The Oxford Companion to American Literature

Oxford University Press, New York, revised edition, 1956. Cloth, large 8vo,. viii, 890 pp. In alphabetic arrangement, the work includes, first of all, short biographies and bibliographies of American authors, with information regarding their style and subject matter; nearly nine hundred summaries and descriptions of the important American novels, stories, essays, poems, and plays; definitions and historical outlines of literary schools and movements; and information on literary societies, magazines, anthologies, co-operative publications, literary awards, book collectors, printers, and other matters related to Writing in America. Literary terms that are sufficiently defined in the dictionaries are not discussed, except when they have a distinctive history in the United States. Thus there are no entries on the conventional terms of prosody, but free verse, polyphonic prose, and stream-of-consciousness fiction are briefly treated, and there are lengthy articles on such subjects as the tall tale, the ballad, local color, and romanticism. As is indicated by the Chronological Index, the scope of the volume includes far more, however, than literature considered as belles-lettres...There are, accordingly, biographies of persons who are not authors but who have been important in the nation's social history and culture, articles on religious sects, wars, laws and documents, educational institutions, important cities and regions, political parties, popular slogans, and outstanding newspapers and periodicals. An ex-library copy with several stamps on the prelims and title-page and a label on the front free endpaper. Somewhat shaken, hinges with old browned tape-repairs.