The concise Oxford companion to english literature

Inc. ref.

This work is an abridgement of the fifth edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature (1985). It is hoped that the volume will provide the general reader and student with a useful and compact guide to the central matter of English literature. There are entries for major authors born in or before 1939, not only novelists, dramatists, and poets, but also historians, philosophers, ascholars, critics, editors, and journalists. Also included are plot summaries for literary works, characters from books and plays, definitions of literacy and intellectual movements, literary genres, and critical theory, entries on British and Irish mythology, literary societies, and periodicals, libraries, copyright, censorship, and coffee houses, as well as printers, publishers, booksellers, and private presses. Certain non-literary figures who have become famous in a literary context (such as actors and actresses) have been included. Our selection of American authors has been somewhat guides by British appraisals and emphasis has been placed on Anglo-American links and responses. There are individual entries for authors of other countries writing in english, including those from the Commonwealth, Africa, the Caribbean, and India, but covereage here is by no means comprehensive.