.S. Eliot (influenced by Symbolism)

Important Works:

• Stéphane Mallarmé: L'Après-midi d'un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun), "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard"
• Charles Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil)
• Paul Verlaine: Romances sans paroles (Songs Without Words)
• Maurice Maeterlinck: Pelléas and Mélisande
• William Butler Yeats: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," early poetry reflecting symbolic elements.

12. Realism (Mid-19th Century - Early 20th Century)

Realism emerged as a reaction against Romanticism, aiming to depict life as it truly was, without idealization or embellishment. It focused on everyday experiences, ordinary people, and plausible events, often exploring social issues and psychological complexities.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• George Eliot
• Anthony Trollope
• Henry James
• William Dean Howells
• Mark Twain
• Gustave Flaubert (French)
• Honoré de Balzac (French)
• Leo Tolstoy (Russian)

Important Works:

• George Eliot: Middlemarch
• Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller
• Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• William Dean Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham

13. Naturalism (Late 19th - Early 20th Century)

An extension of Realism, Naturalism applied scientific determinism to literature, suggesting that human behavior is largely determined by heredity and environment. It often depicted the darker, grittier aspects of life, focusing on characters struggling against forces beyond their control.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Émile Zola (French, considered the father of Naturalism)
• Stephen Crane
• Theodore Dreiser
• Frank Norris
• Jack London

Important Works:

• Émile Zola: Germinal, Nana
• Stephen Crane: The Red Badge of Courage, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
• Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie, An American Tragedy
• Jack London: The Call of the Wild

14. Expressionism (Early 20th Century)

Primarily an artistic movement that originated in Germany, Expressionism quickly influenced literature and theatre. It sought to express the subjective emotional experience rather than objective reality. Expressionist works often distort reality to evoke moods or ideas, focusing on the inner turmoil, anxieties, and spiritual crises of the individual in a mechanized and dehumanizing world. It features stark contrasts, exaggerated characters, and a sense of alienation.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Franz Kafka (novelist)
• Georg Kaiser (playwright)
• Ernst Toller (playwright)
• Bertolt Brecht (early work, later developed Epic Theatre)
• August Strindberg (Swedish playwright, precursor)
• O'Neill (American playwright, influenced by Expressionism)

Important Works:

• Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle
• Georg Kaiser: From Morn to Midnight, Gas
• Ernst Toller: Man and the Masses
• August Strindberg: A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata
• Eugene O'Neill: The Hairy Ape, The Emperor Jones

15. Modernism (Early 20th Century)

Modernism was a broad and diverse artistic and literary movement that arose in the early 20th century, largely in response to the rapid changes of industrialization, urbanization, and World War I. It marked a radical break with traditional forms and narratives, reflecting a sense of disillusionment, fragmentation, and a quest for new ways of understanding the world. Key characteristics include experimentation with form, stream of consciousness, unreliable narrators, multiple perspectives, and a focus on psychological realism.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Poets: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, e.e. cummings
• Novelists: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Franz Kafka
• Playwrights: Samuel Beckett (later, bridging to Absurdism)

Important Works:

• T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• Ezra Pound: The Cantos, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (propounder of Imagism)
• W.B. Yeats: "The Second Coming," "Sailing to Byzantium," Easter, 1916
• Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, A Room of One's Own (pioneer of stream of consciousness)
• James Joyce: Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (pioneer of stream of consciousness)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
• Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms (known for minimalist prose)
• William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!
• D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers, Women in Love
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim

16. Imagism (Early 20th Century)

A subset of Modernism, Imagism was a poetic movement that flourished primarily between 1908 and 1917, advocating for precise, clearly presented images in poetry. Its proponents sought to use common, everyday speech, aim for conciseness, concrete imagery, and create new rhythms, rejecting Victorian ornamentation and abstract language.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ezra Pound (key figure in promoting and defining Imagism)
• Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
• Amy Lowell
• Richard Aldington
• T.E. Hulme (early theorist)

Important Works:

• Ezra Pound: "In a Station of the Metro," "A Pact"
• H.D.: "Oread," "Heat"
• Amy Lowell: Patterns

17. The Lost Generation (1920s)

A term coined by Gertrude Stein, referring to the generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals who came of age during World War I and the "Roaring Twenties." They often felt disillusioned and alienated from traditional values, choosing to live as expatriates in Europe (especially Paris). Their work often explored themes of cynicism, hedonism, and the loss of innocence.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ernest Hemingway
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gertrude Stein
• John Dos Passos
• T.S. Eliot (though a modernist, he shared some sensibilities)

Important Works:

• Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
• Gertrude Stein: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

18. Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s)

A vibrant cultural, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, New York City, during the 1920s and 1930s. It celebrated African American culture, identity, and experiences, challenging racial stereotypes and advocating for civil rights through literature, music, and art.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Langston Hughes
• Zora Neale Hurston
• Claude McKay
• Countee Cullen
• Nella Larsen
• W.E.B. Du Bois (social and intellectual leader)
• James Weldon Johnson

Important Works:

• Langston Hughes: The Weary Blues, Not Without Laughter, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
• Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men
• Claude McKay: Harlem Shadows, Home to Harlem
• Countee Cullen: Color, Copper Sun
• Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand

19. Surrealism (Early to Mid-20th Century - Artistic and Literary)

Originating in Paris in the 1920s, Surrealism sought to liberate the subconscious mind, drawing inspiration from Freudian psychoanalysis and the irrationality of dreams. It aimed to express the "superior reality" of the subconscious through shocking, illogical, and dreamlike imagery, often employing automatic writing and other unconventional techniques.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• André Breton (main theorist and leader)
• Louis Aragon
• Paul Éluard
• Salvador Dalí (painter)
• René Magritte (painter)
• Max Ernst (painter)

Important Works:

• André Breton: Manifesto of Surrealism, Nadja
• Louis Aragon: Paris Peasant
• Paul Éluard: Capital of Pain

20. Absurdism / Theatre of the Absurd (Mid-20th Century)

Emerging primarily after World War II, this philosophical and artistic movement explored the idea that human existence is inherently meaningless and irrational, in a universe devoid of inherent purpose. Plays often feature illogical plots, repetitive dialogue, and characters facing a world they cannot understand or control.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Samuel Beckett
• Eugène Ionesco
• Jean Genet
• Harold Pinter
• Albert Camus (philosophical precursor, The Myth of Sisyphus)

Important Works:

• Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape
• Eugène Ionesco: The Bald Soprano, The Chairs, Rhinoceros
• Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party, The Caretaker

21. Beat Generation (1950s-1960s)

A counter-cultural literary movement originating in the 1950s, the Beats rejected mainstream American values, celebrating nonconformity, spiritual quest, sexual liberation, and explorations of drugs and Eastern religions. Their writing was often spontaneous, raw, and defiant, paving the way for later counter-cultural movements.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Jack Kerouac
• Allen Ginsberg
• William S. Burroughs
• Neal Cassady
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• Gary Snyder

Important Works:

• Jack Kerouac: On the Road, The Dharma Bums
• Allen Ginsberg: Howl, Kaddish
• William S. Burroughs: Naked Lunch

22. Confessional Poetry (Mid-20th Century)

A style of poetry that emerged in the mid-20th century, characterized by its intensely personal and autobiographical content. Confessional poets often explored taboo subjects, mental illness, trauma, and intimate details of their lives, breaking from the more detached and objective styles of earlier modernism.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Robert Lowell (often credited with initiating the movement)
• Sylvia Plath
• Anne Sexton
• W.D. Snodgrass
• John Berryman

Important Works:

• Robert Lowell: Life Studies
• Sylvia Plath: Ariel, The Bell Jar
• Anne Sexton: To Bedlam and Part Way Back, Live or Die
• John Berryman: The Dream Songs

23. Postmodernism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Building upon and often reacting against Modernism, Postmodernism questions grand narratives, universal truths, and objective reality. It embraces fragmentation, irony, pastiche, intertextuality, metafiction, and a playful skepticism towards authority and meaning. It often blurs the lines between high and low culture and challenges traditional notions of authorship and originality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Novelists: Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov, John Barth, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, Don DeLillo, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood
• Playwrights: Tom Stoppard
• Theorists: Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard

Important Works:

• Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49
• Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle
• Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita, Pale Fire
• John Barth: The Sot-Weed Factor, Lost in the Funhouse
• Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children
• Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale

24. Postcolonial Literature (Mid-20th Century - Present)

This body of literature deals with the effects of colonialism and its aftermath on colonized peoples and their cultures. It often explores themes of identity, displacement, hybridity, resistance, and the reclamation of suppressed histories and voices. It challenges Eurocentric perspectives and gives voice to marginalized experiences.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Chinua Achebe
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
• Wole Soyinka
• V.S. Naipaul
• Derek Walcott
• Salman Rushdie
• Gabriel García Márquez (Latin American, Magic Realism)
• Edward Said (literary theorist, Orientalism)
• Homi K. Bhabha (theorist)
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (theorist)

Important Works:

• Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: Decolonising the Mind, Weep Not, Child
• Wole Soyinka: Death and the King's Horseman, The Lion and the Jewel
• V.S. Naipaul: A House for Mr Biswas, In a Free State
• Derek Walcott: Omeros, Dream on Monkey Mountain
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children, Shame
• Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude

25. Magic Realism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Often associated with Postcolonial literature (especially Latin American), Magic Realism is a literary genre where magical or fantastical elements are woven into a realistic setting, presenting them as ordinary and commonplace. The blend of the mundane and the marvelous creates a unique and often thought-provoking narrative, challenging Western notions of reality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Gabriel García Márquez (major figure)
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Isabel Allende
• Haruki Murakami (Japanese)
• Salman Rushdie (in Indian English literature)

Important Works:

• Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera
• Jorge Luis Borges: Ficciones, Labyrinths
• Isabel Allende: The House of the Spirits
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children

26. Literary Theory and Criticism Movements (20th Century - Present)

Beyond the chronological literary movements, understanding the major schools of literary theory is crucial for UGC NET English. These theories offer different lenses through which to analyze and interpret texts.

a. Structuralism (Mid-20th Century)

Borrowed from linguistics, structuralism analyzes literature as a system of signs and structures, focusing on underlying patterns and universal narratives rather than individual meaning. It emphasizes how meaning is produced through relationships between elements within a text.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Ferdinand de Saussure (linguistics), Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropology), Roland Barthes (early work), Gérard Genette, Tzvetan Todorov
• Important Concepts: Signifier/Signified, Langue/Parole, Binary Oppositions, Narratology.

b. Post-Structuralism & Deconstruction (Late 20th Century)

A critique of structuralism, post-structuralism challenges the idea of fixed meanings and stable structures. Deconstruction, particularly associated with Jacques Derrida, argues that language is inherently unstable and that texts contain contradictions and ambiguities that undermine any single, authoritative interpretation. It often involves identifying binary oppositions within a text and showing how they are unstable or reversible.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes ("Death of the Author"), Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva
• Important Concepts: Différance, Logocentrism, Absence, Trace, Aporia, Intertextuality.

c. Marxism (Early 20th Century - Present)

A critical approach rooted in the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Marxist literary criticism analyzes literature in terms of its socio-economic context, class struggle, and ideology. It examines how texts reflect and perpetuate or challenge dominant power structures and economic relations.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Georg Lukács, Louis Althusser, Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson
• Important Concepts: Base/Superstructure, Ideology, Hegemony, Class Conflict, Alienation, Commodity Fetishism.

d. Feminism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Feminist literary criticism analyzes literature from a gendered perspective, examining how gender roles, power dynamics, and patriarchal structures are represented, reinforced, or subverted in texts. It seeks to uncover and critique the marginalization and misrepresentation of women in literature and promote female voices and experiences.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, Sandra Gilbert, Susan Gubar, Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler (later Queer Theory influence)
• Important Concepts: Patriarchy, Androcentrism, Gynocriticism, Ecriture Féminine, The Male Gaze, Stereotypes.

e. Psychoanalysis (Early 20th Century - Present)

Drawing on the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, psychoanalytic literary criticism interprets texts through the lens of the unconscious mind, exploring themes of repression, desire, dreams, and psychological motivations of characters and authors.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan
• Important Concepts: Id, Ego, Superego, Oedipus Complex, Electra Complex, Unconscious, Repression, Archetypes (Jung), Mirror Stage (Lacan).

f. New Historicism (Late 20th Century)

New Historicism views literary texts not as isolated artifacts but as embedded within the historical and cultural contexts of their creation. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of literature with other cultural practices and power structures of its time, often drawing parallels between historical documents and literary works.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Stephen Greenblatt, Louis Montrose
• Important Concepts: Cultural Poetics, Circulation of Social Energy, Power, Discourse.

g. Cultural Studies (Late 20th Century - Present)

An interdisciplinary field, Cultural Studies examines cultural phenomena, including literature, as sites of power relations and ideological struggle. It broadens the scope of literary analysis to include popular culture, media, and everyday practices, seeking to understand how meaning is produced, circulated, and consumed within society.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall, Richard Hoggart, actively drawing from Marxism, Feminism, Postcolonialism, etc.
• Important Concepts: Ideology, Hegemony, Subculture, Representation, Popular Culture.

h. Queer Theory (Late 20th Century - Present)

Queer theory challenges traditional notions of gender and sexuality, arguing that these categories are social constructs rather than fixed biological realities. It analyzes how literature constructs, reinforces, or subverts normative understandings of sexuality and gender identity.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Michel Foucault (foundational work on sexuality and power)
• Important Concepts: Performativity, Gender as Performance, Heteronormativity, Sexual Fluidity.

i. Ecocriticism (Late 20th Century - Present)

Ecocriticism examines the relationship between literature and the environment. It analyzes how texts represent nature, the human impact on the environment, and ecological crises, advocating for a more environmentally conscious approach to literary studies.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Cheryll Glotfelty, Lawrence Buell, Jonathan Bate
• Important Concepts: Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism, Wilderness, Environmental Justice, Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi).

j. Disability Studies (Late 20th Century - Present)

Disability Studies in literature analyzes representations of disability, challenging ableist assumptions and promoting a more nuanced understanding of disability as a social and cultural construct rather than merely a medical condition. It examines how texts portray disabled characters, the language used to describe disability, and the societal implications of these representations.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Lennard J. Davis
• Important Concepts: Ableism, Normate, Medical Model vs. Social Model of Disability, Crip Theory.

This guide provides a foundational understanding of the key literary and artistic movements and theoretical approaches essential for the UGC NET English examination. It is crucial to delve deeper into each movement, exploring specific texts, their historical contexts, and the critical interpretations they have generated.

This comprehensive guide aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the most significant literary and artistic movements relevant for the UGC NET English examination. Each section will detail the movement's core tenets, key figures, and seminal works, offering a chronological and thematic overview.

1. The Renaissance (c. 14th - 17th Century)

The Renaissance, meaning "rebirth," was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic "rebirth" following the Middle Ages. It was characterized by a renewed interest in classical philosophy, literature, and art, leading to a profound shift in worldview from medieval scholasticism to humanism. The emphasis moved from the divine to the human, from the communal to the individual.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Italian Renaissance: Petrarch (often considered the father of Humanism), Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael.
• English Renaissance (Elizabethan Age): William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon.

Important Works:

• Literature:
  • Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy
  • Petrarch: Canzoniere
  • Boccaccio: The Decameron
  • Machiavelli: The Prince
  • Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier
  • Shakespeare: Plays (e.g., Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet), Sonnets
  • Marlowe: Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine the Great
  • Spenser: The Faerie Queene
  • Sidney: Astrophil and Stella, An Apology for Poetry
  • Ben Jonson: Volpone, The Alchemist
• Art (general influence):
  • Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa, The Last Supper
  • Michelangelo: David, Sistine Chapel Ceiling
  • Raphael: The School of Athens

2. Metaphysical Poets (17th Century)

A term coined by Samuel Johnson, this group of 17th-century English poets was known for their intellectual, intricate, and often paradoxical use of "conceits" (extended metaphors comparing dissimilar things). Their poetry explored profound questions of love, religion, morality, and human existence, often with a blend of intellect and emotion. They challenged conventional poetic forms and embraced a more argumentative and conversational tone.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• John Donne (often considered the leading figure)
• George Herbert
• Andrew Marvell
• Henry Vaughan
• Richard Crashaw
• Abraham Cowley

Important Works:

• John Donne: "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "The Flea," "Holy Sonnets" (e.g., "Death Be Not Proud"), Songs and Sonnets
• George Herbert: "The Altar," "Easter Wings," "Love (III)," The Temple
• Andrew Marvell: "To His Coy Mistress," "The Garden," "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland"
• Henry Vaughan: Silex Scintillans (e.g., "The Retreat," "The World")

3. Cavalier Poets (17th Century)

Contemporaries of the Metaphysical poets, the Cavalier Poets were royalist poets who supported King Charles I during the English Civil War. Their poetry was characterized by its elegance, wit, and emphasis on themes of love, loyalty, and living life to the fullest (carpe diem). They drew inspiration from Ben Jonson and classical Greek and Roman poets.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Robert Herrick
• Richard Lovelace
• Sir John Suckling
• Thomas Carew

Important Works:

• Robert Herrick: "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," "Delight in Disorder," Hesperides
• Richard Lovelace: "To Althea, from Prison," "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars"
• Sir John Suckling: "Why so pale and wan, fond lover?," "A Ballad Upon a Wedding"
• Thomas Carew: "Ask Me No More Where Jove Bestows," "The Rapture"

4. Neoclassicism / The Augustan Age (Late 17th - 18th Century)

Neoclassicism marked a return to the classical values of order, reason, balance, and wit, drawing inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman literature and art. It reacted against the perceived excesses of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, emphasizing restraint, decorum, and universal truths. The Augustan Age, specifically, refers to the early to mid-18th century in England, a period where writers consciously emulated the Augustan age of Roman literature (under Emperor Augustus) for its perceived literary excellence.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• John Dryden (transitional figure)
• Alexander Pope
• Jonathan Swift
• Joseph Addison
• Richard Steele
• Samuel Johnson
• Daniel Defoe
• Henry Fielding

Important Works:

• John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe, Absalom and Achitophel, "An Essay of Dramatick Poesie"
• Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Criticism, Dunciad
• Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal
• Joseph Addison & Richard Steele: The Spectator, The Tatler (periodical essays)
• Samuel Johnson: A Dictionary of the English Language, Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Rasselas
• Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders
• Henry Fielding: Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews

5. Romanticism (Late 18th - Mid-19th Century)

Romanticism was a powerful artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. It was a reaction against the industrial revolution and the rationalism of the Enlightenment, emphasizing emotion, individualism, the glorification of nature, the supernatural, and the past. Imagination, subjective experience, and the sublime were central to Romantic thought.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• First Generation English Romantics (Lake Poets): William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Second Generation English Romantics: Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats
• Prose Romantics: Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Sir Walter Scott
• American Romantics: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau (Transcendentalism), Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman

Important Works:

• William Wordsworth: Lyrical Ballads (with Coleridge), "Tintern Abbey," "Ode: Intimations of Immortality," The Prelude
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Lyrical Ballads (with Wordsworth), "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," Christabel, Biographia Literaria
• Lord Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Don Juan
• Percy Bysshe Shelley: "Ode to the West Wind," "To a Skylark," Prometheus Unbound
• John Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
• Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (Gothic novel)
• Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe, Waverley
• Edgar Allan Poe: "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher"
• Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
• Herman Melville: Moby Dick
• Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass

6. Gothic Novel (Late 18th - Early 19th Century)

A subgenre of Romanticism, Gothic fiction is characterized by its exploration of the uncanny, mysterious, and terrifying. It often features dilapidated castles, supernatural occurrences, oppressed heroines, and a brooding atmosphere, aiming to evoke fear and suspense in the reader.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Horace Walpole (often credited with initiating the genre)
• Ann Radcliffe
• Matthew Gregory Lewis
• Mary Shelley
• Charlotte Brontë (with Gothic elements)

Important Works:

• Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
• Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
• Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Monk
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

7. Transcendentalism (Mid-19th Century - American Romanticism)

An American philosophical and literary movement closely associated with Romanticism, Transcendentalism held that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members believed that intuition and individual conscience "transcend" experience and are therefore better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason. They emphasized self-reliance, spiritual insight, and reform.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (leading figure)
• Henry David Thoreau
• Margaret Fuller
• Bronson Alcott

Important Works:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Self-Reliance," "Nature," Essays
• Henry David Thoreau: Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Civil Disobedience
• Margaret Fuller: Woman in the Nineteenth Century

8. Victorian Era (1832 - 1901)

Named after Queen Victoria's reign, this era in British literature was marked by significant social, economic, and intellectual changes due to the Industrial Revolution, scientific advancements (Darwinism), and imperial expansion. Literature of this period often explored realism, social issues, class divisions, morality, and the tension between faith and doubt.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Poets: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold, Christina Rossetti, Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Novelists: Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Thomas Hardy, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Anthony Trollope
• Essayists/Thinkers: Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, John Stuart Mill

Important Works:

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson: In Memoriam A.H.H., Ulysses, The Charge of the Light Brigade
• Robert Browning: Men and Women, The Ring and the Book (known for dramatic monologues like "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover")
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Sonnets from the Portuguese
• Matthew Arnold: "Dover Beach," Culture and Anarchy
• Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, Bleak House, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities
• William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
• George Eliot: Middlemarch, Adam Bede
• Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure
• Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

9. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (Mid-19th Century - Artistic and Literary)

Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a secret society of young English painters, poets, and critics who rejected the conventions of academic art, particularly the influence of Raphael and his followers. They aimed to return to the artistic detail, vibrant colors, and intense realism seen before the time of Raphael, drawing inspiration from early Renaissance art and medieval romance. Their literary counterparts often explored themes of beauty, sensuality, medievalism, and mythological subjects.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Painters/Founders: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt
• Associated Literary Figures: Christina Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Morris

Important Works:

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti: "The Blessed Damozel," The House of Life (sonnet sequence)
• Christina Rossetti: "Goblin Market," "Remember"
• William Morris: The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, pioneering work in decorative arts and socialism

10. Aestheticism and Decadence (Late 19th Century)

"Art for Art's Sake" was the rallying cry of Aestheticism, a movement that emphasized beauty and sensory pleasure over moral or didactic concerns. Decadence, a related but more extreme movement, explored themes of artificiality, corruption, and the exotic, often characterized by a rejection of conventional morality and a fascination with the morbid or perverse.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Oscar Wilde
• Walter Pater (intellectual father of Aestheticism)
• Algernon Charles Swinburne
• Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
• Ernest Dowson

Important Works:

• Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome
• Walter Pater: Studies in the History of the Renaissance
• Algernon Charles Swinburne: Poems and Ballads
• Ernest Dowson: "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae"

11. Symbolism (Late 19th Century - Early 20th Century)

Originating in France, Symbolism was an artistic and literary movement that reacted against Realism and Naturalism. Instead of direct representation, Symbolists used symbols, evocative imagery, and suggestions to express emotional experiences, abstract ideas, and the subjective inner world. They believed that art should evoke, rather than describe, and explore hidden truths beyond objective reality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Stéphane Mallarmé (French poet, a key figure)
• Charles Baudelaire (French poet, precursor)
• Paul Verlaine (French poet)
• Arthur Rimbaud (French poet)
• Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgian playwright)
• William Butler Yeats (Irish poet, influenced by Symbolism)
• T.S. Eliot (influenced by Symbolism)

Important Works:

• Stéphane Mallarmé: L'Après-midi d'un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun), "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard"
• Charles Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil)
• Paul Verlaine: Romances sans paroles (Songs Without Words)
• Maurice Maeterlinck: Pelléas and Mélisande
• William Butler Yeats: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," early poetry reflecting symbolic elements.

12. Realism (Mid-19th Century - Early 20th Century)

Realism emerged as a reaction against Romanticism, aiming to depict life as it truly was, without idealization or embellishment. It focused on everyday experiences, ordinary people, and plausible events, often exploring social issues and psychological complexities.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• George Eliot
• Anthony Trollope
• Henry James
• William Dean Howells
• Mark Twain
• Gustave Flaubert (French)
• Honoré de Balzac (French)
• Leo Tolstoy (Russian)

Important Works:

• George Eliot: Middlemarch
• Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller
• Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• William Dean Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham

13. Naturalism (Late 19th - Early 20th Century)

An extension of Realism, Naturalism applied scientific determinism to literature, suggesting that human behavior is largely determined by heredity and environment. It often depicted the darker, grittier aspects of life, focusing on characters struggling against forces beyond their control.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Émile Zola (French, considered the father of Naturalism)
• Stephen Crane
• Theodore Dreiser
• Frank Norris
• Jack London

Important Works:

• Émile Zola: Germinal, Nana
• Stephen Crane: The Red Badge of Courage, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
• Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie, An American Tragedy
• Jack London: The Call of the Wild

14. Expressionism (Early 20th Century)

Primarily an artistic movement that originated in Germany, Expressionism quickly influenced literature and theatre. It sought to express the subjective emotional experience rather than objective reality. Expressionist works often distort reality to evoke moods or ideas, focusing on the inner turmoil, anxieties, and spiritual crises of the individual in a mechanized and dehumanizing world. It features stark contrasts, exaggerated characters, and a sense of alienation.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Franz Kafka (novelist)
• Georg Kaiser (playwright)
• Ernst Toller (playwright)
• Bertolt Brecht (early work, later developed Epic Theatre)
• August Strindberg (Swedish playwright, precursor)
• O'Neill (American playwright, influenced by Expressionism)

Important Works:

• Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle
• Georg Kaiser: From Morn to Midnight, Gas
• Ernst Toller: Man and the Masses
• August Strindberg: A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata
• Eugene O'Neill: The Hairy Ape, The Emperor Jones

15. Modernism (Early 20th Century)

Modernism was a broad and diverse artistic and literary movement that arose in the early 20th century, largely in response to the rapid changes of industrialization, urbanization, and World War I. It marked a radical break with traditional forms and narratives, reflecting a sense of disillusionment, fragmentation, and a quest for new ways of understanding the world. Key characteristics include experimentation with form, stream of consciousness, unreliable narrators, multiple perspectives, and a focus on psychological realism.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Poets: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, e.e. cummings
• Novelists: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Franz Kafka
• Playwrights: Samuel Beckett (later, bridging to Absurdism)

Important Works:

• T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• Ezra Pound: The Cantos, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (propounder of Imagism)
• W.B. Yeats: "The Second Coming," "Sailing to Byzantium," Easter, 1916
• Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, A Room of One's Own (pioneer of stream of consciousness)
• James Joyce: Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (pioneer of stream of consciousness)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
• Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms (known for minimalist prose)
• William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!
• D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers, Women in Love
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim

16. Imagism (Early 20th Century)

A subset of Modernism, Imagism was a poetic movement that flourished primarily between 1908 and 1917, advocating for precise, clearly presented images in poetry. Its proponents sought to use common, everyday speech, aim for conciseness, concrete imagery, and create new rhythms, rejecting Victorian ornamentation and abstract language.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ezra Pound (key figure in promoting and defining Imagism)
• Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
• Amy Lowell
• Richard Aldington
• T.E. Hulme (early theorist)

Important Works:

• Ezra Pound: "In a Station of the Metro," "A Pact"
• H.D.: "Oread," "Heat"
• Amy Lowell: Patterns

17. The Lost Generation (1920s)

A term coined by Gertrude Stein, referring to the generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals who came of age during World War I and the "Roaring Twenties." They often felt disillusioned and alienated from traditional values, choosing to live as expatriates in Europe (especially Paris). Their work often explored themes of cynicism, hedonism, and the loss of innocence.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Ernest Hemingway
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gertrude Stein
• John Dos Passos
• T.S. Eliot (though a modernist, he shared some sensibilities)

Important Works:

• Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
• Gertrude Stein: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

18. Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s)

A vibrant cultural, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, New York City, during the 1920s and 1930s. It celebrated African American culture, identity, and experiences, challenging racial stereotypes and advocating for civil rights through literature, music, and art.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Langston Hughes
• Zora Neale Hurston
• Claude McKay
• Countee Cullen
• Nella Larsen
• W.E.B. Du Bois (social and intellectual leader)
• James Weldon Johnson

Important Works:

• Langston Hughes: The Weary Blues, Not Without Laughter, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
• Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men
• Claude McKay: Harlem Shadows, Home to Harlem
• Countee Cullen: Color, Copper Sun
• Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand

19. Surrealism (Early to Mid-20th Century - Artistic and Literary)

Originating in Paris in the 1920s, Surrealism sought to liberate the subconscious mind, drawing inspiration from Freudian psychoanalysis and the irrationality of dreams. It aimed to express the "superior reality" of the subconscious through shocking, illogical, and dreamlike imagery, often employing automatic writing and other unconventional techniques.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• André Breton (main theorist and leader)
• Louis Aragon
• Paul Éluard
• Salvador Dalí (painter)
• René Magritte (painter)
• Max Ernst (painter)

Important Works:

• André Breton: Manifesto of Surrealism, Nadja
• Louis Aragon: Paris Peasant
• Paul Éluard: Capital of Pain

20. Absurdism / Theatre of the Absurd (Mid-20th Century)

Emerging primarily after World War II, this philosophical and artistic movement explored the idea that human existence is inherently meaningless and irrational, in a universe devoid of inherent purpose. Plays often feature illogical plots, repetitive dialogue, and characters facing a world they cannot understand or control.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Samuel Beckett
• Eugène Ionesco
• Jean Genet
• Harold Pinter
• Albert Camus (philosophical precursor, The Myth of Sisyphus)

Important Works:

• Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape
• Eugène Ionesco: The Bald Soprano, The Chairs, Rhinoceros
• Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party, The Caretaker

21. Beat Generation (1950s-1960s)

A counter-cultural literary movement originating in the 1950s, the Beats rejected mainstream American values, celebrating nonconformity, spiritual quest, sexual liberation, and explorations of drugs and Eastern religions. Their writing was often spontaneous, raw, and defiant, paving the way for later counter-cultural movements.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Jack Kerouac
• Allen Ginsberg
• William S. Burroughs
• Neal Cassady
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• Gary Snyder

Important Works:

• Jack Kerouac: On the Road, The Dharma Bums
• Allen Ginsberg: Howl, Kaddish
• William S. Burroughs: Naked Lunch

22. Confessional Poetry (Mid-20th Century)

A style of poetry that emerged in the mid-20th century, characterized by its intensely personal and autobiographical content. Confessional poets often explored taboo subjects, mental illness, trauma, and intimate details of their lives, breaking from the more detached and objective styles of earlier modernism.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Robert Lowell (often credited with initiating the movement)
• Sylvia Plath
• Anne Sexton
• W.D. Snodgrass
• John Berryman

Important Works:

• Robert Lowell: Life Studies
• Sylvia Plath: Ariel, The Bell Jar
• Anne Sexton: To Bedlam and Part Way Back, Live or Die
• John Berryman: The Dream Songs

23. Postmodernism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Building upon and often reacting against Modernism, Postmodernism questions grand narratives, universal truths, and objective reality. It embraces fragmentation, irony, pastiche, intertextuality, metafiction, and a playful skepticism towards authority and meaning. It often blurs the lines between high and low culture and challenges traditional notions of authorship and originality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Novelists: Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov, John Barth, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, Don DeLillo, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood
• Playwrights: Tom Stoppard
• Theorists: Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard

Important Works:

• Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49
• Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle
• Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita, Pale Fire
• John Barth: The Sot-Weed Factor, Lost in the Funhouse
• Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children
• Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale

24. Postcolonial Literature (Mid-20th Century - Present)

This body of literature deals with the effects of colonialism and its aftermath on colonized peoples and their cultures. It often explores themes of identity, displacement, hybridity, resistance, and the reclamation of suppressed histories and voices. It challenges Eurocentric perspectives and gives voice to marginalized experiences.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Chinua Achebe
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
• Wole Soyinka
• V.S. Naipaul
• Derek Walcott
• Salman Rushdie
• Gabriel García Márquez (Latin American, Magic Realism)
• Edward Said (literary theorist, Orientalism)
• Homi K. Bhabha (theorist)
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (theorist)

Important Works:

• Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: Decolonising the Mind, Weep Not, Child
• Wole Soyinka: Death and the King's Horseman, The Lion and the Jewel
• V.S. Naipaul: A House for Mr Biswas, In a Free State
• Derek Walcott: Omeros, Dream on Monkey Mountain
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children, Shame
• Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude

25. Magic Realism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Often associated with Postcolonial literature (especially Latin American), Magic Realism is a literary genre where magical or fantastical elements are woven into a realistic setting, presenting them as ordinary and commonplace. The blend of the mundane and the marvelous creates a unique and often thought-provoking narrative, challenging Western notions of reality.

Propounders/Key Figures:

• Gabriel García Márquez (major figure)
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Isabel Allende
• Haruki Murakami (Japanese)
• Salman Rushdie (in Indian English literature)

Important Works:

• Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera
• Jorge Luis Borges: Ficciones, Labyrinths
• Isabel Allende: The House of the Spirits
• Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children

26. Literary Theory and Criticism Movements (20th Century - Present)

Beyond the chronological literary movements, understanding the major schools of literary theory is crucial for UGC NET English. These theories offer different lenses through which to analyze and interpret texts.

a. Structuralism (Mid-20th Century)

Borrowed from linguistics, structuralism analyzes literature as a system of signs and structures, focusing on underlying patterns and universal narratives rather than individual meaning. It emphasizes how meaning is produced through relationships between elements within a text.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Ferdinand de Saussure (linguistics), Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropology), Roland Barthes (early work), Gérard Genette, Tzvetan Todorov
• Important Concepts: Signifier/Signified, Langue/Parole, Binary Oppositions, Narratology.

b. Post-Structuralism & Deconstruction (Late 20th Century)

A critique of structuralism, post-structuralism challenges the idea of fixed meanings and stable structures. Deconstruction, particularly associated with Jacques Derrida, argues that language is inherently unstable and that texts contain contradictions and ambiguities that undermine any single, authoritative interpretation. It often involves identifying binary oppositions within a text and showing how they are unstable or reversible.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes ("Death of the Author"), Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva
• Important Concepts: Différance, Logocentrism, Absence, Trace, Aporia, Intertextuality.

c. Marxism (Early 20th Century - Present)

A critical approach rooted in the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Marxist literary criticism analyzes literature in terms of its socio-economic context, class struggle, and ideology. It examines how texts reflect and perpetuate or challenge dominant power structures and economic relations.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Georg Lukács, Louis Althusser, Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson
• Important Concepts: Base/Superstructure, Ideology, Hegemony, Class Conflict, Alienation, Commodity Fetishism.

d. Feminism (Mid-20th Century - Present)

Feminist literary criticism analyzes literature from a gendered perspective, examining how gender roles, power dynamics, and patriarchal structures are represented, reinforced, or subverted in texts. It seeks to uncover and critique the marginalization and misrepresentation of women in literature and promote female voices and experiences.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, Sandra Gilbert, Susan Gubar, Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler (later Queer Theory influence)
• Important Concepts: Patriarchy, Androcentrism, Gynocriticism, Ecriture Féminine, The Male Gaze, Stereotypes.

e. Psychoanalysis (Early 20th Century - Present)

Drawing on the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, psychoanalytic literary criticism interprets texts through the lens of the unconscious mind, exploring themes of repression, desire, dreams, and psychological motivations of characters and authors.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan
• Important Concepts: Id, Ego, Superego, Oedipus Complex, Electra Complex, Unconscious, Repression, Archetypes (Jung), Mirror Stage (Lacan).

f. New Historicism (Late 20th Century)

New Historicism views literary texts not as isolated artifacts but as embedded within the historical and cultural contexts of their creation. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of literature with other cultural practices and power structures of its time, often drawing parallels between historical documents and literary works.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Stephen Greenblatt, Louis Montrose
• Important Concepts: Cultural Poetics, Circulation of Social Energy, Power, Discourse.

g. Cultural Studies (Late 20th Century - Present)

An interdisciplinary field, Cultural Studies examines cultural phenomena, including literature, as sites of power relations and ideological struggle. It broadens the scope of literary analysis to include popular culture, media, and everyday practices, seeking to understand how meaning is produced, circulated, and consumed within society.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall, Richard Hoggart, actively drawing from Marxism, Feminism, Postcolonialism, etc.
• Important Concepts: Ideology, Hegemony, Subculture, Representation, Popular Culture.

h. Queer Theory (Late 20th Century - Present)

Queer theory challenges traditional notions of gender and sexuality, arguing that these categories are social constructs rather than fixed biological realities. It analyzes how literature constructs, reinforces, or subverts normative understandings of sexuality and gender identity.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Michel Foucault (foundational work on sexuality and power)
• Important Concepts: Performativity, Gender as Performance, Heteronormativity, Sexual Fluidity.

i. Ecocriticism (Late 20th Century - Present)

Ecocriticism examines the relationship between literature and the environment. It analyzes how texts represent nature, the human impact on the environment, and ecological crises, advocating for a more environmentally conscious approach to literary studies.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Cheryll Glotfelty, Lawrence Buell, Jonathan Bate
• Important Concepts: Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism, Wilderness, Environmental Justice, Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi).

j. Disability Studies (Late 20th Century - Present)

Disability Studies in literature analyzes representations of disability, challenging ableist assumptions and promoting a more nuanced understanding of disability as a social and cultural construct rather than merely a medical condition. It examines how texts portray disabled characters, the language used to describe disability, and the societal implications of these representations.

• Propounders/Key Figures: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Lennard J. Davis
• Important Concepts: Ableism, Normate, Medical Model vs. Social Model of Disability, Crip Theory.

This guide provides a foundational understanding of the key literary and artistic movements and theoretical approaches essential for the UGC NET English examination. It is crucial to delve deeper into each movement, exploring specific texts, their historical contexts, and the critical interpretations they have generated.