The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature

by Dinah Birch (Editor), Katy Hooper (Editor)

Overview

Based on the bestselling Oxford Companion to English Literature, this is an indispensable, compact guide to all aspects of English literature. Over 5,500 new and revised alphabetical entries give unrivaled coverage of writers, works, historical context, literary theory, allusions, characters, and plot summaries. The entries range from brief identifications of fictional characters to fascinating and informative articles that cover such topics as major authors, key literary works, and major genres in fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, biography, and crime fiction.

For this fourth edition, the dictionary has been fully revised and updated to include expanded coverage of postcolonial, African, black British, and children's literature, as well as improved representation in the areas of science fiction, biography, travel literature, women's writing, gay and lesbian writing, and American literature. The appendices listing literary prize winners—including the Nobel, Man Booker, and Pulitzer prizes—have all been updated and there is also a timeline, chronicling the development of English literature from c. 1000 to the present day. Many entries feature recommended web links, which are listed and regularly updated on a dedicated companion website.

Written originally by a team of more than 140 distinguished authors and extensively updated for this new edition, this book provides an essential point of reference for English students, teachers, and all other readers of literature in English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199608218
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/26/2012
Series:	Oxford Quick Reference
Pages:	832
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 2.10(d)

About the Author

Dinah Birch is a Professor of English Literature, University of Liverpool. She has published widely on nineteenth-century literature, and has edited novels by Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, and Elizabeth Gaskell. Her books include Ruskin's Myths, Ruskin on Turner, and Our Victorian Education.

Katy Hooper is a Special Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool Library and Assistant Editor for The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Seventh Edition.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAbbreviationsNote to the ReaderConcise CompanionAppendicesLiterature TimelinePoets LaureateNobel Prize for LiteraturePulitzer Prize for FictionLibrary Association Carnegie MedallistsMan Booker Prize for FictionChildren's LaureatesKing's & Queen's Gold Medal for PoetryT.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry

Editorial Reviews

"Beautifully organized, replete with valuable information, and small enough to be easily handled, this inexpensive paperback volume is an ideal reference book."
—Charlotte Lindgren, American Reference Books Annual

"This is a scrupulously produced, smartly laid-out, academically serious and at the same time relishably browsable book."
—Henry Hitchings, The Times Literary Supplement

"It offers companionable assistance; it's your pal in literary need."
—John Sutherland, Sunday Times

"No guide could come more classic than The Oxford Companion to English Literature...the literary reference source of first resort...indispensable."
—Malcolm Bradbury, The Times

From the Publisher

Gr 8 Up—This fourth edition offers 5500 alphabetically arranged entries that have been diligently revised or updated since the third edition. Changes include expanded coverage of lesser-known areas of English literature, such as black British, African, postcolonial, gay and lesbian, women's, and children's literature. Significant upgrades were also made in entries covering science fiction, biography, and American and travel literature. Back matter now includes a chronology of literary works extending from Vercelli, Exeter, Cædmon, and Beowolf to the pro-democracy Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 and lists of Poet Laureates, Children's Laureates, and literary awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Carnegie Medalists, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the King's and Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Most entries are clear and concise but they can be lengthier when the situation requires it. The entry on William Shakespeare, for example, fills nearly two-and-a-half pages. Many entries have in-text cross references and others direct readers to links on a companion website. The end result is an inexpensive, relatively lightweight volume packed with facts about English literature that some students will approach with the same level of enthusiasm others exhibit when they browse through the World Almanac or Guinness Book of World Records. To compress this treasure trove of facts on English literature into a single, compact volume is a major accomplishment.—Margaret Myhre, Foley Library, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA

School Library Journal