World Literature: Reference Books

Includes a combination of biography and critical analysis covering major writers from outside the United States and their most important works in fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction.

Each volume in this series profiles approximately 4-8 of the greatest writers and thinkers of the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Restoration periods by providing full-text or excerpted criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals.

Use the "Author" index in the back of vol. 190 to find out which vols. discuss your author.

There is also a separate paperback index that lets you search by "Title" of the author's work. The paperback indexes are next to vol. 190.

Each volume in this series profiles approximately 3-6 authors or individual works of all genres by providing a brief introduction and a collection of full-text or excerpted criticism reproduced from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals.

The series currently covers nearly 400 writers of all sorts-poets, playwrights, chroniclers, philosophers, religious figures, and writers from other genres-from every region of the world, from the earliest known examples of written works to the eve of the modern era.

Use the "Author," "Topic," or "Title" indexes in the back of vol. 130 to find out which vols. discuss your author, topic or title.

This two-volume survey of Western literature in the classical period contains 47 chronologically arranged essays about individual writers.

From Achilles's heel to the sword of Damocles, Western culture teems with allusions from the rich heritage of classical literature, and this new edition of The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature provides the key to these works and the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations that produced them.

The main focus of the Companion remains the lives and works of the principal authors.

Entries on the major works include discussions of the philosophical dialogues and political speeches and plot summaries of the epic poems and plays.

The various literary forms--epic, comedy, tragedy, rhetorical writing--are covered in depth, supplemented by articles on the origins of the Greek and Latin alphabets and languages.

The Companion also puts this literature into its societal and historical contexts, including many articles on political, social, and artistic achievements.

Articles on the social customs and religious beliefs of those times help explain literary references, while the glories of philosophy, science, and art are celebrated from Cynics to Stoics, astronomy to water-clocks, and flute competitions to vase painting.

Helpful maps supplement geographical entries and a chronological table provides an overview of the main historical and literary events.

For each of the over 370 authors, essays cover their life, a description of the titles and contents of his or her works, and critical commentary on the nature and quality of those works.

This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers.

Use the "Author" index in the back of vol. 374 to find out which vols. discuss your author.