Oxford Reference Browse

Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. As Susie Dent explains in the foreword, Brewer’s “is not a straightforward dictionary, nor is it an encyclopaedia. It is, in fact, unlike any other reference book that exists, anywhere.” This nineteenth edition encapsulates all the charm and wit that characterise its predecessors and maintains the standards of scholarship and eclecticism that have long been its hallmark.

Thoroughly updated with over 100 new and revised entries – think crowdsourcing, cyberpunk, iPad and mash-up – this unique resource is guaranteed to delight, entertain and inspire in the best Brewer’s tradition. Discover Brewer’s take on angels, heraldry, pub signs and recluses, and delve into the lexicographical world of the eggcorn. Whether you are a committed Brewerphile or a newcomer to its pages of fascinating entries, this edition will draw you in and keep you glued to its rich mix of eccentric nuggets.

Over 750 entries

The most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of critical theory available, covering the Frankfurt school, cultural materialism, cultural studies, gender studies, film studies, literary theory, hermeneutics, historical materialism, Internet studies, and sociopolitical critical theory. It explains complex theoretical discourses, such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction, and postmodernism clearly and provides biographies of figures who have influenced the discipline, such as Deleuze and Foucault.

This new edition has been updated to extend coverage of diaspora, race, and postcolonial theory, and of queer and sexuality studies, ensuring that it remains invaluable for students of literary and cultural studies and anyone studying a humanities subject requiring a knowledge of theory.

This is an encyclopedic dictionary covering hundreds of important philosophical, literary, and political terms and concepts that defy easy--or any--translation from one language and culture to another. Drawn from more than a dozen languages, terms such as Dasein (German), pravda (Russian), saudade (Portuguese), and stato (Italian) are thoroughly examined in all their cross-linguistic and cross-cultural complexities. Spanning the classical, medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary periods, these are terms that influence thinking across the humanities. The entries, written by more than 150 distinguished scholars, describe the origins and meanings of each term, the history and context of its usage, its translations into other languages, and its use in notable texts. The dictionary also includes essays on the special characteristics of particular languages--English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Originally published in French, this one-of-a-kind reference work is now available in English, with new contributions from Judith Butler, Daniel Heller-Roazen, Ben Kafka, Kevin McLaughlin, Kenneth Reinhard, Stella Sandford, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Jane Tylus, Anthony Vidler, Susan Wolfson, Robert J. C. Young, and many more. The result is an invaluable reference for students, scholars, and general readers interested in the multilingual lives of some of our most influential words and ideas.

‘a superb act of homage at a critical moment in French literary fortunes’, Observer

This Companion is a new and completely reconceived work, rather than a revision of the 1959 Oxford Companion to French Literature. As the change in title implies, it presents an authoritative guide not only to ten centuries of literature produced in the territory now called France, but also to the rich literary output of other French‐speaking countries around the world. Written by an international team of specialists, entries cover individual authors and works from the troubadours to Césaire, and from La Princesse de Clèves to La Vie mode d'emploi. Substantial essay‐entries reflect the latest scholarship on topics such as chivalry, Occupation and Resistance in wartime France, scholasticism, the sciences, literary movements and genres, as well as opera, cinema, and press.

Adventurous and wide‐ranging, The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French is an indispensable and hugely enjoyable reference work for all scholars, students and general readers.

Written by an international team of scholars, the Oxford Companion to Chaucer provides a wealth of clear, up-to-date assessments on all aspects of Chaucer. Entries provide information on Chaucer's life and times, his works and the characteristics of them, his language and metre, his reading and the creative uses he made of it, and his major moral and literary themes. Extensive reference is also made to the development of critical opinion about his works over the centuries.

This Companion provides a fascinating and practical guide to Chaucer for readers at every level.

'a learned and totally addictive guide’ – The Times

Over 3,600 entries

The last thirty years have witnessed one of the most fertile periods in the history of children’s books—the flowering of imaginative writing and illustration, the Harry Potter phenomenon, the rise of young adult and crossover fiction, and books that tackle extraordinarily difficult subjects. The Companion provides an indispensable and fascinating reference guide to the world of children’s literature. It covers every genre from fairy tales to chapbooks; school stories to science fiction; comics to children’s hymns.

This is the first place to look for information about the authors, illustrators, printers, publishers, educationalists, and others who have influenced the development of children’s literature, as well as the stories and characters at its centre. Written both to entertain and to instruct, it is a reference work that no one interested in the world of children’s books should be without.

‘a volume for all seasons... indispensable’—Times Educational Supplement

The third edition of The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature is the complete and authoritative reference guide to the classical world and its literary heritage. It not only presents the reader with all the essential facts about the authors, tales, and characters from ancient myth and literature, but it also places these details in the wider contexts of the history and society of the Greek and Roman worlds. With an extensive web of cross-references and a useful chronological table and location maps (all of which have been brought fully up to date), this volume traces the development of literary forms and the classical allusions which have become embedded in our Western culture.

Extensively revised and updated since the second edition was published in 1989, the Companion acknowledges changes in the focus of scholarship over the last twenty years, through the incorporation of a far larger number of thematic entries such as medicine, friendship, science, freedom (concept of), and sexuality. These topical entries provide an excellent starting point to the exploration of their subjects in classical literature; after all, for many aspects of classical society the literature we have inherited is the primary (and sometimes the only) source material. Additions and changes have been made taking into account the advice of teachers and lecturers in Classics, ensuring that current educational needs are catered for.

In addition to newly covered topics, the Companion still plays to its traditional strengths, with extensive biographies of classical literary figures from Aeschylus to Zeno; entries on a multitude of literary styles from biography and rhetoric to lyric poetry and epic, encompassing everything in between; and character entries and plot summaries for the major figures and myths in the classical canon. It is the ideal guide for students in Classics, and for all who are passionate about the vast and varied literary tradition bequeathed to us from the classical world.

‘thoroughly researched, impartial, scholarly, wonderfully illustrated and enormous fun’ – The Independent on Sunday

Over 1,000 entries

This Companion is an authoritative reference source for the complex and captivating genre of the fairy tale. It provides full coverage of stories and characters, from Ali Baba, Aladdin, and Cinderella, to Hansel and Gretel, the Moomins, and Tom Thumb, along with the writers who wrote and reworked them, such as Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, A. S. Byatt, and Gabriel García Márquez, and the artists who illustrated them, including Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, and Maurice Sendak. The Companion also examines related topics such as Disney, film, opera, science fiction, music, even advertising. Special survey articles explore the development of the fairy-tale tradition in individual countries, focusing particularly on the European and North American traditions.

Written by a team of over 70 specialist contributors from around the world, this is an essential companion for anyone interested in literature, film, or art, or for anyone who values the traditions of storytelling.

‘A wonderful treasure-house of information and insight’ – Dame Judi Dench

Over 3,200 entries

From the conjectured identity of the Dark Lady of the Sonnets to the misprints in the First Folio, from Shakespeare’s favourite figures of speech to the staging of Othello in South Africa, a team of 100 internationally renowned scholars provides a lucid, stimulating, and authoritative guide to Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and their interpretation around the world over the last four centuries. Now revised and updated to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, this much-loved Companion reflects developments and discoveries made in recent years as well as the performance, interpretation, and influence of Shakespeare’s works up to the present day.

From Haworth to Heathcliff and from Wildfell Hall to The Wide Sargasso Sea, The Oxford Companion to the Brontes provides comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date information on the lives, works, and afterlives of the three Bronte sisters. It is the first time so much information about the family has been gathered together in an accessible A-Z volume.

In-depth surveys of the Brontes’ lives and works and supplemented by entries on their friends and acquaintances, pets, literary and political heroes; on the places they knew and the places they imagined; on their letters, drawings, and paintings.

Extensive coverage of their juvenilia sheds light on their early imaginative worlds, while entries on the sequels and adaptations in film, theatre, and television convey the myriad ways their works live on.