original_language_of_work the amazing maurice and his educated rodents
Robert Browning ( 7 May 1812  12 December 1889 ) was an ___MASK85___ poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets . His poems are known for their irony , characterization , dark humour , social commentary , historical settings , and challenging vocabulary and syntax . Sir Terence David John " Terry " Pratchett , OBE ( 28 April 1948  12 March 2015 ) was an ___MASK85___ author of fantasy novels , especially comical works . He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels . Pratchett ' s first novel , " The Carpet People ", was published in 1971 . The first Discworld novel , " The Colour of Magic ", was published in 1983 , after which he wrote two books a year on average . His 2011 Discworld novel " Snuff " was at the time of its release the third - fastest - selling hardback adult - readership novel since records began in the UK , selling 55 , 000 copies in the first three days . His final Discworld novel , " The Shepherd ' s Crown ", was published in August 2015 , five months after his death . William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 ( baptised )  23 April 1616 ) was an ___MASK85___ : poet , : playwright , and actor , widely regarded as the greatest writer in the ___MASK85___ language and the world ' s pre - eminent dramatist . He is often called England ' s national poet , and the " Bard of Avon ". His extant works , including collaborations , consist of approximately 38 plays , 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and a few other verses , some of uncertain authorship . His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright . The Pied Piper of Hamelin ( also known as the Pan Piper , the Rat - Catcher of Hamelin ) is the subject character of a legend from the town of Hamelin ( Hameln ), Lower Saxony , Germany . The legend dates back to the Middle Ages , the earliest references describing a piper , dressed in multicolored (" pied ") clothing , who was a rat - catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe . When the citizens refuse to pay for this service , he retaliates by using his instrument ' s magical power on their children , leading them away as he had the rats . This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , the Brothers Grimm , and Robert Browning , among others . Linda Hutcheon , FRS , O . C . ( born August 24 , 1947 ) is a Canadian academic working in the fields of literary theory and criticism , opera , and Canadian studies . She is University Professor in the Department of ___MASK85___ and of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto , where she has taught since 1988 . In 2000 she was elected the 117th President of the Modern Language Association , the third Canadian to hold this position , and the first Canadian woman . She is particularly known for her influential theories of postmodernism . A parody ( also called a spoof , send - up , take - off , or lampoon ) is a work created to imitate , make fun of , or comment on an original work  its subject , author , style , or some other target  by means of satiric or ironic imitation . As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it , " parody  is imitation , not always at the expense of the parodied text ." Another critic , Simon Dentith , defines parody as " any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice ." Parody may be found in art or culture , including literature , music ( although " parody " in music has an earlier , somewhat different meaning than for other art forms ), animation , gaming , and film . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ( 28 August 1749  22 March 1832 ) was a ___MASK9___ writer and statesman . His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles ; prose and verse dramas ; memoirs ; an autobiography ; literary and aesthetic criticism ; treatises on botany , anatomy , and colour ; and four novels . In addition , numerous literary and scientific fragments , more than 10 , 000 letters , and nearly 3 , 000 drawings by him exist . Lower Saxony is a ___MASK9___ state (" Bundesland ") situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area , with , and fourth in population ( 8 million ) among the sixteen " Länder " of Germany . In rural areas Northern Low Saxon , a dialect of ___MASK56___ , and Saterland Frisian , a variety of Frisian , are still spoken , but the number of speakers is declining . Hamelin ( or ; ___MASK9___ : " Hameln ") is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony , Germany . It is the capital of the district of Hamelin - Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 56 , 000 . Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin . Charles John Huffam Dickens ( 7 February 1812  9 June 1870 ) was an ___MASK85___ writer and social critic . He created some of the world ' s best - known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era . His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime , and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius . His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity . Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe , often but not always without any locations , events , or people from the real world . Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element , theme , or setting . Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds . Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes , respectively , though there is a great deal of overlap between the three , all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction . Discworld is a comic fantasy book series written by the ___MASK85___ author Terry Pratchett ( 1948  2015 ), set on the fictional Discworld , a flat disc balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle , Great A ' Tuin . The books frequently parody or take inspiration from J . R . R . Tolkien , Robert E . Howard , H . P . Lovecraft , Charles Dickens , and William Shakespeare , as well as mythology , folklore and fairy tales , often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural , political and scientific issues . The series is popular , with more than 80 million books sold in 37 languages . Literature , in its broadest sense , is any single body of written works . More restrictively , it is writing considered as an art form , or any single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value , often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage . Its ___MASK86___ root " literatura "/" litteratura " ( derived itself from " littera ": " letter " or " handwriting ") was used to refer to all written accounts , though contemporary definitions extend the term to include texts that are spoken or sung ( oral literature ). Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non - fiction and whether it is poetry or prose ; it can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel , short story or drama ; and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations ( genre ). Imitation ( from ___MASK86___ " imitatio ", " a copying , imitation ") is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another ' s behavior . Imitation is also a form of social learning that leads to the " development of traditions , and ultimately our culture . It allows for the transfer of information ( behaviours , customs , etc .) between individuals and down generations without the need for genetic inheritance ." The word " imitation " can be applied in many contexts , ranging from animal training to international politics . The term generally refers to conscious behavior ; subconscious imitation is termed mirroring . The supernatural ( ___MASK62___ : " superntrlis ": " supra " " above " + " naturalis " " natural ", first used : 1520  1530 AD ) includes all that cannot be explained by science or the laws of nature , including things characteristic of or relating to ghosts , gods , or other supernatural beings , or to things beyond nature . The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is a children ' s fantasy by Terry Pratchett , published by Doubleday in 2001 . It was the 28th novel in the Discworld series but the first written for children . The story is a new take on the ___MASK9___ fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre . Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians , recognising the year ' s best children ' s book published in the U . K . It was his first major award . The Brothers Grimm (' or '), Jacob ( 1785  1863 ) and Wilhelm Grimm ( 1786  1859 ), were ___MASK9___ academics , philologists , cultural researchers , lexicographers and authors who together specialized in collecting and publishing folklore during the 19th century . They were among the best - known storytellers of folk tales , and popularized stories such as " Cinderella " (""), " The Frog Prince " (""), " The Goose - Girl " (" Die Gänsemagd "), " Hansel and Gretel " (""), " Rapunzel ", " Rumpelstiltskin " ("")," Sleeping Beauty " (""), and " Snow White " (""). Their first collection of folk tales , " Children ' s and Household Tales " ("), was published in 1812 . Genre ( or ; from ___MASK89___ " genre " , " kind " or " sort ", from ___MASK86___ " genus " ( stem " gener -"), ___MASK59___  , " gés ") John Ronald Reuel Tolkien , ( 3 January 1892  2 September 1973 ), known by his pen name J . R . R . Tolkien , was an ___MASK85___ writer , poet , philologist , and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high - fantasy works " The Hobbit ", " The Lord of the Rings ", and " The Silmarillion ".