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Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature

GALE CONTEXTUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 4V

Reference

Literature

Gt Product Group

Binding Format

Marketing Imprint Name

B2B GT

CL Carton Count

Imprint Name

B2B & B2C

This four-volume set covers American authors from many periods and genres, building a broad understanding of the various contexts - from the biographical to the literary to the historical - in which literature can be viewed. The Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature allows a reader to analyze an author's work as a reflection of the heritage, traditions and experiences of the author's personal life and the beliefs, events, and lifestyles of the United States at the time, given such context as:<ul>
<li> Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs was interested in eugenics -- the study of methods to improve the human gene pool, and the same "science" that Hitler used to try to legitimize the Holocaust.
<li> Known mostly for her portrayal of her mental health issues, Sylvia Plath was also a feminist writer who channeled her frustration as a woman with a career during the conservative, post-World War II society.
<li> Ralph Waldo Emerson was instrumental in building an American culture of literature and arts distinct from the "parent culture" of England and Europe.</ul>

The nearly 500 entries also identify the significant literary devices and global themes that define a writer's style and place the author in a larger literary tradition as chronicled and evaluated by critics over time. For example: <ul>
<li> Kurt Vonnegut Jr. repeatedly featured characters in his fiction who fall into self-doubt when they lose work or social standing as his father did in the Depression and those who struggle with mental illness just as his mother did.
<li> The theme of the individual adrift in a corrupt and phony world in J. D. Salinger's fiction is said to have been influenced by his own experiences growing up and by F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.</ul>
Critical thinking and activity prompts, in addition to images, further enhance the reader's own personal response to American literature.

HIGH SCHOOL

POST SECONDARY FOUR YEAR

12th+

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In a logical layout, each author's writing is set within a biographical, critical, historical, and personal context.  Each blurb concludes with critical thinking prompts and writing activities to spark reader response, plus a short bibliography of other sources.  Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers. ---Choice, May 2010

This cornucopia of literary minutia spans the American canon from Cotton Mather and Vassar Miller to Cynthia Rylant and Amiri Baraka.  Readers will find engaging and informative entries on more than 500 authors covering all historical periods, as well as a variety of genres.  For students needing some context to help them understand a writer's importance, their themes, and techniques, this set will do just fine.  --School Library Journal, February 2010

Either or both would make a nice addition to the reference collections of academic libraries. --Library Journal, March 2010

The four volumes contain many writers not found in earlier encyclopedias and are especially good in offering students amore contemporary approach to the field of American literature.  The organization, suggestions, and selection of material within each entry place the works discussed in the context of the times. --ARBA, July 1, 2009

In four volumes, with nearly 500 entries on American authors from diverse periods and genres, this encyclopedia sets writers' works in their  cultural framework.  In a logical layout, each author's writing is set within a biographical, critical, historical, and personal context.  Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers --Choice, April 2010

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Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature