Consciously non-conformist writing that embraced bohemian lifestyles, rejected so-called "bourgeois middle-class standards" and often celebrated alcoholism and recreational drug use. Began in late 1940s with group of New York writers centered around Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and William Corso. Cross-fertilized by writers of the San Francisco Renaissance such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth and Bob Kaufman. Associated with non-conformist music and visual arts, from folk music revivalists to more radical expermentation. Gradually supplanted by the hippie counter-culture of the 1960s.

Existentialist Period: Roughly late 1930s to late 1950s "What do I know about man's destiny? I could better tell you about radishes." --Samuel Beckett Existentialism, being a thoroughly continental philosophy, has manifestations both in academia and in literature. Perhaps existentialism qua philosophy is better known, as any philosophizing in life or sitcom is often labeled "existential." But modern existentialism came into vogue not through academics but writers and playwrights, influenced by early forms of the existential worldview. Explore the literature and the influence in this existentialist literature category.

Early 20th-century school of crime fiction.

Though it traces its lineage back to Kafka, magical realism really arose as a school of literature in Latin America in the 1960's and became an influential movement worldwide.

European literature of the Late Antique period.

Metafiction is a postmodernist literary style based on self-reference. It's sometimes spelled meta-fiction.

Oulipo was a literary movement of the 20th century, originating in France, which held that artificially constrained forms (such as writing a novel without using the letter 'e') produce greater originality.