The Oxford Companion to American Literature

About this book

For more than half a century James D. Harts The Oxford Companion to American Literature has been an unparalleled guide to Americas literary culture providing one of the finest resources to this countrys rich history of great writers. Now this acclaimed work has been completely revised and updated to reflect current developments in the world of American letters. For the sixth edition editors James D. Hart and Phillip Leininger have updated the Companion in light of what has happened in American literature since 1982. To this end they have revised the entries on such established authors as Saul Bellow Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates and they have added more than 180 new entries on novelists (T. Coraghessan Boyle Tim OBrien Louise Erdrich Don De Lillo) poets (Rita Dove Weldon Kees) playwrights (Wendy Wasserstein August Wilson) popular writers (Stephen King Louis LAmour) historians (James M. McPherson David Herbert Donald William Manchester) naturalists (Aldo Leopold Edward Abbey) and literary critics (Camille Paglia Richard Ellmann). In addition the Companion boasts more womens African-American and ethnic voices with new entries on such luminaries as Charlotte Perkins Gilman M.F.K. Fisher William Least Heat-Moon Ursula Le Guin and Oscar Hijuelos among many others. These additions represent only some of the revisions for the new edition. Of course the basic qualities of the Companion that readers have grown to know and love over the years are as superb as ever. With over 5 000 total entries The Oxford Companion to American Literature reflects a dynamic balance between past and contemporary literature surveying virtually every aspect of our national literature from the Pulitzer Prize to pulp fiction and from Walt Whitman to William F. Buckley Jr. There are over 2 000 biographical profiles of important American authors (with information regarding their styles subjects and major works) and influential foreign writers as well as other figures who have been important in the nations social and cultural history. There are more than 1 100 full summaries of important American novels stories essays poems (with verse form noted) plays biographies and autobiographies tracts narratives and histories. The new edition provides historical background and astute commentary on literary schools and movements literary awards magazines newspapers and a wide variety of other matters directly related to writing in America. Finally the book is thoroughly cross-referenced and features an extensive and fully updated index of literary and social history. Ranging from Captain John Smith to John Updike and from Anne Bradstreet to Anne Rice the sixth edition of The Oxford Companion to American Literature is up to date accurate and comprehensive a delight for both the casual browser and the serious student.