wing of the archive
The Modern Era
The industrial and imperial centuries: inventors, statesmen, artists, and the makers of the modern world.
Modern era
Ralph Waldo Emerson
May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882
American philosopher (1803–1882)
Modern era
Henry David Thoreau
July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862
American essayist, poet, and philosopher (1817–1862)
Modern era
Jane Austen
December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817
English novelist whose social comedies never left print
Modern era
Hans Christian Andersen
April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875
Danish writer and poet (1805–1875)
Modern era
Victor Hugo
February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885
French novelist, poet, dramatist and politician (1802–1885)
Modern era
Alexandre Dumas
July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870
French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)
Modern era
Gustave Flaubert
December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880
French novelist (1821–1880)
Modern era
Charles Baudelaire
April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867
French poet and critic (1821–1867)
Modern era
Nikolai Gogol
March 19, 1809 – February 21, 1852
Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (1809–1852)
Modern era
Fyodor Dostoevsky
November 11, 1821 – January 28, 1881
Russian novelist (1821–1881)
Modern era
Leo Tolstoy
August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910
Russian novelist of War and Peace and moral philosopher
Modern era
Anton Chekhov
January 17, 1860 – July 2, 1904
Russian dramatist and author (1860–1904)
Modern era
Charles Dickens
February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870
English novelist and social critic (1812–1870)
Modern era
Charlotte Bronte
April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855
British novelist and poet (1816-1855)
Modern era
Emily Bronte
July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848
English novelist and poet (1818–1848)
Modern era
George Eliot
November 22, 1819 – December 22, 1880
English novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (1819–1880)
Modern era
Thomas Hardy
June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928
English novelist and poet (1840–1928)
Modern era
Oscar Wilde
October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900
Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900)
Modern era
Lewis Carroll
January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898
British author and scholar (1832–1898)
Modern era
Bram Stoker
November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912
Irish novelist and short story writer (1847–1912)
Modern era
Robert Louis Stevenson
November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894
Scottish novelist and poet (1850–1894)
Modern era
Arthur Conan Doyle
May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930
British writer and physician (1859–1930)
Modern era
Rudyard Kipling
December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936
English writer and poet (1865–1936)
Modern era
Jules Verne
February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905
French writer (1828–1905)
Modern era
H. G. Wells
September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946
English writer (1866–1946)
Modern era
Edgar Allan Poe
January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849
American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
Modern era
Nathaniel Hawthorne
July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864
American author (1804–1864)
Modern era
Herman Melville
August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891
American writer and poet (1819–1891)
Modern era
Mark Twain
November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
American author and humorist (1835–1910)
Modern era
Walt Whitman
May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892
American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892)
Modern era
Emily Dickinson
December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886
American poet (1830-1886)
Modern era
Louisa May Alcott
November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888
American novelist (1832–1888)
Modern era
Harriet Beecher Stowe
June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896
American abolitionist and author (1811–1896)
Modern era
Rabindranath Tagore
May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941
Bengali poet, philosopher and polymath (1861–1941)
Modern era
Khalil Gibran
January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931
Lebanese-American writer, poet, and painter (1883–1931)
Modern era
W. B. Yeats
June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939
Irish poet and playwright (1865–1939)
Modern era
T. S. Eliot
September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965
US-British poet (1888–1965)
Modern era
Robert Frost
March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963
American poet (1874–1963)
Modern era
James Joyce
February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941
Irish novelist and poet (1882–1941)
Modern era
Virginia Woolf
January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941
English modernist writer (1882–1941)
Modern era
Franz Kafka
July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924
Bohemian writer from Prague (1883–1924)
Modern era
Marcel Proust
July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922
French novelist, critic and essayist (1871–1922)
Modern era
Thomas Mann
June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955
German novelist and Nobel Prize laureate (1875–1955)
Modern era
Hermann Hesse
July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962
Nobel Prize winning German-Swiss poet, novelist and painter (1877–1962)
Modern era
Rainer Maria Rilke
December 4, 1875 – December 29, 1926
Austrian poet and writer (1875–1926)
Modern era
Bertolt Brecht
February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956
German poet, playwright, and theatre director (1898–1956)
Modern era
Bertrand Russell
May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970
British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)
Modern era
Ludwig Wittgenstein
July 26, 1845 – March 23, 1925
Viennese murchant (1845-1925)
Modern era
Jean-Paul Sartre
June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980
French existentialist philosopher (1905–1980)
Modern era
Simone de Beauvoir
January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986
French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)
Modern era
Albert Camus
November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960
French philosopher, author, and journalist (1913–1960)
Modern era
Hannah Arendt
October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975
German-American political theorist and philosopher (1906–1975)
Modern era
George Orwell
June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950
British writer and journalist (1903–1950)
Modern era
Aldous Huxley
July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963
English writer and philosopher (1894–1963)
Modern era
J. R. R. Tolkien
January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973
English writer and philologist (1892–1973)
Modern era
C. S. Lewis
November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963
British writer, lay theologian, and scholar (1898–1963)
Modern era
Agatha Christie
September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976
English mystery and detective writer (1890–1976)
Modern era
Roald Dahl
September 13, 1916 – November 23, 1990
British writer and poet (1916–1990)
Modern era
Dr. Seuss
March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991
American children's author and cartoonist (1904–1991)
Modern era
Ernest Hemingway
July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961
American author and journalist (1899–1961)