Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography: Modern Writers, 1914-1945

Designed to meet the budgetary and space limitations of smaller academic, high school and public libraries, this illustrated 8-vol. set provides thorough coverage of major British literary figures of all eras. The convenient chronological arrangement makes it easy to zero in on a particular period in British literary history. Each volume covers 20-30 writers from all genres who were active during a single historical period.

The volumes include:

• Writers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Before 1660
• Writers of the Restoration and 18th Century, 1660-1789
• Writers of the Romantic Period, 1789-1832
• Victorian Writers, 1832-1890
• Late Victorian and Edwardian Writers, 1890-1914
• Modern Writers, 1914-1945
• Writers After World War II, 1945-1960
• Contemporary Writers, 1960-Present

The "Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography" comprises eight volumes, each focused on a broad historical period, which reprint entries from Gale's many-volumed Dictionary of Literary Biography ( DLB ). Volume 6 of this selective compilation, Modern Writers, 1914-1945 , certainly includes many of "the most significant literary figures" of the period: from W.H. Auden to Virginia Woolf, with Agatha Christie, E.M. Forster, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, G.B. Shaw, Evelyn Waugh, and 16 others in between. All but a few of the entries have been updated at least slightly since their original appearance in the DLB . The format--a bibliography of works, an essay that addresses both the life and the writings, and a bibliography of criticism for further reading--remains a useful one, and the illustrations (portraits, manuscript pages, dust jackets) should be particularly helpful in furthering the stated aim of the series: to "enrich the study of British literature" in secondary schools and junior colleges.
-Margaret K. Powell, Yale Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.