*English Language & Literature

A complete compendium of failed writers from A to Z, which is both tragic and darkly hilarious. The Biographical Dictionary Of Literary Failure is essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered about all the writers who never made it onto the shelves of a bookshop, and all the great writers and their works, who remain unknown. Meet Ernst Bellmer, the bibliophage. For Bellmer, the aesthetic act was not complete unless his words, once committed to paper, were then eaten. Unfortunately for him, he died of ink poisoning, and left no trace of his life's work.

From the exemplary to the notorious to the obscure, this comprehensive and innovative encyclopedia showcases the worthy women of early modern England. Poets, princesses, or pirates, the women of power and agency found in these pages are indeed worth knowing, and this volume will introduce many female figures to even the most established scholars in early modern studies. Rather than using the conventional alphabetical format of the standard biographical encyclopedia, this volume is divided into categories of women. Since many women will fit in more than one category, each woman is placed in the category that best exemplifies her life, and is cross referenced in other appropriate sections. This structure makes the book an interesting read for seasoned scholars of early modern women, while students need not already be familiar with these subjects in order to benefit from the text.

The Harlem Renaissance is considered one of the most significant periods of creative and intellectual expression for African Americans. Beginning as early as 1914 and lasting into the 1940s, this era saw individuals reject the stereotypes of African Americans and confront the racist, social, political, and economic ideas that denied them citizenship and access to the American Dream. While the majority of recognized literary and artistic contributors to this period were black males, African American women were also key contributors. Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era profiles the most important figures of this cultural and intellectual movement. Highlighting the accomplishments of black women who sought to create positive change after the end of WWI, this reference work includes representatives not only from the literary scene but also: -Activists -Actresses -Artists -Educators -Entrepreneurs -Musicians -Political leaders -Scholars By acknowledging the women who played vital--if not always recognized--roles in this movement, this book shows how their participation helped set the stage for the continued transformation of the black community well into the 1960s. To fully realize the breadth of these contributions, editors Lean'tin L. Bracks and Jessie Carney Smith have assembled profiles written by a number of accomplished academics and historians from across the country.

In the years since the death of Mao Zedong, interest in Chinese writers and Chinese literature has risen significantly in the West. In 2000, Gao Xingjian became the first Chinese writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature followed by Mo Yan in 2012, and writers such as Ha Jin and Da Sijie have also become well known in the West. Despite this progress, the vast majority of Chinese writers remain largely unknown outside of China. This book introduces the lives and works of eighty contemporary Chinese writers, and focuses on writers from the "Rightist" generation (Bai Hua, Gao Xiaosheng, Liu Shaotang), writers of the Red Guard generation (Li Rui, Wang Anyi), Post-Cultural Revolution Writers, as well as others. Unlike earlier works, it provides detailed, often first-hand, biographical information on this wide range of writers, including their career trajectories, major themes and artistic characteristics. In addition to this, each entry includes a critical presentation and evaluation of the writer's major works, a selected bibliography of publications that includes works in Chinese, works translated into English, and critical articles and books available in English.

The Dictionary aims at presenting in a systematic form, the bio-biblio and critical appraisal of creative writers of Indian English Literature. It contains authentic, up-to-date, and formulated information in the MLA style about over 4000 creative writers of Indian English. Besides Indian men-of-letters, it also includes authors of the girmit diaspora and their progeny in Barbados, Caribbean Region, East Africa, Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere and the Green Card diaspora all over the world and non-Indians inspired by Indian life and culture. The authors of the Himalayan states of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim also find a place in it. The editor and the literary advisors had to do a critical exercise in identifying a creative writer. On the basis of an objective criterion, it was resolved that an author who has made original contribution in any of the genres of literature, who has invited researches and critical writings on his or her works, who has been anthologized, published and reviewed in academic journals and listed in standard reference tools, should be deemed to be a creative writer. It has been our endeavor to identify creative writers of past and present.

Published in collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy, the Dictionary of Irish Biography is the most comprehensive and authoritative biographical reference work available both in print and online for Ireland. From James Ussher to James Joyce, St Patrick to Patrick Pearse, St Brigit to Maud Gonne MacBride, Maria Edgeworth to Elizabeth Bowen, Edward Carson to Bobby Sands, this indispensable resource outlines the careers at home and overseas of prominent men and women born in Ireland, north and south, and the noteworthy Irish careers of those born outside Ireland. Distinctive features of the Dictionary include the particular attention paid to outstanding women who have previously been overlooked and its broad coverage of the modern period. * 9 volumes, over 9,000 entries, covering 9,700 lives, ranging from the earliest times to 2002 * Biographical subjects include: artists, scientists, lawyers, actors, musicians, writers, politicians, criminals, and saints * Compiled by 700 expert advisors and contributors

U.S. Latino Literature is defined as Latino literature within the United States that embraces the heterogeneous inter-groupings of Latinos. For too long U.S. Latino literature has not been thought of as an integral part of the overall shared American literary landscape, but that is slowly changing. This dictionary aims to rectify some of those misconceptions by proving that Latinos do fundamentally express American issues, concerns and perspectives with a flair in linguistic cadences, familial themes, distinct world views, and cross-cultural voices. The Historical Dictionary of U.S. Latino Literature contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has cross-referenced entries on U.S. Latino/a authors, and terms relevant to the nature of U.S. Latino literature in order to illustrate and corroborate its foundational bearings within the overall American literary experience.

The South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers expands the range of writers included in the landmark South Carolina Encyclopedia. This guide updates the entries on writers featured in the original encyclopedia and augments that list substantially with dozens of new essays on additional authors from the late eighteenth century to the present who have contributed to the Palmetto State's distinctive literary heritage. Each profile in this concise reference includes essential biographical facts and critical assessments to place the featured writers in the larger context of South Carolina's literary tradition. The guide comprises 127 entries written by more than seventy literary scholars, and it also highlights the sixty-five writers inducted thus far into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, which serves as the state's literary hall of fame. Rich in natural beauty and historic complexity, South Carolina has long been a source of inspiration for writers. The talented novelists, essayists, poets, playwrights, journalists, historians, and other writers featured here represent the countless anonymous individuals who have shared tales and lore of South Carolina.

This new edition of Southern Writers assumes its distinguished predecessor's place as the essential reference on literary artists of the American South. Broadly expanded and thoroughly revised, it boasts 604 entries-nearly double the earlier edition's-written by 264 scholars. For every figure major and minor, from the venerable and canonical to the fresh and innovative, a biographical sketch and chronological list of published works provide comprehensive, concise, up-to-date information. Here in one convenient source are the South's novelists and short story writers, poets and dramatists, memoirists and essayists, journalists, scholars, and biographers from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. What constitutes a "southern writer" is always a matter for debate. Editors Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel have used a generous definition that turns on having a significant connection to the region, in either a personal or literary sense. New to this volume are younger writers who have emerged in the quarter century since the dictionary's original publication, as well as older talents previously unknown or unacknowledged. For almost every writer found in the previous edition, a new biography has been commissioned.

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing,1660-1789 features coverage of the lives and works of almost 500 notable writers based in the British Isles from the return of the British monarchy in 1660 until the French Revolution of 1789. Broad coverage of writers and texts presents a new picture of 18th-century British authorship. Takes advantage of newly expanded eighteenth-century canon to include significantly more women writers and labouring-class writers than have traditionally been studied. Draws on the latest scholarship to more accurately reflect the literary achievements of the long eighteenth century