A Multicultural Dictionary of Literary Terms - Hardcover

Carey, Gary; Snodgrass, Mary Ellen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 078640552X ISBN 13: 9780786405527

Publisher: McFarland Publishing, 1999

Synopsis

Includes entries for words and phrases from non-Western traditions, offers a wider cultural perspective on familiar terms, and looks at twentieth-century literary award winners

About this title

About the Author

Award-winning author Mary Ellen Snodgrass lives in Hickory, North Carolina. Cliffs Notes editor Gary Carey lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

From Booklist

Including the popular buzzword multicultural in a book title almost assuredly boosts sales to libraries. The compilers of this new guide to literary terms justify titling it multicultural by noting that they include foreign language terms and offer examples from writings representative of a wide range of nationalities, cultures, and eras. Carey, an editor of Cliffs Notes, and Snodgrass, author of Encyclopedia of Southern Literature [RBB Ap 15 98] and various other reference sources, state in their preface to this slim volume that their intent is to "present terms essential to a thorough, comprehensive study of world literature, including print literature as well as stage drama."

Although the dictionary includes only 468 entries, the actual number of terms it defines is higher because many are treated within more general articles; for example, stream of consciousness is defined under point-of-view. The lack of cross-references from such terms to the appropriate entry is a major deficiency. Some entries indicate pronunciation, and many provide see also references to other entries. Definitions vary from excellent to barely adequate, for, in a number of cases, the compilers' penchant for listing illustrative works and authors takes precedence over exposition. In fact, the work's real distinction lies in its exceptional number of illustrative examples drawn from a broad chronological, geographical, and cultural spectrum and covering nonfiction works as well as novels, poetry, and other imaginative writings. Writers cited range from Akhenaten to Marie de France to Sonia Sanchez, and, although many canonical authors are represented, contemporary figures, such as Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, and Michael Ondaatje, receive strong emphasis. This feature could be especially helpful to teachers seeking to go beyond the established canon in selecting works for their students to study, but the lack of an index to authors and titles cited hampers that kind of use. Following the dictionary section are lists of winners of major literary prizes, a 10-page chronological chart of significant works of world literature, and a brief bibliography. The index covers terms that are accorded separate entries as well as those defined or simply mentioned in other entries.

Unfortunately, this work falls far short of the comprehensiveness alluded to in its ambitious goal. It ignores major literary groups, movements, and periods, such as the Agrarians, the Harlem Renaissance, and Restoration comedy; and it omits many important terms and concepts, among them, georgic, light verse, and mise-en-scene. On the other hand, it does include some terms not generally found in similar works (dog drama, happening, lauda) and also encompasses a smattering of literary terms from other cultures (corrido, makta, Ritterdrama). Librarians attracted by the wide variety of examples in this work should be aware that Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray's Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (Bedford Books, 1997), a dictionary containing more than 700 entries, also identifies examples from diverse nationalities and cultural groups. Emphasizing literature of the Western world, Murfin and Ray achieve a better balance between explanation and example, and they include an index to the authors and works cited. In addition, libraries on small budgets will continue to be well served by such standard sources as William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman's Handbook to Literature, seventh edition (Prentice Hall, 1996) and Karl Beckson and Arthur Ganz's Literary Terms: A Dictionary, third edition (Noonday, 1989).

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 078640552X
• ISBN 13: 9780786405527
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 184