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A unique A-Z guide to the literature of this fascinating era
The Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction
Sandra Kemp, Charlotte Mitchell, and David Trotter
464 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-860534-8
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Paperback
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20 June 2002
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This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- A unique reference guide to a period of increasing interest to general readers and students alike
- As well as covering classic novelists and their work, also details forgotten, pseudonymous, and lesser known authors and their writing
- Explores themes such as spy fiction, feminist fiction, publishing, literary agents, and suburban life
- A-Z text supplemented with extra material including a list of books frequently consulted, a chronology of the major historic and cultural events of the period, and an index of pseudonyms and changes of name
- Cross-referenced throughout to facilitate browsing and exploration of thematic and other links
'This oozing, bulging wealth of the English upper and upper-middle classes.' This was how George Orwell saw the Edwardian period. What images do we see when we think of that era? Ladies munching delicately on cucumber sandwiches? Gentlemen in straw boaters punting gently down rivers? Looking at the authors and authoresses of this time and the things that they wrote about, it seems that there is more to that era than this chocolate-box image of long, lazy summer afternoons would imply. In fact the Edwardian period was a time of much anxiety and insecurity about the changes that were taking place and the ideas that were
emerging, and the fiction which arose from them serves as evidence for this.
In this unique guide, described as 'a tremendous achievement' by the TLS, literature scholars Sandra Kemp, Charlotte Mitchell, and David Trotter explore the broad sweep of writing that emerged from the early 20th century. Now available in paperback, the Companion offers a wealth of information on the writers, the works, the themes, and the ideas of this fascinating literary era.
From Walter Besant's The Fourth Generation, to James Joyce's Dubliners, the Companion doesn't merely centre on works from the Edwardian period but also explores those whose fiction influenced writers at the start of the period and those who took those writers' themes and ideas up to the next
level. It also provides details on some of the now neglected and forgotten gems that came from that era.
Around 800 authors are covered and there are also entries on some of the most significant novels of the period. An unprecedented number of women began to publish at this time and they represent nearly half of the author-entries in the Companion. There are also entries on the themes and genres that emerged. This was a period when the urban middle and lower classes became not only the subject of fiction but also a substantial part of its readership. Never before had novels been so cheap to buy (and produce).
Entries include:
Writers: Alice and Claude Askew, J. M. Barrie, Max Beerbohm, M. McDonnell Bodkin, G. K. Chesterton, Walter
de la Mare, Ethel M. Dell, A. Conan Doyle, John Galsworthy, Jerome K Jerome, Rudyard Kipling, Oliver Onions, Baroness Orczy, H. G. Wells
Publications: The Albany Review, The Athenaeum, Contemporary Review, The Cornhill Magazine, The English Review, The New Age, Pall Mall Magazine
Works: Anna of the Five Towns, The Country House, The Dark Flower, The Golden Bowl, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Lord Jim, The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, The Railway Children, The Secret Garden, The White Peacock
Themes: Boer War, crime fiction, exoticism, family sagas, fantasy, feminist fiction, historical romance, invasion scare stories, marriage problem novels, regional fiction, suburban life
Other: literary agents, publishers
In
addition to the A-Z entries, there is a chronology charting major historical and cultural events, a list of books frequently consulted, and a very useful index of pseudonyms and changes of name.
Readership: In paperback this Companion will appeal mainly to students of English literature at undergraduate level or above. Other categories will include teachers, scholars, and lecturers. There may also be some interest coming from general readers of the fiction of this era.
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Sandra Kemp, Director of Research, Royal College of Art, Charlotte Mitchell, Lecturer in English, University College London, and David Trotter, Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, University College London
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"Review from previous edition
the Companion covers an enormous field...a tremendous achievement...it resuscitates hundreds of authors and drives fresh pathways through the field" - Times Literary Supplement "a luxuriant and often exotic flowering of fiction both literary and popular...this is a lost generation: it's time they were recovered...this clear, readable companion will be a handy guide for those who feel tempted to try" - Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman
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Acknowledgements
Introduction
Books Frequently Consulted
Short Titles
Abbreviations
Note to the Reader
Chronology
Index to Pseudonyms and Changes of Name
A-Z Text
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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