The Complete Idiot's Guide to English Literature (Paperback)

by Ph.D., Jay Stevenson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Explore the canon of great writers.

In this incredible volume, English professor Jay Stevenson teaches readers everything they want—and need—to know about English literature. From Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and Keats, to more modern figures like Nabokov, Salinger, Morrison, and Updike, this handy guide also includes information on periods, time frames, every type of criticism, the differences and similarities of the literature on each side of the Atlantic, and more.

—Fascinating, fact-filled writing that explores English literature as it is studied right now
—Terrific supplementary reading for AP English Lit students
—Helps readers explore and study fiction, plays, poems, and prose

About the Author
Jay Stevenson, Ph.D., is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Philosophy, The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Eastern Philosophy, and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide™ to Grammar and Punctuation. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from Rutgers University and has taught at Rutgers and Ryder University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha (June 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592576567
• ISBN-13: 978-1592576562
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #256,890 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good investment, July 5, 2008

By	grandiloquious "yaya" (colorado, usa) - See all my reviews

This book was very helpful and instrumental in reawakening my understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of English Literature. I purchased it as a study guide for Lit exams, it did the trick as I aced the exams. I really love the book and how easily and accessibly they present the subject.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to English literature, July 15, 2008

By	Salvador Reche De Paco (Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book won't save your life if you're studying at university,not in my case at least,but it is a good way of having an overall idea about English literature

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many pieces missing, December 17, 2008

By	mianfei - See all my reviews

As a response to my brother's criticism of the Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature, I tried to look for a basic overview of the subject that would be much more "balanced" to liberal eyes than the conservative PIG is.

However, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to English Literature" can best be regarded as a disappointment. A guide to English literature of its size ought I think to serve to introduce people to the entire history of English literature and attempt to define it as clearly as possible. Like many other books I have read, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to English Literature" fails in this respect. It is particularly problematic with American literature. Whilst the text proper does not discuss writers from America, the appendices do and this can best be described as ludicrous. The coverage of writers from other English-speaking nations has similar flaws. If you want to mention an Anglo-Indian writer like Salman Rushdie, one ought at least to mention all literature in the English language, no matter where it comes from.

Another problem is the apparent gap in the coverage of English literature during the early twentieth century, where there is a direct movement from circa-1900 modernism to late twentieth-century magic realism as if the literature of the middle twentieth century had no significance (I am anything but an expert, but at least there should have been some explanation if it is insignificant). The remainder of the historical section is covered quite well but could have been given more space.

Also, I find much of the early material discussing writing and how to write literature quite superfluous. Except for specialised genres like science fiction, fantasy and poetry, literature should not require this type of analysis because it is generally based on themes that relate closely to human experience and - again excluding the genres noted above - uses language that most people would understand without a course.

All in all, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to English Literature" is disappointingly superficial and incomplete.