The Facts on File Companion to the British Novel (The Facts on File Companion to Literature Series) (2 Volumes) - Hardcover

Virginia Brackett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081606377X ISBN 13: 9780816063772

Publisher: Facts on File, 2005

Synopsis

Focuses on drama, short stories, novels, and poetry as they are studied in high school and college curricula. Concentrating on the main authors, works, and movements that comprise each genre, these books also include minor authors and works. They are defined by geography and by time period, such as 20th-century poetry or classical drama.

About this title

From Booklist:

Intended for high-school and college students, this resource covers the British novel from its earliest predecessors in the 1600s to the present day, encompassing writers from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales as well as Commonwealth countries. Although marketed as a set, these are actually two distinct, independent volumes containing approximately 500 entries apiece. Each volume has its own author, title, introduction, A-Z contents, and index. Volume 1, authored by Brackett, covers the British novel from its beginnings through the nineteenth century, while volume 2, by Gaydosik, focuses on the twentieth century. The authors, both English professors at U.S. universities, wrote most of the material in their respective volumes. Substantive and well written, the articles treat a wide range of literary and popular authors and representative novels by them as well as literary themes and movements, fictional genres, significant historical events, social issues, major literary periodicals, and other relevant topics. Most entries are followed by brief secondary bibliographies. Although author entries make no attempt to mention all of a writer's novels, no primary bibliographies are provided. Each volume features extensive cross-references but only to related entries within that particular volume, never to entries in the companion volume. Both volumes include glossaries and exceptionally detailed indexes, which provide a means of identifying novels by genre and theme and locating authors by nationality. Volume 2 also includes a section listing recipients of major British literary prizes.

If the contents of these two volumes had been consolidated into one seamless, integrated set with a single alphabetical sequence and a comprehensive index, this would be an outstanding reference source. Combining these two complementary volumes into one work would have made the set easier to use and also avoided unnecessary duplication (for example, both volumes include entries for Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, and other authors who spanned the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and both define many of the same literary terms, such as irony and point of view). Eliminating this duplication would have freed space to cover additional novelists, for example, John Banville, David Malouf, and Edith Somerville. In addition, a single alphabetical sequence would have avoided some of the inconsistencies between the volumes. For instance, volume 1 provides a lengthy article on Children's literature, but volume 2 does not.

As a set, this work has serious shortcomings, but when considered as individual entities, both volumes merit high praise. Because these volumes provide valuable coverage of British novelists and novels to an extent that no other reference source currently does, they will make a useful addition to high-school, public, and academic libraries. Marie Ellis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up-Volume one opens with a discussion of the emergence of the novel in Britain and its importance as a representation of British society. Alphabetical entries discuss types, specific titles, literary terms, themes, societies, regions, historical events, people, and places. Works by English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish writers are included. In her preface, Brackett notes that she attempts to link each entry to at least one other in the collection-¦to demonstrate their unquestionable dependence upon one another-¦. Many lesser-known works and authors not found in other volumes are included, as are quotes. Volume two includes 20th-century authors from the same countries, as well as some from British Commonwealth territories. Articles on Ruth Rendell, Zadie Smith, J. K. Rowling, and Philip Pullman attest to the variety and currency of this guide. Each volume also contains a glossary (with lengthy entries in volume two), a selected bibliography, and a comprehensive index. Volume two has a list of recipients of the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Award, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and other awards through 2003 or 2004.-Pat Bender, The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Facts on File
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 081606377X
• ISBN 13: 9780816063772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1048
• Editor: Victoria Gaydosik