This text begins with an introduction explaining the significance of beaches and shores to human history, religion, philosophy and eco-awareness. Each entry includes a topographical description and contacts for the region, and discusses topics such as mythical and tribal stories, and artistry.

This reference work provides the reader with a source of basic data and analysis of characters, dates, events, allusions, staging strategies, and themes from the work on one of America's finest playwrights.

Barbara Kingsolvera writer of fiction, documentary, verse and essaysupports entertaining stories with profound themes of ecological responsibility and defense of human rights. This work is an introduction and overview of the authors literary achievements, opening with an annotated chronology of Kingsolvers life, activism, works, and awards, followed by a family tree. The 122 alphabetical entries in the main text provide data and analysis on characters, dates, historical figures and events, allusions, literary motifs, and themes from Kingsolvers works, combining insights with generous...

In the mid-1980s, Amy Tan was a successful but unhappy corporate speechwriter. By the end of the decade, she was perched firmly atop the best-seller lists with The Joy Luck Club, with more hugely popular novels to follow. Tan's work - once pigeonholed as ethnic literature, a niche market with limited appeal - resonates with universal themes that cross cultural and ideological boundaries, and proved wildly successful with readers of all stripes. Chinese culture and its affect on women - Amy Tan's work earned her both praise and excoriation from critics, adoration from fans, and a place as one...

Walter Dean Myers, preeminent author of teen fiction biography and verse, refines the image of black characters that are frequently trivialized or vilified in juvenile literature, advertising, television, and film. From his saga The Glory Field to his novel The Young Landlords, Myers's canon surveys the complex realm of the teen years as colliding settings in home, school, and the street. This volume introduces readers to both the writer and his work, with an emphasis on the characters, dates, events, motifs, and themes from the books. Myers's 101 A-to-Z entries offer concise,...

With novels like Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman, award-winning writer Kaye Gibbons has gained both critical acclaim and a large, devoted following among readers. This literary companion equips the reader with information about characters, plots, dates, allusions, literary motifs, and themes from the bestselling author's works. After an annotated chronology of Gibbons? life, the work presents 103 A-Z entries that include Snodgrass's analysis, cover the writings of reviewers and critics, and provide selected bibliographies. Appendices offer an historical timeline with references to...

What is a corrido? What is the difference between a tanka, a choka and a renga? What does it mean when you're doing the dozens? What is a Bildungsroman? This dictionary of literary terms provides the student, scholar, librarian, or researcher with definitions, explanations, and models of the styles and forms of works of literature. Along with novel, tone, tragedy, and scansion are haiku, noh, griot, and other terms that derive from works long undervalued by the literary world. The examples come from a very broad field of...

From the origins of the movement in the 18th century to contemporary writers such as Stephen King, this A-to-Z guide to Gothic literature covers a vast array of works and writers from Britain and America, as well as a variety of genres - novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and even a few influential films and works of art.

An accessible one-volume encyclopedia, this addition to the Literary Movements series is a comprehensive reference guide to the history and development of feminist literature, from early fairy tales to works by great women writers of today. Hundreds of informative A-to-Z entries cover a wide range of works and writers from around the world, as well as a range of genres, including novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and criticism. Focusing on the feminist works and writers that most often appear in high school and college curricula, "Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature" is the definitive...