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By studying the nature of disbelief, the treatment of childhood, the presentation of moral and political problems, the taste for experimentation and the greater liberty now available for the description of sexual experiences, this introduction to twentieth-century literature seeks to define what distinguishes the literature of the twentieth century from that of the periods preceding it. Particular attention is given to the problem of realism, especially in the context of the 'magical realism' practised by European as well as non-European authors.