literature |

Endpapers: beautiful patterns and illustrations inside book covers

Marbling techniques made endpapers beautiful and artistic, as well as a practical bookbinding tool.

Star-crossed lovers in classic literature part 2

Two stories from classic literature of lovers separated by forces outside of their control.

Star-crossed lovers in classic literature: Depictions of historical relationships in times of social distancing

Today we bring you the first two of five stories of love made impossible by physical distance – stories of longing, heartache, and yearning in European literature and art.

Miloš Crnjanski: a literary life of migration and exile

Author Miloš Crnjanski’s works form an invaluable part of Serbian 20th-century literature. His creative writing – poetry and prose – as well as his life in general, were marked by key elements: migration, exile and existential drama.

Catchpenny prints in The Netherlands

What did the people in the lower orders of society and children read in the 18th and 19th centuries? In the Netherlands, their main reading material was catchpenny prints.

Chapbooks: the poor person’s reading material

Books were expensive in Scotland between the 17th and 19th centuries. But literacy was comparatively high, and people were keen on reading. There was a large market for cheap, easy-to-get reading material: so-called street literature because it was simply sold on the streets.

Five of the finest (anti-)heroines from European literature

This post began with an idea to write about great female characters in European literature. Those that break the mould. Doing a little bit of research, the term ‘anti-heroine’ came up. And so did a range of characters who could fall into that category (see below for more on them). So I started to look […]

Ivan Cankar – The Writer, The Migrant

Zala Mojca Jerman Kuželički of National and University Library in Slovenia introduces us to Ivan Cankar, who died 100 years ago today and is regarded as the greatest writer in the Slovene language.

The Place of Literature in the World of Newspapers

In France, the important development of including literature in the press began with the launch of ‘La Presse‘ in 1836 by Emile de Girardin. He cut the subscription rate to his daily newspaper in half by speculating on advertising to cover the costs.

Emile Zola: Novelist and Journalist

A true writer-journalist, Emile Zola successfully managed both activities for about 20 years, at first out of financial necessity before he became a successful author, but also by conviction.

Banned Authors – who got on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum?

Many noteworthy authors were put on the Index librorum prohibitorum because their works were seen to cause religious, political and moral controversies. Famous names on the Roman Index include: – Greek and the Roman authors like Ovid and Petronius – religious reformers like Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and Jean Calvin – humanists like Erasmus of […]

Detail of a miniature a mermaid with a mirror and comb, from the lower margin of the folio.

Mixed-up mermaids

The Deutsches Historiches Museum #DHMMeer in Berlin is running a Europe and the sea blog parade from 20-25 July 2018, asking people to share posts on the theme ‘What does the sea mean to me?’ To me, one of the things it means is mermaids. So I revisited a post I wrote a while ago on […]

Stories of a seducer – Mozart, the myth of Don Juan and his literary impact

Each month, Europeana Music examines a particular theme from the world of music. For the month of July , Gabriele Fröschl from the Österreichische Mediathek takes a look at the character of Don Juan as portrayed in Mozart’s opera and elsewhere. The legend of Don Juan is one of the most famous stories in […]

#AllezLiterature – celebrate the power of poetry

This World Poetry Day (21 March), we are inviting you to join a month long social media salute to poetry from across Europe. From the Romantics to War poetry and from Burns to Punk, discover, share and interact with selected poems in Europeana Collections. UNESCO World Poetry Day celebrates our shared human experience, the continued […]

Jane Austen and zombies, and other literary mash-ups

Europeana talks a lot about encouraging the use of its collections by professionals in the creative industries. I’m a fiction writer. As such, I’d consider myself part of the creative industries. So, how could I use Europeana’s collections in my creative endeavours? For artists and designers, the concept of using whole parts or aspects of […]

Dora Gabe, Bulgarian poet and social activist

Dora and her sister Bela. Varna Public Library, CC0. Today is the 126th birth anniversary of Bulgarian poet, children’s writer and social activist Dora Gabe (26 August 1888 – 16 November 1983). Not much information in English exists about this prolific writer. The child of a Russian immigrant, she was born and raised in Dobrogea, Bulgaria. She wrote […]