The Oxford Companion to English Literature [Hardcover]

Margaret Drabble (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198614535 | ISBN-13: 978-0198614531 | Publication Date: September 7, 2006 | Edition: 6

The first edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature, edited by Sir Paul Harvey, was published in 1932, and quickly established itself as the standard source of reference for scholars, students, and general readers alike. In 1985, under the editorship of Margaret Drabble, the text was thoroughly and sensitively revised to bring it up to date.

The sixth edition, published in 2000, was extensively revised, expanded, and updated. Almost 600 new entries covered new writers, genres, and issues, and existing entries were reworked to incorporate the latest scholarship. In addition to the extensive coverage of writers, works, literary theory, allusions, and characters, there are sixteen featured entries on key topics including black British literature, fantasy fiction, and modernism. The Companion remains an unrivaled work that places English literature in its widest context: no other book offers such extensive exploration of the classical roots of English literature, and the European and non-European works and writers that have influenced its development.

The sixth edition has now been revised to ensure that it remains absolutely up to date: the invaluable appendices - the chronology, and lists of winners of major literary awards - have been updated, as have many of the entries. Informed by the latest scholarly thinking, and comprehensively cross-referenced to guide the reader to topics of related interest, the Companion retains its position as the best guide to English literature available.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—This revision of the sixth edition adds material but not pages. The chronology, awards lists, and entries include works published through 2005, but entries from the previous edition have not been revised; the last case of Internet censorship cited is from 1999. Of the 16 two-page essays on various genres, only 2 have been given slight alterations ("Children's Literature" has lost its condescending conclusion). This edition contains more information on female and ethnically diverse writers. There are some omissions; for example, Alan Furst is left out of the "Spy Fiction" essay, and Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) earns only one sentence, in "Irish playwrights, new." "Gay and lesbian literature," which is no longer a separate essay, fails to mention several significant works, though they are treated elsewhere. Altogether absent from the book are authors such as W. G. Sebald, David Mitchell, and Ismail Kadare. Some choices are puzzling: Denise Levertov has twice Richard Wilbur's space; readers are told how to pronounce "Carew," but not "Bewick" (or Coetzee, Milosz, etc.). Flashes of wit-on "horror": "for every King there are a dozen or more knaves"-and verve ("Lads' literature"), leaven the learning. This is still the title to heft if you need elegant plot summaries, or help with anaphora, isocolon, and their ilk. However, for most purposes the previous edition still suffices.—Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A familiar reference work undergoes some fine-tuning and updating in this revision. Thousands of alphabetically arranged entries cover authors, literary terms, works of literature, literary characters, and more in densely packed, double-columned pages. Among the concise entries are more than a dozen two-page survey articles addressing such topics as literary genres (e.g., "Ghost Stories," "Historical Fiction," "Romantic Fiction") and movements ("Modernism," "Structuralism and Post-structuralism"). Three appendixes complete the work: a chronology of principal literary works, a list of British poets laureate, and a list of literary award winners, including the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal, and the Man Booker Prize.

When RBB reviewed the sixth edition in 2001, several slight criticisms were registered: the omission of a number of contemporary authors (Nicola Barker, Thomas Kinsella, and Tim Winton) was noted; the article on The Oxford English Dictionary did not talk about the availability of an online version or the three-volume supplement to the second edition; J. K. Rowling was not included either in an entry or in the survey articles about fantasy fiction and children's literature; the chronology did not mention any literary works published after 1998. This revised edition improves upon only some of these points: Barker, Kinsella, and Winton are still left out; the article on the OED is still in need of revision; J. K. Rowling is at least mentioned in the survey article "Children's Literature" (as is Philip Pullman, but neither he nor Rowling rate their own entries). On the other hand, the chronology as well as the lists of literary award winners have been brought up to date and mention literary works published through 2005.

As noted in 2001, despite its slight imperfections, The Oxford Companion to English Literature continues to serve as a reliable handbook and general guide. Although large reference collections may want to acquire and even retain every edition and revision, smaller collections may want to postpone purchase until the seventh edition arrives. Carolyn Mulac
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1184 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 6 edition (September 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198614535
• ISBN-13: 978-0198614531
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #833,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Drabble is the author of The Sea Lady, The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Needle's Eye, among other novels. She has written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson, and she is the editor of the fifth and sixth editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. For her contributions to contemporary English literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy companion, July 10, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Hardcover)

The first 'Oxford Companion to English Literature' was published in 1932 under the editorial direction of Sir Paul Harvey (no relation the American radio commentator). Half a century and five editions later, this is still a standard, authoritative reference work necessary for scholars and interested non-experts alike.

Under the editorship of Margaret Drabble, author and biographer (known for 'The Witch of Exmoor' and the more recently published 'The Peppered Moth'), this volume remains faithful to Harvey's intention of placing English literature in its widest possible context while exploring the deep classical and continental connections that underpin much of the history.

How can literature be divorced from cultural context? Surely it cannot be -- hence the newest entries into the edition include topics that read as if they were taken from today's best-seller shelf:

- Anglo-Indian Literature
- Simon Armitage
- Kate Atkinson
- Louis de Bernieres
- Censorship

- Ben Elton
- Gay and lesbian literature
- Hypertext
- A. L. Kennedy
- Lad's literature
- Literature of science
- New Criticism
- New Irish Playwrights
- Carol Shields
- Travel writing

This sample listing of the latest entries is representative of the more established categories, in that the entries (encyclopedic in character) include Authors, Subjects, Titles, Events, Characters and Critical Theory. The entries are unsigned (an ever-controversial practice in reference works such as this) -- well over a hundred contributors assisted in this volume, including the likes of Matthew Sweet, Salman Rushdie, Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Katherine Duncan-Jones, and Brian Vickers.

This volume serves the general reader well in that one may follow cross-reference trails through the text. Take, for instance, Aaron the Moor -- the reader will be directed to Titus Andronicus, to which one is directed to Shakespeare, and from there a host of other cross-references historical and modern. Under the entry of Gabriel Josipovici, one is led back the entries of Rabelais and Bellow, influences as well as objects of Josipovici's study.

The appendices are new features of this edition. The first appendix is a Chronology that lists the chronology of the production of English literature from c.1000 to 1999 side by side with major historical events in Britain and beyond, and the significant events in the lives of literary figures. Appendix 2 lists the Poets Laureate in chronological order, from 1619 (when the office unofficially began) to the present -- surprisingly, there have only been 21 (19 official). Appendix 3 lists major literary award winners: Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Library Association Carnegie Medalists, and Booker-McConnell Prize for Fiction. Obviously not all of these are British authors, but it helps to place British literature in the wider world context of the twentieth century (as all of these prizes are twentieth-century creations).

In addition to the encyclopedic entries, there are major essays scattered through the text. These include the following topics:

- Biography
- Black British Literature
- Children's Literature
- Detective Fiction
- Fantasy Fiction
- Ghost Stories
- Gothic Fiction
- Historical Fiction
- Metre
- Modernism
- Post-Colonial Literature
- Romanticism
- Science Fiction
- Spy Fiction
- Structuralism and Post-Structuralism

These essays include history and current development of the genre or topic, as well as bibliographic information for further research, which (regrettably) the smaller encyclopedic entries rarely have.

This is a terrific, one-volume reference that should serve well anyone with a need for quick and ready reference material. It should find a welcome home on the shelf of any avid reader, fan of literature and modern fiction, history, religion, or any devoted Anglophile.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will wonder how you lived without this book., April 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Hardcover)

This is one book I turn to over and over again. My copy is well worn and much loved. If I could have only one reference book, this would be it. You will wonder what you did before you had this book! A must for lovers of literature

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have companion for anyone who loves to read, May 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Hardcover)

This is one of the most practical reference books in my home library. I turn to it again and again for plot summaries and information about authors. I also find it useful for pre- (and post-) theater reading. And of course it's a real boon for solving the Sunday Times crossword puzzle.

A must-have for anyone who considers themself a reader.