This volume examines the most important authors of Western literature: Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Marlowe, Goethe, Joyce, Eliot, Mann, Bulgakov, and Pasternak, who based their works on one or other of the two key myths of the West, Ulysses and Faust. This volume provides a synoptic view of Western literature, as a foundation text for literary studies at all levels and as a way of encouraging people to once more engage with the major authors of our literary heritage.