Here David Ellison explores the problems encountered by France's best experimental authors writing between 1956 and 1984, when faced with the question: "What should my writing be about?" These years are characterized by the rise of the "new novelists," who questioned the representational function of writing as they created works of imagination that turned in upon themselves and away from exterior reality. It became fashionable at one point to affirm that literature was no longer about the world but uniquely about the words on a page, the signifying surface of the text. Ellison tests this assumption, showing that even in the most seemingly self-referential fictions the words point to the world from which they can never completely separate themselves. Through close readings Ellison examines the novels and theoretical writings of authors whose works are fundamental to our perception of contemporary French writing and thought: Camus, Robbe-Grillet, Simon, Duras, Sarraute, Blanchot, and Beckett. The result is a new understanding of the link between the referential function of literary language and the problematic of the ethics of fiction.

Timeless literary masterpieces--such as Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and The Miserables (1862), Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857), and Camus' The Stranger (1942) and The Plague (1947)--have been the subject of copious literary criticism since their publications. This volume has been developed specifically to help students and general readers reach a deeper understanding of eight French novels, enabling them to develop a true appreciation for why the works have been regarded as masterpieces. Lucid yet challenging literary analysis focuses on plot and character development, themes, style, and biographical and historical context.

Edited by an author of many books on African writers and literature, this encyclopedia covers all aspects of African literature produced in all of the major languages. Both sub-Saharan and North African literatures are represented, although for works in Arabic the focus is on the modern period.

More than 600 signed articles by academic specialists treat mostly individual authors, both well known and less established. Longer essays deal with historical and cultural issues concerning the study of African literature, including criticism and theory and its development as a field of scholarship. Essays on Autobiography, Feminist criticism, and Islam in African literature, as well as regional overviews such as Gikuyu literature and West African literature in English, make this a useful starting point for exploration of African literature. Because these more general articles are one of the strengths of the work, it would have been helpful to list them in the fore matter, as it is a guessing game to find them. Most articles, including the biographical entries, have a very small list of references for further reading. Although reasonably up-to-date, these lists are often a mixture of a few primary and secondary works, not the most impressive feature of the volume.

Medieval literature encompasses a broad sweep of people, cultures, and styles. "Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature" offers a comprehensive account of the literary works, writers, and concepts of the Middle Ages; from 500 to 1500 CE. Covering not only European literature but also that of India, the Far East, and the Muslim world, this invaluable A-to-Z guide is one of the most inclusive single-volume references of its kind. Approximately 700 entries cover works, authors, and terms from the following cultures and languages: English: Old English and Middle English, ncluding Beowulf, Chaucer, morality play, Sir Thomas Malory, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Robin Hood, and Troilus and Criseyde; French: Joan of Arc, Marie de France, Parzival, The Song of Roland, and Francois Villon; Provencal: troubadours and Peire Vidal; Celtic: Cuchulain, The Mabinogion, and Ulster cycle; German: The Nibelungenlied, Tristan, Ulrich von Lichtenstein, and Gottfried von Strassburg; Old Norse: Egil's Saga, skaldic poetry, and Snorri Sturluson; Latin: Peter Abelard, Bede, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, Psychomachia, and St.Augustine of Hippo; Japanese: Muromachi Period, The Pillow Book, and The Tale of Genji; Chinese: The Story of Ying-ying and Li Po; Islamic: Omar Khayyam, the Koran, and The Thousand and One Nights; Indian: Govindadasa and Mahadeviyakka; Spanish; Hebrew; and more.

Grade 10 Up-Both volumes begin with an overview of the era, followed by alphabetical entries offering information on authors, works, places, events, and terminology. Most of the entries provide dates, additional names, and a bibliography; some also contain brief quotations from the works. Renaissance spans the years between 1500 and 1700 and covers works in many European and Asian languages as well as a few African languages. Individuals featured include Giovanni Boccaccio, John Bunyan, John Calvin, Nicolaus Copernicus, John Dryden, and Edmund Spenser. Medieval examines the period between Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance and provides information on Old English, Middle English, French, Provençal, Celtic, German, Old Norse, and Latin works under such headings as Beowulf, Geoffrey Chaucer, Dante Alighieri, Sir Thomas Malory, Peasant-™s Revolt of 1381, and troubadours. Both volumes discuss the importance of religion, language, history, the origins of the works, oral traditions, the beginnings of printing, and other influences. Time lines, lists of writers by language, and selected bibliographies are found in both volumes. While these books cover the works most studied in advanced high school courses, they also include a wealth of information about the lesser-known literature.