The encyclopedia of Romantic literature /

The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature consists of three hardcover volumes that contain 280 well-written entries by an international group of commissioned scholars that cover British artistic, literary, and intellectual movements between 1780 and 1830. Entries, which range in length from 1,000 to 6,500 words, "explore genre development in prose, poetry, and drama of the Romantic period, key authors and their works, and key themes." All entries feature "references and suggested readings" and cross-references. Included in this set is an alphabetical list of entries, a thematic list of entries, a name index, and an extensive subject index that leads researchers inside entries that might be overlooked. As is the case with many multivolume works, this set is perhaps best accessed online, where researchers can use full-text searching capabilities. Entries such as "history," "spectacle," and "sublime" may be overlooked without exploration via a full-text searching option. This work is available online as part of a growing Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature collection that includes this title and four other encyclopedia sets, e.g., The Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature, edited by G. A. Sullivan Jr. and A. Stewart (CH, Jul'12, 49-6006). More titles are planned. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. R. B. Meeker Chicago State University

This stand-alone set, part of the larger Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature (2010-), is intended to guide in-depth research into the many forms of literary endeavor that flourished in Great Britain from 1780 to 1830. An international array of scholars, academics who have published extensively in their fields, have contributed signed entries concerning key figures, themes, and genres of the Romantic era. About half of the 278 alphabetical entries concern individual writers and actors. These include figures from the traditional canon (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley) as well as writers who have only begun to receive critical attention in recent decades (Mary Russell Mitford, labouring-class poets). About 40 percent of the individual writers included are women. Other entries explore poetic, dramatic, and prose forms, venturing well beyond the ode and the gothic novel (both male and female authors) to include Dictionaries and grammars, Silver fork novel, and Rescue opera. Entries run 1,000 to 6,500 words and include cross-references as well as suggested primary and secondary readings. Each volume opens with an alphabetical list of entries and a thematic list grouping entries pertaining to poetry, prose, and drama. A comprehensive name and subject index concludes the third volume. With its narrower focus, this set covers more British writers than the Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850 (2003), which encompasses music and visual arts as well as literature. The Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism (2010) is better suited to students encountering the subject for the first time, while this set serves as the next step to explore subjects in greater depth. Its attention to recent and emerging trends of study makes this set a good fit for its intended audience of graduate students and other specialists, and it is recommended for college libraries supporting graduate studies in English literature.--Burcher, Charlotte Copyright 2010 Booklist