The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

By Ian Ousby and Margaret Atwood

Book Overview

Derived from the acclaimed Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, the present volume is an A-Z reference work containing over 4,200 entries covering the full range of literature in English from around the world. The strength of the Cambridge Guide is its broad scope: It represents living and dead writers and major works from the USA, Canada, the UK, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, India and Africa. It spans the classics to the best of modern writing, and contains a wealth of entries on literary movements, criticism, genres, terms, and even periodicals. Rather than radically sacrificing entries, in the Paperback Guide, Ian Ousby has crisply rewritten and condensed the majority to preserve the richness of the original. This affordable guide will be an indispensable reference for general readers, students and teachers alike.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521436273
• ISBN13: 9780521436274
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Agatha Christie Meets Charles Dickens

Those two authors share space in this magnificent reference volume on English Literature. The sturdy, oversized Guide presents over one thousand pages of information on authors, novels, poetry, drama, and literary terms. There are interesting biographies of prominent writers and obscure ones, from Mrs. Humphrey Ward to William Faulkner. Good plot summaries are provided for a wide range of novels. If you are a fan of Anthony Trollope, you will find no less than twenty five of his books discussed. You have to be careful, however, if you are reading the plot of a book in order to decided whether or not you want to read it - the ending is always given away. The Cambridge Guide explores many literary terms: Meter; the Bloomsbury Group; positivism; and post-structuralism. There are also entries on Literary Journals - yes, the New York Review of Books is here as well as Granta. The Cambridge Guide is written for the average layman and avoids academic jargon. I decided to try the entry on "deconstruction" as the extreme test of explaining difficult concepts. It's hard to say: either they failed the test, or I failed it. This book has become one of my prized possessions, and I would have been willing to buy it at twice the price charged.

Excellent resource for teaching or taking college courses.

The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English provides a wide array of supplementary reading material to accompany lecture notes or for students to grasp overall concepts of a particular work, author, or literary movement.