Sir Paul Harvey's original Oxford Companion to English Literature, published in 1932, was the book that began Oxford's celebrated Companion series. In its various editions in the half-century since then, it has enjoyed an enormously faithful following and unflagging sales (over 400,000 to date).
Now, for the Fifth Edition, the eminent novelist and biographer Margaret Drabble has put together the most substantial and significant revision in the book's distinguished history. The Classic Guide to English Literary Culture Here, thoroughly updated, is the standard reference work on English literature, both classic and contemporary. The virtues established by Harvey are intact: the useful plot summaries, the separate entries on important fictional characters, the countless biographical articles on authors and other important figures in the world of letters, the lightness of touch that makes the book a pleasure to read.
As ever, this is an essential book for libraries large and small, for students, for teachers, for everyone interested in English literature.