The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

Baldick, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019280118X ISBN 13: 9780192801180

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

Synopsis

With over 1,000 entries, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms contains all of the most taxing literary terms that readers may come across. Clear and entertaining explanations are given for words such as multi-accentuality, postmodernism, and hypertext. The dictionary also provides extensive coverage of traditional drama, rhetoric, literary history, and textual criticism. This edition includes useful advice on further reading for particularly complex terms, as well as helpful pronunciation guides on over 200 terms.
Fully updated to include terms that have become prominent in literature in the last few years, from cyberpunk to antanaclasis, the Second Edition is ingeniously designed to tackle the less obvious terms that students and general readers will encounter.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Chris Baldick is Professor of English at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He edited 'The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales' (1992), and is the author of 'In Frankenstein's Shadow' (1987), 'Criticism and Literary Theory 1890 to the Present' (1996), and other works of literary history. He has edited, with Rob Morrison, 'Tales of Terror from Blackwoods' Magazine', and 'The Vampyre and Other Tales of Macabre', and has written an introduction to Charles Maturin's 'Melmoth the Wanderer' (all available in the Oxford World's Classics series).

From Library Journal

Of the many recent dictionaries of literary terms, Baldick's is the one most likely to satisfy today's student. Rejecting "encyclopaedic completeness," it omits commonly understood general terms that are not specifically literary (e.g., art, culture, etc.). Included instead are "many terms generated by the growth of academic literary theory in recent years." The explanations are clear and succinct, and often employ illustrative examples. An uncommon feature of this work is its pronunciation guide, applied to some 200 of the 1000 terms here defined. In addition to the attention paid to the terminology of classical rhetoric, there is a distinct emphasis on French deconstructionist terms derived from Derrida, Barthes, et al. Baldick's chief rival is Northrop Frye's Harper Handbook to Literature (1985), which is more comprehensive but lacks Baldick's currency. For larger libraries and academic collections.
- Jeffrey R. Luttrell, Youngstown State Univ., Ohio
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 019280118X
• ISBN 13: 9780192801180
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 290