The Oxford Companion to English Literature Hardcover - 1998

From the publisher

Since Sir Paul Harvey's original Oxford Companion to English Literature was published in 1932, it has established itself as the standard source of reference for general readers, as well as an indispensable guide for students and specialists, on all aspects of English literature and English
literary culture.
In 1985, under the editorship of Margaret Drabble, with a team of distinguished contributors, the text was completely revised while retaining the essential characteristics of Sir Paul Harvey's much-loved volume. Since then, the Companion has continued to respond to the needs of contemporary
readers, with a revision, published in 1995, containing sixty new entries on emerging contemporary voices. This new revision continues in this tradition, adding 16 survey articles on important literary concepts to reassert the position of the Companion as the most complete and readable reference
guide to English literary culture currently available. No comparable volume offers such extensive coverage of the classical roots of English literature, and of European authors and works that have influenced the development of English literature. Its wide range of articles cover not only authors and
their works, but also fictional characters, plot summaries, composers and artists, literary and artistic movements, historians, philosophers, scholars, as well as editors, publishing history, literary societies, newspapers and periodicals, critical terms and theory.
With new articles on such topics as British Black Literature, Post-Colonial Literature, Spy Fiction, Structuralism, Fantasy Fiction, Children's Literature, Ghost Stories, Historical Fiction, and much more, this revised edition offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage available of the
fascinating and multifarious world of English literature.

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