ABSTRACT

This Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive guide yet both to the nature and content of literature, and to literary criticism. In ninety essays by leading international critics and scholars, the volume covers both traditional topics such as literature and history, poetry, drama and the novel, and also newer topics such as the production and reception of literature. Current critical ideas are clearly and provocatively discussed, while the volume's arrangement reflects in a dynamic way the rich diversity of contemporary thinking about literature.
Each essay seeks to provide the reader with a clear sense of the full significance of its subject as well as guidance on further reading.
An essential work of reference, The Encyclopedia of Literature and Criticism is a stimulating guide to the central preoccupations of contemporary critical thinking about literature.
Special Features
* Clearly written by scholars and critics of international standing for readers at all levels in many disciplines
* In-depth essays covering all aspects, traditional and new, of literary studies past and present
* Useful cross-references within the text, with full bibliographical references and suggestions for further reading
* Single index of authors, terms, topics

part |2 pages

Introduction

chapter |24 pages

Literature

chapter |40 pages

Criticism

part |2 pages

Literature and History

chapter |11 pages

The Renaissance

chapter |13 pages

Augustanism

chapter |13 pages

Romanticism

chapter |12 pages

Modernism

chapter |18 pages

Postmodernism

part |2 pages

Poetry

chapter |13 pages

Genre

chapter |13 pages

Poetry

chapter |11 pages

Epic and Romance

chapter |11 pages

Lyric

chapter |9 pages

Narrative Verse

chapter |16 pages

Medieval Poetry

chapter |14 pages

Renaissance Poetry

chapter |12 pages

‘Augustan’ Poetry

chapter |13 pages

Romantic Poetry

chapter |17 pages

Victorian Poetry

chapter |13 pages

The French Symbolists

chapter |13 pages

Modern Poetry

chapter |15 pages

British Poetry Since 1945

part |2 pages

Drama

chapter |12 pages

Stagecraft

chapter |12 pages

Tragedy

chapter |12 pages

Comedy

chapter |13 pages

Shakespeare

chapter |13 pages

Medieval Drama

chapter |11 pages

Renaissance Drama

chapter |12 pages

Restoration Theatre

chapter |13 pages

Theories of Modern Drama

chapter |11 pages

The Theatre of the Absurd

chapter |13 pages

Theatre and Politics

part |2 pages

Criticism

chapter |13 pages

Biblical Hermeneutics

chapter |16 pages

Neo-classical Criticism

chapter |13 pages

Marxist Criticism

chapter |15 pages

The New Criticism

chapter |14 pages

Feminist Literary Criticism

chapter |13 pages

Psychoanalytic Criticism

chapter |14 pages

Deconstruction

chapter |16 pages

New Historicism

part |2 pages

Production and Reception

part |2 pages

Contexts

chapter |13 pages

Literature and the Bible

chapter |12 pages

Literature and the Classics

chapter |15 pages

Folk Literature

chapter |11 pages

Literature and Music

chapter |14 pages

Literature and Landscape

chapter |15 pages

The Sentimental Ethic

chapter |11 pages

The Gothic

chapter |13 pages

Aestheticism

chapter |14 pages

Literature and Science

chapter |16 pages

Literature and Language

chapter |13 pages

Culture and Popular Culture

part |2 pages

Perspectives