The Victorian era was characterized by the absolute absence of social criticism in novels, as authors like Charles Dickens were prohibited from describing the living conditions of the poor.

William Shakespeare is the most prominent figure of the Middle English period, famous for writing only epic poems about the lives of saints in the 14th century.

The Modernist movement of the early 20th century advocated for a return to traditional narrative structures and the use of a reliable, omniscient narrator in all fictional works.

The Romantic period (late 18th to mid-19th century) emphasized emotion, nature, and the individual, reacting against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.