This brilliant, faultless, impeccably constructed work will maintain its status as an outstanding research tool invaluable both to undergraduate students and to scholars of James. It is unquestionably worthy of The Master, ' its subject. "Choice"

Called a Shakespeare of the novel and America's only fully realized literary artist by Leon Edel, his prize-winning biographer, Henry James was also one of the most prolific American writers. His massive literary output included approximately 300 critical essays, 134 novels and stories, 15 plays, and some 15,000 letters. "A Henry James...

This excellent guide to Hawthorne's public and private worlds will be a mandatory purchase for most libraries. Gale . . . gives detailed information on Hawthorne's milieu and his writings: his sources, plots, characters, and publication histories. . . . Appendixes include useful lists of Hawthorne's writings; his ancestors, family members, relatives, and inlaws; his friends and acquaintances; and other categories of people significant in his life and work. Annotations are clear, precise, readable. Quotes illuminate Hawthorne's opinions and prejudices. . . . Scholars, students, and browsers...

Herman Melville is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. Known primarily as the author of Moby-Dick, he wrote several other novels, short stories, and poems. With the rise of interest in Melville in the 20th century, critical and biographical studies of Melville continue to be published at an ever-increasing rate. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive guide to Melville's rich and complex literary career.

The volume includes several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for all of Melville's works and characters, and for his family members, friends, and...

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. He is known internationally as the author of "The Great Gatsby" (1925), a twentieth-century literary classic studied by high school students and scholars alike. But Fitzgerald was an amazingly productive writer despite numerous personal and professional difficulties. From the beginning of his literary career with the publication of "This Side of Paradise" in 1920 to his death in 1940, he wrote 5 novels, roughly 180 short stories, numerous essays and reviews, much poetry, several plays, and some film scripts....

For too long Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was dismissed as a timid New England local colorist, known principally for her novels and short stories based in her native state of Maine. But in addition to her fiction, she also wrote poetry, plays, and essays. She enjoyed an extensive acquaintance with most of the established writers of her time and was on friendly terms with many lesser-known women of her era. With the publication of a selection of her letters in 1956, scholarly books and articles soon followed. And with the advent of the women's movement came a renewal of interest in...

Dashiell Hammett's writing career began with the publication of The Parthian Shot, a tiny short story in "The Smart Set" in 1922, and virtually ended when he published 3 outstanding stories in "Collier's" in 1934. During this period, he published 60 short stories, 5 novels--including "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man"--a few minor poems, some nonfictional prose, and a series of astute book reviews. Though he lived until 1961, he wrote little after 1934 and suffered from alcoholism, tuberculosis, and other illnesses. His influence on other writers, however, and on movies and...

Ambrose Bierce was born in 1842 and mysteriously disappeared in 1914. During his lifetime, he was a controversial and prolific writer, and there is growing interest in his works. As a Union soldier during the Civil War, he witnessed bloodshed and the atrocities of battle. After the war, he began a career as a journalist in San Francisco, where many of his newspaper columns were filled with venom and daring. In addition, he wrote war stories and tales of the supernatural, along with an assortment of poems. Today, he is probably best remembered as the author of "The Devil's Dictionary, "...

Lafcadio Hearn was a prolific 19th-century writer with diverse experiences. He was born in Greece; educated in Ireland, France, and England; and thereafter resided in the United States, the French West Indies, and Japan. He is best known for his nonfiction, primarily his essays and newspaper columns, though he also wrote numerous stories that drew on the lore of different cultures. But he will always be remembered as the American writer who first wrote extensively about Japan and made Asiatic culture accessible to British and American readers. This reference is a comprehensive guide to...

Ross Macdonald is best known as the creator of private detective Lew Archer and as the author of such works as "The Drowning Pool" (1950) and "The Underground Man" (1971). One of the most popular American mystery writers of the 20th century, he is often compared to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler-authors from whom he borrowed literary techniques-but is generally considered more serious and complex, often writing about dysfunctional families in academic settings. This reference is a convenient guide to his life and works.

Included are numerous alphabetically arranged entries for...

At one time, Mickey Spillane had authored seven of the top ten bestsellers in history, and may have been the most widely read author in the world. Spillane masterful storytelling grabs his readers with his first paragraph and leads them spellbound toward his climax. Along with Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald, he remains one of America's greatest mystery writers. This book is a convenient guide to his works.

An opening chronology lists the chief events in his life and career. The bulk of the volume presents several hundred alphabetically arranged entries...