Literature

First Published in 1992, this encyclopedia is designed to survey the social, cultural and intellectual climate of English Romanticism from approximately the 1780s and the French Revolution to the 1830s and the Reform Bill. Focussing on ‘the spirit of the age’, the book deals with the aesthetic, scientific, socioeconomic – indeed the human – environment in which the Romantics flourished. The books considers poets, playwrights and novelists; critics, editors and booksellers; painters, patrons and architects; as well as ideas, trends, fads, and conventions, the familiar and the newly discovered. The book will be of use for everyone from undergraduate English students, through to thesis-driven graduate students to teaching faculty and scholars.

As any well-organized, carefully annotated bibliography does, this work by Southern and Wright brings order out of chaos. The 2,328 entries identify books, articles, sermons, pamphlets, and broadsides, among other formats, all centered on black folk culture with emphasis on the manifestations of that culture from 1600 to 1920 through song, dance, games, sermons, and illustrations. . . . This carefully done and useful bibliography is recommended for libraries on all campuses where there is an interest in the black experience. Choice

African-American Traditions in Song, Sermon, Tale, and Dance is undeniably the most valuable resource available to scholars engaged in Afro-American folk culture research. An untapped wealth of primary information has been chronologically cataloged within this comprehensive, annotated guide. It covers a period of over 300 years of African-American cultural history in the United States. Materials fall into three categories: literary publications, iconographical records, and collections of song, tale, and sermon texts. Focusing on folk culture, 2,328 items were chosen for their historical relevance as well as to insure broad representation. Eileen Southern and Josephine Wright's bibliography provides researchers with the tools needed to shatter myths and stereotypes and to form concise theses supported by extensive evidence.

The bibliography is divided into four major chronological sections: Colonial-Federalist, Antebellum, Post-Emancipation, and Early Twentieth Century. A fifth section, The WPA Slave Narrative Collection, includes materials (collected in the 1930s) that are essential to a serious discussion of American slavery. Within these five sections materials are classified as literature, artwork, and/or collections. Literature and artwork subsections are further divided into social activities, religious experience, song, and tale. Iconographical entries often compliment the literary ones and some themes run throughout the book. The materials are indexed by names of authors and artists, by subject, and by first lines of songs.

The world of mystery and crime fiction has been the subject of a numerous recent reference tomes, from Willetta Heising's excellent Detecting Women and Detecting Men to The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. The former books are notable for their comprehensive cataloging of contemporary writers, and the latter succeeds by its reliance on a diverse range of authorities. But Bruce Murphy's The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery is much more a reader's book.

Murphy is himself a bibliophile to be reckoned with, as editor of Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia and writer for Critical Inquiry and the Paris Review. What he brings to his reference work, however, is not just the requisite expertise but also a sense of his audience, an attention to prose style, and a passion for mystery as a genre. He writes in his introduction: "The crime story is about consequences. In the mystery novel, infidelity leads to murder; in the 'serious' novel, more often than not it leads merely to divorce and the opportunities for characters to feel sorry for themselves." Throughout, Murphy throws himself into controversy and immerses himself in the minutiae that has always drawn the attention of true mystery fans. Where else might one find, for example, a description of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple tales as requiring "willing suspension of disbelief, because St. Mary Meade seems to have a crime rate to rival Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. They are also oozing with charm and can be a bit treacly."

The book does fall short in a few areas. Most notably, there are no illustrations, even where a photograph or an etching might be appropriate--especially in relation to film. Also, given that the book is all the product of a single author, some areas are given less weight than might be expected (e.g., Batman, who warranted a major feature in Encyclopedia Mysteriosa, is omitted). Further, the book's great strength--its critical bent--might be seen as a drawback to some fans. For example, the entry on "cozy" treats the subgenre with some disdain, especially dismissing cat mysteries where "realism is not so much ignored as belligerently violated." This criticism, however, points again to why this volume is such a pleasure to read. Murphy chooses to embrace the difficult subjects and let his reader know what he thinks. You will learn from his vast research and--like him or hate him--you will find him entertaining. --Patrick O'Kelley

The compilation of this encyclopaedia was prompted by the growth of translation as an academic subject in Hong Kong, this busy entrepot city where the transfer between the Chinese and English languages spans all aspects of life. At the same time translation has been attracting increasing attention universally among students of the humanities for its historical role in introducing and relating one culture to another, and its ways and means of coping with the seemingly impossible task of accurately reflecting one "thought-world" in terms of another. Hence this encyclopaedia serves a dual purpose in addressing both local and universal concerns: the language-specific entries relate to the interaction between the Chinese-speaking and English-speaking worlds, while Western knowledge and experience are also drawn on for topics general to all translation studies.

W.H. Auden's life and work were perhaps best explained and condensed in the words of Edward Mendelson, Auden's literary executor, when he remarked, "[Auden] grew up in a household in which the scientific inquiries of his father maintained an uneasy truce with the ritualized religion of his mother." Indeed, science and religion were dominant themes in Auden's life and work, which for him were oftentimes one and the same. Auden was hailed as the new T.S. Eliot and as the "coming" man, greatly influencing the future generations of angry young men with his thoughts on science, religion, and the relationship between the two. This book is an exhaustive reference to W.H. Auden. Those new to Auden and his writing will find the work a comprehensive introduction, while Auden scholars will appreciate the quick access it offers to the details of all his poems, plays, libretti, and other pieces of writing. It also includes entries on the people who were closest and most important to Auden, including fellow writers Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender, C. Day Lewis, Edward Upward, and T.S. Eliot, as well as significant events in his life, such as his arrival in America, his vision of agape, and his search in science and religion for answers to the deep questions of life and existence.

King Arthur is perhaps the central figure of the medieval world, and the lore of Camelot has captivated literary imaginations from the Middle Ages to the present. Included in this volume are extended entries on more than 30 writers who incorporate Arthurian legend in their works. Arranged chronologically, the entries trace the pervasive influence of Arthurian lore on world literature across time. Entries are written by expert contributors and discuss such writers as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Margaret Atwood. Each entry provides biographical information, a discussion of the author's use of Arthurian legend and contribution to the Arthurian literary tradition, and a bibliography of primary and secondary material. The volume begins with an introductory overview and concludes with suggestions for further reading.

The central figure of the medieval world, King Arthur has captivated literary imaginations from the Middle Ages to the present. This book includes extended entries on more than 30 writers in the Arthurian tradition. Arranged chronologically and written by expert contributors, the entries trace the pervasive influence of Arthurian legend from the Middle Ages to the present.

Each entry provides biographical information, a discussion of the writer's use of Arthurian legend and contribution to the Arthurian literary tradition, and a bibliography of primary and secondary material. The volume begins with an introductory overview and closes with a discussion of Arthurian lore in art, along with suggestions for further reading. Students will gain a better understanding of the Middle Ages and the lasting significance of the medieval world on contemporary culture.

This is a complete set of 1910 Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (11th), 29 Volumes. Here you are purchasing the full set of 29 volumes (28 Volumes plus an Index Volume). This was printed at the Univeristy Press in Cambridge, England. It is the coveted, tall INDIA PAPER EDITION, approximately 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

"The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science provides an outstanding resource in 33 published volumes with 2 helpful indexes. This thorough reference set--written by 1300 eminent, international experts--offers librarians, information/computer scientists, bibliographers, documentalists, systems analysts, and students, convenient access to the techniques and tools of both library and information science. Impeccably researched, cross referenced, alphabetized by subject, and generously illustrated, the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science integrates the essential theoretical and practical information accumulating in this rapidly growing field."