Covers all English language writes, including American authors. Extensive coverage of writers, works, literary theory, allusions, and characters. Online.

350 essays from leading scholars, cover the range and depth of American literary history from the 1600s to the present day.

Entries cover various aspects of America's literary past, while also identifying larger trends along a literary timeline.

Contains more than 400 biographies of authors, critics, literary characters, and historical figures, and 150 plot summaries of major works.

Part 1 has articles on stories that share a particular theme, such as "Working Class Stories." Part 2 contains more than one hundred essays on the lives and work of individual writers.

The Literary Encyclopedia is a constantly evolving and updating repository of authoritative reference work about literary and cultural history. All our articles are solicited by invitation from specialist scholars in higher education institutions all over the world, refereed and approved by subject editors in our Editorial Board. The LE is thus uniquely selective, reliable and authoritative. Its online format allows for rapid publication and frequent updating of articles; its integrated digital resources (author life-chronologies, customisable timelines, thematic or course-oriented bookshelves, related article clusters, critical bibliographies) respond dynamically to teaching and learning demands.

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