275 Good Literature Research Paper Topics & Ideas

Literature research paper topics span a vast range of themes, diving deep Into diverse cultural expressions of humanity encapsulated in texts. They may include examining the role of gender, race, or class in seminal works, deconstructing narrative strategies used by specific literature authors, or probing historical and social contexts that influenced particular literary movements. Comparative literature studies offer fascinating insights by contrasting different authors, periods, or cultures. Literary theories, like postmodernism, feminism, or post-colonialism, provide additional lenses to interpret texts critically. On a more granular level, an analysis of symbols, motifs, or character development in a single literature work can yield rich discussions. The impact of digital media on literature is another progressive angle. With the vast scope and depth, literature research paper topics invite the exploration of multi-faceted dimensions.

Top Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Modern Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Female Characters
2. Comparative Analysis of Magic Realism in Latin American and African Literature
3. Gender Stereotypes in Classic “Fairy Tales”: A Feminist Reading
4. Postcolonial Discourses in Salman Rushdie’s Novels
5. The Portrayal of Mental Health Issues in Young Adult Dystopian Novels
6. Tragic Elements and Morality in Ancient Greek Drama
7. Medieval Literature: A Deep Dive Into Chivalric Codes
8. Depictions of Nature in Romantic Poetry: Keats and Wordsworth
9. Satire as a Political Tool in Jonathan Swift’s Works
10. Insights Into Victorian Society through Charles Dickens’s Novels
11. Analysis of Irony in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
12. Existential Themes in Albert Camus’s “The Stranger”
13. Reading Into Metaphysical Elements in John Donne’s Poetry
14. Gothic Tropes in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”
15. Exploration of Race Relations in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”
16. Mapping Journey Motifs in Homer’s “Odyssey”
17. Postmodern Narrative Techniques in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five”
18. Elements of Surrealism in Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
19. Unraveling Childhood Innocence in J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”
20. Deciphering Symbolism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”

Simple Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Love Themes in “Romeo and Juliet”
2. “Pride and Prejudice”: A Study of Class Differences
3. Symbolism in Classics: “The Old Man and the Sea”
4. Epistolary Style in “Dracula”: Advantages and Limitations
5. Human Nature in “Lord of the Flies”
6. Nature Imagery in Wordsworth’s Poetry
7. Dualism in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
8. Portrayal of Women in “The Handmaid’s Tale”
9. Morality in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
10. Shakespeare’s Use of Soliloquy in “Hamlet”
11. Dystopian Elements in “1984”
12. Heroism in “Beowulf”: An Analysis
13. Innocence and Experience in Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”
14. Significance of Dreams in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
15. Children’s Perspective in “The Secret Garden”
16. Comparing Bronte Sisters: Themes in “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights”
17. Post-War Reality in “The Catcher in the Rye”
18. Survival and Humanity in “The Road”
19. Animal Imagery in Orwell’s “Animal Farm”

Interesting Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Dystopian Projections in Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake”
2. Magical Elements in Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”
3. Challenging Class Systems in Dickens’s “Great Expectations”
4. Existential Concerns in Kafka’s “The Trial”
5. Depicting Childhood Trauma in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”
6. Exploitation Themes in Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”
7. Steinbeck’s Critique of Capitalism in “Grapes of Wrath”
8. Illusion and Reality in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
9. Cultural Collision in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”
10. Decoding Ecofeminism in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer”
11. The Symbolism of the Mississippi River in Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
12. Questioning Morality in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
13. Loss and Regret in Ian McEwan’s “Atonement”
14. Feminist Undertones in Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse”
15. Violence and Rebellion in Anthony Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange”
16. Exploring Oppression in George Orwell’s “1984”
17. Unveiling Transcendentalism in Thoreau’s “Walden”
18. Interpreting Paradox in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”
19. Understanding Antiheroes in Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho”
20. Power Dynamics in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”

Literature Research Topics for High School

1. Tracing Gothic Themes in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”
2. Unmasking Symbolism: Interpreting Imagery in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
3. Exploring the Concept of Heroism in J.R.R Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”
4. Feminist Perspectives in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
5. Satirical Elements in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
6. Dystopian Societies: A Comparative Study of George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”
7. Postmodernist Techniques in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five”
8. Southern Gothic and Memory in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
9. Cultural Displacement and Identity in Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club”
10. Manifestations of the American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
11. Interpretation of Dreams and Reality in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”
12. Analysis of Autobiographical Elements in Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
13. Divergent Perspectives of Time in Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”
14. Intersection of Art and Life in Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
15. Native American Mythology in Louise Erdrich’s “Tracks”
16. Human Morality and Ethics in Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”
17. Parallels Between War and Chess in Stefan Zweig’s “The Royal Game”
18. Cross-Cultural Relationships in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake”
19. Stream of Consciousness Technique in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”
20. Understanding Death Through Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Literature Research Topics for College Students

1. Examination of Heroic Archetypes in Homer’s “Odyssey”
2. Exploring Cultural Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake”
3. Decoding Magical Realism in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
4. Inquiries Into the Absurd in Albert Camus’s “The Stranger”
5. Dissection of Class Conflict in Charles Dickens’s “Hard Times”
6. Understanding Transcendentalism through Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays
7. Manifestations of Fate and Destiny in Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”
8. Delineation of Feminine Strength in Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”
9. Satire as a Societal Mirror in Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”
10. Unveiling Symbolism in Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
11. Assessment of Postmodern Elements in Thomas Pynchon’s “The Crying of Lot 49”
12. Dissecting Racism in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”
13. Extrapolating Environmental Themes from Ernest Callenbach’s “Ecotopia”
14. Demystifying Magic Realism in Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”
15. Journey Motif in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”
16. Analyzing Dual Personalities in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
17. Tragic Love in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
18. Portraying Madness in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
19. Uncovering Utopian Ideas in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”

Literature Research Topics for University

1. Decoding Stream of Consciousness Technique in Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse”
2. Assessment of Existentialism in Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Nausea”
3. Deconstruction of Racism in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”
4. Investigating Trauma in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”
5. Dissection of Consumerism in Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho”
6. Examining Gender Norms in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”
7. Inquiry Into Surrealism in Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore”
8. Tracing Familial Ties in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
9. Interrogating Nihilism in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground”
10. Exploration of Spirituality in Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha”
11. Deconstructing Masculinity in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”
12. Deciphering Nature Imagery in William Wordsworth’s Poetry
13. Delineation of Social Status in Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence”
14. Analysis of Post-Colonial Themes in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”
15. Investigation of War Commentary in Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22”
16. Exploration of Existential Crisis in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
17. Dissecting Rebellion in George Orwell’s “1984”
18. Examination of Love and Loss in John Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars”
19. Tragic Themes in Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex”
20. Unveiling Modernism in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Literature Research Topics for Master’s and Ph.D.

1. Cultural Displacement Analysis in Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”
2. Nietzschean Perspectives in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
3. Autobiographical Influence in Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”
4. Subversion of Gender Norms in Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando”
5. Psychoanalytic Reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories
6. Investigation Into Metafiction in Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler”
7. Identity Negotiations in James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It on the Mountain”
8. Sartrean Existentialism in Albert Camus’s “The Stranger”
9. Deconstruction of Colonial Narratives in J.M Coetzee’s “Waiting for the Barbarians”
10. Utopian Idealism in Thomas More’s “Utopia”
11. Questioning Morality in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”
12. Feminist Readings of Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex”
13. Analysis of Symbolism in William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury”
14. Investigation of Absurdism in Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”
15. Dissecting Magical Realism in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
16. Tracing Mythological Allusions in Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”
17. Comparative Study of Tragic Heroes in Shakespeare’s Tragedies
18. Exploration of Trauma in Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”
19. Conceptions of the Self in Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”
20. Analyzing Paradox in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”

English Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Cultural Criticism in Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”
2. Deconstructionist Readings of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
3. Analyzing Gender Dynamics in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”
4. Colonial Discourse in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”
5. Comparative Study: Shakespeare’s Comedies vs. Tragedies
6. Psychoanalytical Interpretation of Characters in D.H. Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers”
7. Religious Allusions in George Herbert’s Poetry
8. Depiction of Victorian Society in Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”
9. Exploration of Feminist Themes in George Eliot’s “Middlemarch”
10. Romanticism and the Sublime in William Wordsworth’s Poetry
11. Subversion of Gothic Conventions in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”
12. Satirical Elements in Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”
13. Examining Narrative Structure in Laurence Sterne’s “Tristram Shandy”
14. Critiquing Imperialism in Rudyard Kipling’s “Kim”
15. Identity Politics in Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth”
16. Analyzing Trauma in Pat Barker’s “Regeneration”
17. Metaphysical Elements in John Donne’s Poetry
18. Modernism and Stream of Consciousness in Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”
19. Inquiry Into Postmodernism in Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses”

World Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Comparative Analysis of Magical Realism in Gabriel García Márquez’s Work “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”
2. The Interplay of Irony and Satire in Voltaire’s “Candide”: An In-Depth Study
3. Existentialism in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”: A Philosophical Inquiry
4. Politics of Gender in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”
5. Power of Storytelling in “Arabian Nights”: A Narrative Examination
6. Tragic Elements in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”: A Dramatic Analysis
7. Influence of Historical Context in Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”
8. Modernist Themes in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”: An In-Depth Analysis
9. Postcolonial Perspectives in J. M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace”
10. Examination of Symbolism in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
11. Unraveling Surrealism in Federico García Lorca’s “Blood Wedding”
12. Quest for Identity in Wole Soyinka’s “Death and the King’s Horseman”
13. Peculiarities of Bildungsroman in Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain”
14. Melodrama and Sentimentality in Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”
15. Postmodern Techniques in Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”
16. Religious Motifs in Yukio Mishima’s “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”
17. Deconstruction of the Hero Archetype in “Beowulf”: An Analytical Study
18. Decoding Mythology in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera”
19. Gothic Elements in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”: A Comprehensive Analysis
20. Semiotics of War in “The Iliad” by Homer: A Deeper Look

American Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”: A Deeper Understanding
2. Modernist Elements in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
3. Decoding the Racial Landscape in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
4. Examination of the Feminine Voice in Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”
5. Nature and Wilderness in Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”: A Thorough Analysis
6. Existential Themes in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”
7. Gothic Tropes in Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories: An Analytical Approach
8. Subversion of Romantic Ideals in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”
9. Postmodern Experimentation in Thomas Pynchon’s “The Crying of Lot 49”
10. Humanism and Individualism in Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”: A Comprehensive Study
11. Interrogating Social Issues in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”
12. Absurdity and Alienation in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
13. Motifs of Feminism in Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”
14. Unraveling Magical Realism in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”
15. Tracing Violence and American Dream in Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian”
16. Discourses of Power in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
17. Investigating Racism and Injustice in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”
18. Exploration of Gender and Class in Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth”
19. Southern Gothic Elements in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”

Early American Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Revisiting Puritan Ideology in John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”
2. Interrogating Witchcraft in Cotton Mather’s “Wonders of the Invisible World”
3. Colonial Discourse in John Smith’s “A Description of New England”
4. Unearthing Abolitionist Rhetoric in Phillis Wheatley’s “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral”
5. Narrative Structures in Mary Rowlandson’s “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God”
6. The Dichotomy of Faith and Reason in Jonathan Edwards’ Work “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
7. Tales of Captivity: An Analysis of Olaudah Equiano’s “The Interesting Narrative”
8. Puritan Ethics in Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
9. Exploration of Moralism and Feminism in “Charlotte Temple” by Susanna Rowson
10. Sentimentality and Revolution in Hannah Webster Foster’s “The Coquette”
11. Mourning and Memorial in Edward Taylor’s “Preparatory Meditations”
12. Decoding the Political in Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”
13. Unraveling Utopia in Francis Bacon’s “New Atlantis”
14. Intersections of Religion and Ecology in William Bartram’s “Travels”
15. Slavery and Autobiography in “The History of Mary Prince”
16. Examining Native Representation in James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans”
17. Investigation of Transcendentalism in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”
18. Deconstruction of Gothic in Charles Brockden Brown’s “Wieland”
19. Manifest Destiny and Conquest in Washington Irving’s “A Tour on the Prairies”
20. The Interplay of Autobiography and Identity in Benjamin Franklin’s “The Autobiography”

Modernist Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Stream of Consciousness Portrayal in Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse”
2. Decoding Symbolism in T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
3. Mythical Allusions in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”
4. Questioning Identity in Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”
5. Exploration of Absurdism in Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”
6. Unraveling Dystopia in George Orwell’s “1984”
7. War Imagery in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”
8. Discourses of Power in Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”
9. Interrogating Alienation in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
10. Confronting Colonialism in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”
11. Critique of Consumerism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
12. Religious Symbolism in William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying”
13. Time and Memory in Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”
14. Revisiting Surrealism in André Breton’s “Manifestoes of Surrealism”
15. Constructing Feminine Voice in Djuna Barnes’ “Nightwood”
16. Melancholia and Desire in Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice”
17. Tracing Revolution in John Dos Passos’ “The 42nd Parallel”
18. Racial Tensions in Richard Wright’s “Native Son”
19. Examination of Silence in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”

Renaissance Literature Research Paper Topics

1. Interrogating Love in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
2. Humanism in Thomas More’s “Utopia”
3. Religious Symbolism in John Donne’s “Holy Sonnets”
4. Examining Power in Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus”
5. Quest for Knowledge in Francis Bacon’s “The Advancement of Learning”
6. Nature and Desire in Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”
7. Comparative Analysis of Metaphysical Poetry: John Donne and George Herbert
8. Petrarchan Influence in Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”
9. Tragedy and Revenge in Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy”
10. Decoding Allegory in John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”
11. Courtly Love in Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”
12. Exploration of Colonial Discourse in Richard Hakluyt’s “The Principal Navigations”
13. Interrogating Femininity in Aphra Behn’s “Oroonoko”
14. Carnival and Power in Rabelais’ “Gargantua and Pantagruel”
15. Satirical Elements in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
16. Renaissance Humanism in Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man”
17. Political Machinations in Niccolò Machiavelli’s “The Prince”
18. Deciphering Madness in Robert Burton’s “The Anatomy of Melancholy”
19. Rhetoric and Persuasion in Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan”
20. Imagery and Metaphor in Sir Philip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella”

Literature Review Research Paper Topics

1. Synthesis of Feminism in Contemporary Women’s Literature
2. Historical Contexts of Postcolonial Literature: A Critical Examination
3. Deconstruction in Postmodern Literature: A Comprehensive Analysis
4. Comparative Review of Magical Realism in Latin American Literature
5. Understanding Trauma Narratives in Holocaust Literature
6. Unveiling Dystopia in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction
7. Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South African Literature
8. Power Dynamics in Dystopian Science Fiction Literature
9. Dialogues of Ecocriticism in Environmental Literature
10. Subversion of Narrative Structures in Experimental Literature
11. Poe’s Gothic Tradition: An Analysis Across Multiple Works
12. Discourse of Mental Illness in Modernist Literature
13. Comparative Analysis of Existentialism in European Literature
14. Review of Cyberpunk Tropes in Contemporary Literature
15. Revisiting Chivalry in Medieval Arthurian Literature
16. Metamodernism in 21^st-Century Literature: A Critical Review
17. Investigation of Spiritualism in Transcendentalist Literature
18. Tracking Satire in 18^th-Century British Literature
19. Review of Queer Themes in LGBT+ Literature
20. Understanding Cultural Hybridity in Diasporic Literature