What are the six major trends in the development of European and American literature?

The two main sources of European literature are "Greco-Roman literature" and "Hebrew-Christian literature", which are generally referred to as "the two Greek traditions" in literary history. The two main sources of European literature are: "Graeco-Roman literature" and "Hebrew-Christian literature", which are generally known in literary history as the "two Greek traditions".

1. "Ancient Greek-Roman Literature": secular and humanistic significance

Ancient Greek civilization is the beginning and core part of Western civilization, which emphasizes on rationality and reality, and is a kind of literature that focuses on the world and the secular life of the real society.

2. "Hebrew-Christian Literature": Religious Humanistic Consciousness

Hebrew literature refers to the Christian civilization that has ruled the western spiritual world for thousands of years. Emotionally and spiritually oriented, it is an out-of-this-world literature that focuses on faith and happiness in the afterlife.

The six major currents of thought in Western literature are:

I. Renaissance Humanism

Humanism in the Renaissance era originated in the 14th century with the Italian humanist Petrarch. The core of humanism is "man is the basis of all things", and advocates that human beings should be the measure of all things.

Second, the 18th-century neoclassicism

Classicism was the main literary trend in 17th-century Europe, which responded aesthetically to modernity and formed a conscious literary claim and distinctive literary style.

Third, the Enlightenment literary trend before and after the French Revolution

The Enlightenment was essentially a great preparation of public opinion before the emerging bourgeoisie seized power from the feudal class in the French Revolution of the 18th century.

Fourth, the Romantic literary trend in the early 19th century

In 1798, the French bourgeoisie overthrew the feudal dictatorship and established bourgeois rule. This great historical event shook the whole world and set off a succession of bourgeois democratic revolutions and national liberation movements in Europe.

V. Realist Literary Trend in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Realism used humanism as a weapon and realism as a means to expose the social disasters brought about by capitalism and the degradation of human nature, and thus became another criticism of realism after Romanticism.

Sixth century modernism

Modernism is a literary trend in the era of modernity's maturity, and it is a complete protest against modernity and a full-scale rebellion against rationality.