Could
one book properly catalog, identify, and detail all that makes up literature?
Merriam-Webster’s
Encyclopedia of Literature attempts to do just that. It’s book of over 1250 pages that captures more
than 10,000 entries. The entries cover
names of authors, names of books, literary terms, topics from all eras, spanning
all over the world, literary characters, and all things reflective of the
diversity of literature through the ages.
Part-dictionary, part-encyclopedia, this thick tome provides coverage of all
literary forms and genres, including novels, poems, essays, plays and literary
criticism. It presents facts and
insights about a wide variety of literature, including science fiction,
fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, children’s literature and other forms of
literature.
The
book goes in-depth in its coverage, which includes:
·
Listings
of literary landmarks, journals, prizes, and characters.
·
Plot
summaries and dates of publication of major literary works.
·
Definitions,
spellings, pronunciations, and the etymologies of literary terms.
·
Biographical
sketches of authors, literary scholars, and literary theorists.
The
copy of this edition that I came across at a used book store is from 1995 –
nearly a quarter-century ago. Clearly a
lot more can be added and updated.
Perhaps some of it would be edited out, as time may obscure some of the
entries. But this book manages to tie
the long ago past with the recent present, linking the Tales of the Genji or Wuthering
Heights with Satanic Verses and 1984.
It connects Toni Morrison to Dante Alightes and it combines the
mythological and folklore figures like Agamemnon with fictional characters
such as Sam Spade or Heathcliff. It also
keeps us informed of literary styles and movements, such as Baroque and
Transcendentalism and of literary terms like accentual verse, haiku, and
intertextuality.
The
book is merely alphabetized and not broken down into categories, time periods
or any clearly defined category, which presents an overwhelming feeling for the
reader to get a clear grasp of the literary universe. But it does allow for instant, random
learning of all things literature. One minute you may read of Galt, a prolific
Scottish novelist admired for his depiction of country life in the 1820’s and
1830’s, and the next moment your eyes are on text about interior monologue,
which the book defines as: “A usually extended representation in monologue of a
fictional character’s sequence of thought and feeling.”
Because
it’s not ordered information – covering thousands of years, scores of nations,
and mixing up authors with terms, books with movements, the book becomes more
trivial than resourceful. It’s for the
ADHD-imparted pursuer of knowledge. It’s
fine if you need to look something up but to comb through it is
challenging. Still, I don’t deny the
book’s utility and value, for it’s a wonderful effort out to compile a lot of
interesting information.
Where
else will you find a listing for a scholar like Samuel Johnson or Harold Bloom
interspersed with a listing about The Kenyon Review, Hugo Award, and Zola? Students, readers, writers, editors, and
anyone interested in books will embrace this book even if they become
frustrated by its unorganized, dense representation of literature.
The
book combines two powerhouses – Merriam-Webster, Inc., founded in 1831 by the
man who wrote the dictionary, Noah Webster, and Encyclopedia Brittanica, which,
since 1768 became the oldest continuously published reference work in the
English language.
I
leave you with the lasting words of the book’s preface, written by the editor,
Kathleen Kuiper:
“It
is through the naming of objects, the telling of stories, and the singing of
songs that we know ourselves and others.
Whether trickster tales or nursery rhymes are the first things we
remember hearing, we have learned how to live our lives by means of narrative –
the stories our mothers told us, the books our brothers and sisters read to us
(and the volumes we chose to read to them), the holy books and textbooks we
memorized as children and still recall with perfect clarity. By these means we develop -- however weakly
or strongly – our moral natures; we discover who we are and who we are not,
what we would give anything to be and precisely what we would be willing to
sacrifice to gain that prize. We need
stories and songs to live fully.
“Reference
books are one of the most efficient means we have organizing what we know. The most useful reference book on literature
will help us find biographical data on the greatest writers of all places and
all periods and on less-well-known contemporary writers, too. It will remind us of the plots of favorite
folktales as well as inform us of the significance of an epic novel. It will introduce us to major literary
characters, explain the meaning of a literary term, and describe the
significance of a literary style or movement.
It will permit us to quickly review a mode of criticism and tell us
precisely what the adjectival form of an author’s name is meant to convey. If, in addition, it includes an etymology and
gives us a clue about how to pronounce the subject at hand, then we have a
satisfying book, a true companion.”
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