Edited by Jay Parini
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2005
350 entries
This Encyclopedia gathers together 350 essays from over 190 leading scholars on the whole of American literature, from European discovery to the present. There are essays on poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists, with figures such as Whitman, Melville, Faulkner, Frost, and Morrison discussed in detail. Each writer is examined in the context of their times, along with an assessment of their current reputation, a bibliography of major works, and a list of critical and biographical literature. Other essays, such as those on Moby Dick, Song of Myself, Walden, The Great Gatsby, The Waste Land, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Death of a Salesman, and Beloved, place major works in their historical contexts and offer a range of possibilities with regard to critical approach. The Encyclopedia also contains essays on literary movements, periods, and themes, pulling together a broad range of information and making connections between them.
Jay Parini is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College. He is the author of several poems and books including Robert Frost: A Life and House of Days: Poems.
Print Edition ISBN: 0195156536
E-Reference Edition ISBN: 0195307720
Publishing history: First published 2004
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