200+ Literature Essay Topics

200+ Literature Essay Topics

Coming up with literature essay topics worth the highest grade is always challenging for a student. Regarding the mass of reviews, discussions, and critics touching on every aspect of literature available, generating something truly original is not an easy deal. So, here is the tip: your literature essay concept may not be unique, but your thoughts on it are what makes your assignment perfect. And, to help you decide, here are over 200 topics connected to different aspects of literature.

American Literature Essay Topics

To begin the long list of essay topics, see over 50 concepts based on American literature. You will find ideas connected to different periods, genres, and events there.

  1. Literature of Latin America in the 20th century
  2. Best horror books of American authors
  3. African Americans' fight for equality in the literature of the US
  4. Realist, naturalist, and modernist literature of African Americans
  5. Black Matters by Toni Morrison
  6. Feminism in African American literature
  7. Literary art as the kind of protest in the US
  8. Literature of American dream
  9. Literature of Native American people
  10. Literature ethics in the US
  11. The impact of literature on American societies throughout history
  12. American Sign Language and literature
  13. A topic of death in the artworks of African American authors
  14. Topics of fight for freedom in the literature of the US
  15. American literature and language dialects
  16. Literature of the early USA: main Ideas
  17. The impact of religion on the literature of the USA
  18. The contribution of Edgar Allan Poe to the US literature
  19. Main reasons why Edgar Allan Poe’s artworks have critical meaning for American and world literature
  20. How WW1 affected the literature reality and style trends of the United States
  21. African American literature: literary features
  22. The evolution of written language in the US literature
  23. Pre-US literature authors from Colonists: contribution described
  24. The excellence tradition: how they established it
  25. Modernism in literature: definition, timelines, features
  26. The impact of Mark Twain on the literature of the US
  27. The literature contribution of Francis Scott Fitzgerald
  28. African American slavery and freedom topics in the literature of America
  29. The effect of generational development and differences on the American literature’s future
  30. Literature and politics in the USA: points of interaction
  31. Gone With the Wind: the meaning of the writing
  32. Poe’s gothic style of writing
  33. American realism heroes
  34. Modern masculinity in writings by contemporary authors
  35. The development of American writing mastery throughout times
  36. Native American literature: history and modern state
  37. How the development of the US over time changed American literature
  38. Sexuality of the 19th century: touching on previously forbidden topics
  39. Literature explosion of Latin America
  40. The Declaration of Independence as a literature artwork
  41. How wars affected literature in America
  42. American minstrels: how they changed literature as a whole
  43. Main literary devices and their development in works by US authors
  44. How the role of female authors changed in American literature throughout history
  45. Colonization and immigration: how settlers reflected on their lives in literature
  46. The issue of racism and its perception in literature from the 18th century to the present days
  47. Mark Twain’s weak literature spots
  48. Critical meaning of African American authors on literature development
  49. How American history defines its literature topics
  50. Literature of Cold War: how they write during the global crisis
  51. Communism in American literature
  52. “I have a dream” by Martin Luther King as an exceptional literature work
  53. Women and their portraits in modern literature artworks of US authors

Literature Research Paper Topics for College Students

Here are over 50 topics for a research paper based on literature by writers from all over the world. Choose whatever you like. It’s going to be exciting!

  1. The place of the American dream in the literature of the United States
  2. What’s the “stream of consciousness” style of writing?
  3. Ernest Hemingway and his main literature works
  4. What’s Edgar Allan Poe’s opus magnum?
  5. The main features of Mark Twain’s style
  6. Literature and religion: interaction and mutual impact
  7. Romance and sexual themes in literature: how they change over time
  8. The first books for women: the delicate aspect of the world’s literature history
  9. Can mythology be treated as literature?
  10. Modern literature: progress or degradation?
  11. The deep reasons for the Harry Potter series popularity
  12. Alexander Dovzhenko and his impact on Soviet literature
  13. Life of Taras Shevchenko: the most outstanding Ukrainian poet
  14. Fyodor Dostoevsky: main topics of his literature works
  15. Death as a character: how authors of different cultures portray it
  16. Alexander Pushkin: biography and main works
  17. Humiliated and Insulted: the historical context and meaning of Dostoevsky’s masterpiece
  18. Why Dostoevsky is considered as a great literature psychologist
  19. Alexander Solzhenitsyn: the headliner of Soviet dissidents
  20. Censorship and literature
  21. Literature of feminists around the world
  22. Modern world literature: trends, influence, styles
  23. The influence of electronic books on the perception of literature by readers
  24. Digital era: how it changed literature reality
  25. Internet book piracy: is it a critical problem for modern authors
  26. Irony in world literature
  27. Scandinavian myths in modern literature
  28. European tales and their mythologic precursors
  29. Grimm brothers: the real dark side of fairy tales
  30. Literature of the Victorian Age
  31. Russian Empire and its literature development
  32. Napoleon invasion to Russia: reflection in literature
  33. Lev Tolstoy’s War and Peace: the reflection of Russian society in 1805 to 1812
  34. The topic of battles in literature
  35. Fantasy and science fiction: similarities and differences
  36. Literature as propaganda source: the case study of US Cold War novels
  37. Psychology in literature
  38. Tricksters: from myths to fictional books
  39. John Tolkien as the father of fantasy
  40. Main literature genres of today
  41. Japanese manga as literature work
  42. Should comics be considered literature?
  43. The topic of madness and its reflection in literature
  44. Most cruel scenes in literature artworks of all times
  45. The Master and Margarita: the review of Woland’s character
  46. Christianity in literature
  47. Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe: historical background

American Literature Research Paper Topics

When speaking of literature topics for a research paper, American authors have a lot to offer. See 20 concepts for both past and modernist literature research paper topics.

  1. American colonial period: historical characters in literature
  2. 1765 to 1789 revolutionary time: the American definition of freedom
  3. James Fennimore Cooper: nationalism enhancement and contribution
  4. The period of American renaissance: reflections of moral changes in literature
  5. Harriet Beecher Stowe: researching African realism and affect in the book
  6. Modern American writers: a place of literature in the US society of the 21st century
  7. Early American writers: how they positioned females in their works
  8. Early America’s literature: historical conditions of development
  9. Are books by US authors reflecting the existing reality?
  10. Fiction stories of the 21st century: the impact of environment on writers and their book contents
  11. Literature in modern American media
  12. Literature writings of US writers as violence catalysts
  13. Pacifism in the 21st century US books
  14. Book reviews: can critics be unbiased?
  15. The reduction of paper popularity: do electronic books harm US literature?
  16. How Covid-19 pandemic inflicted literature in the US
  17. Should the US government popularize reading among Americans?
  18. How science fiction books boosted new tech inventions to appear
  19. Isaac Asimov: how he defined the future of science fiction
  20. Modern fantasy literature in the US

English Literature Essay Topics

The top 10 great topics to discuss English literature are here:

  1. Qualities that English literature lacks
  2. The problem of gender identity through the looks of English writers
  3. What is the best English book of all times?
  4. William Shakespeare’s influence on the English literature
  5. How modern British society perceives contemporary literature
  6. Fiction writing in England: the history of development
  7. Free will and destiny: how Shakespeare positioned them in his works
  8. The Victorian period: main literature achievements of the past
  9. Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism
  10. How love in British books is different from the real one

Literature Argumentative Essay Topics & Other Suggestions

Here are 70 more topics to consider. They can serve as argumentative paper ideas or suit any other type of academic assignment including writing a term paper after slight changes.

  1. The main literature works of humanity defined
  2. Literature and social issues: how books try to display and solve society problems
  3. Literary analysis: what’s that?
  4. The impact of the author’s ethnicity on their books
  5. Literature and females: the first woman writers
  6. The meaning of research for literature
  7. Is there a place for psychology in literature?
  8. What defines a literature masterpiece?
  9. How national history impacts the country’s literature
  10. Literature riot: main protesters of the world’s book writing
  11. Social functions of literature
  12. Literature in civilizational development of humanity
  13. Ancient Greece’s literature masterpieces
  14. Main problems of modern writers
  15. World literature and its development trends
  16. Most popular topics of European writers
  17. Literature genres: which is the most controversial one?
  18. Literature of Ancient China
  19. Comedy as a genre of writing
  20. The analysis of Don Quixote’s character
  21. Greek myths as the source of literature plot concepts
  22. Indian literature
  23. Ramayana: the epic contribution of the epic writing
  24. Hamlet: character review
  25. Franz Kafka’s concepts and literature legacy
  26. The most outstanding book of Russian literature
  27. German folklore in modern fiction
  28. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: the implementation of the concept in various literary works of other authors
  29. War and Peace by Tolstoy: why I like Andrei Bolkonsky’s character
  30. Goethe’s Faust as a literature masterpiece
  31. Structuralism in literature
  32. Literature as a teaching tool
  33. A cultural impact of Mark Twain
  34. Comics as the next generation of literature
  35. Japanese manga as a literature genre
  36. Character archetypes in fantasy books
  37. Aragorn, son of Arathorn: the quintessence of wandering warriors in fantasy
  38. Charles Dickens’s England in his literature
  39. Literature of ancient Rome
  40. Medieval literature of Europe
  41. Utopia and dystopia: literature differences
  42. Cyberpunk in literature
  43. Why modern science fiction is better than that of the 21st century
  44. Jules Verne’s literature: adventure or science fiction?
  45. Male chauvinism in literature: how it impacts modern society
  46. Should writings of the past be changed according to the new social standards
  47. Censorship in modern literature
  48. Sex and romance: reasons for the genre to become the most popular one
  49. Bible as a literature work
  50. Religious conflicts in literature
  51. Crusades as literature plot sources
  52. First fiction writers
  53. Rules of storytelling: how writers fascinate readers
  54. Dramaturgy concepts used in literature works
  55. Interrelations between theatre and books
  56. Novelization of movies
  57. The impact of the Internet on the world literature
  58. Poetry as a genre
  59. World War II in Soviet literature
  60. Literature of the late USSR
  61. How literature determines moral values of societies
  62. Modern Arabic literature
  63. Omar Khayyam’s poetry
  64. Sun Tzu as a writer and philosopher
  65. Modern poetry: is the genre degrading?
  66. The prospects of literature development
  67. George Orwell’s 1984 is an extremely overestimated literature work
  68. German interwar literature
  69. Stephen King’s main literary devices
  70. Horror literature as a separate genre
  71. Slavic fantasy concepts: The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski