Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature

Aiming “to offer a comprehensive view of how an author’s work fits within the context of the author’s life, historical events, and the literary world,” this title includes some 500 writers. Authors traditionally studied in literature classes as well as those whose works currently top the best-seller lists are among the wordsmiths found in the set. Entries are organized into three main sections: “Works in Biographical and Historical Context,” “Works in Literary Context,” and “Works in Critical Context.” Additional features are a “Key Facts” segment that lists birth and death dates and major works; “Responses to Literature,” with suggestions for discussion and writing assignments; and “Further Reading,” providing a brief bibliography. There are also sidebars entitled “Literary and Historical Contemporaries” and “Common Human Experience,” the latter listing works similar in technique or theme to those of the entrant’s. Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature covers a multitude of writers from Kobo Abe to Mikhail Zoschenko. It is worth noting that a number of authors of books for young people, such as Kenneth Grahame and J. K. Rowling, are included. Glossaries of literary terms, general indexes, and indexes by nationality or ethnicity complete the set. With its breadth of coverage and wealth of information, the encyclopedia will be a useful addition to academic and public library reference collections. Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature (2009) applies similar treatment to American authors. –Carolyn Mulac

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