Synopses & Reviews
Based on the vastly popular Fifth Edition of
The Oxford Companion to English Literature edited by Margaret Drabble, this indispensable volume offers over five thousand alphabetically arranged entries on individual novels, plays, songs, poems, novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists, philosophers, historians, fictional characters, literary movements, legends, and much more.
Like its parent volume, this abridgement features useful plot summaries, separate entries on important fictional characters, and countless biographical articles on authors and other influential figures in the world of letters, all presented with the same lightness of touch that has made the original work such a pleasure to read. It covers topics once regarded as non-literary--detective stories, science fiction, children's stories, and comic strips among them--as well as important movements and critical theories, including the latest developments in Freudian and Marxist criticism.
For this abridgement, the editors have eliminated the most peripheral entries from the parent volume and have condensed many of the remaining articles, while retaining the clear and graceful style that characterized the original. They have also updated information on modern authors and works and have added several entirely new essays on a number of topics such as parody, anachronism, autobiography, heroic drama, and foreign influences on English literature.
Review
Praise for previous editions:"Ought to stand up well into the next century."--The Chicago Sun-Times
"A lively, informative volume."--Library Review
"A book which one turns to with constant pleasure, and which achieves the seemingly impossible task of being both lively and judicious at once. It is a book with much style and little prejudice."--Times Literary Supplement
"It is quite difficult to imagine, in this genre, a more useful publication."--Frank Kermode, The London Review of Books
Review
Praise for previous editions:
"Ought to stand up well into the next century."--The Chicago Sun-Times
"A lively, informative volume."--Library Review
"A book which one turns to with constant pleasure, and which achieves the seemingly impossible task of being both lively and judicious at once. It is a book with much style and little prejudice."--Times Literary Supplement
"It is quite difficult to imagine, in this genre, a more useful publication."--Frank Kermode, The London Review of Books
Synopsis
Based on the hugely popular Fifth Edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature, this volume offers more than 5,500 entries on individual novels and plays; songs and poems; the lives and works of authors, poets, playwrights, essayists, philosophers and historians; fictional characters; literary movements; legends; theatres; and periodicals. In adapting the parent volume, the editors have eliminated the most peripheral entries and have condensed many of the remaining articles, while retaining the clear and graceful style that characterized the original. New entries on modern authors such as Jim Crace and Ben Elton have been added, alongside new entries on topics such as travel writing and Anglo-Indian literature. The fully-updated appendices list literary prize-winners, including the Nobel, Man Booker prize, and Pulitzer prizes. The result is a book that readers will find indispensable and highly affordable.
About the Author
About the Editors: Margaret Drabble is one of modern Britain's most distinguished novelists. Her books include The Middle Ground, The Realms of Gold, The Ice Age, and A Writer's Britain. Jenny Stringer was an assistant editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Fifth Edition and has since contributed to and edited several other reference works.
Table of Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
Note to the Reader
Concise Companion
Poets Laureate
Nobel Prize for Literature
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Library Association Carnegie Medallists
Booker Mann Prize for Fiction