Dictionary of European Literature

A study of English Literature alone would give a very false and insufficient idea of the heights attained in the progress of European Literature as a whole. – W. P. Ker

Party politics leave me cold. But the countyside of England and the literature of Europe make me glow. – George Wyndham

Literature enables nations to understand one another. – Walter Bagehot

The object of this book is to provide, in a single volume, the information which students require complementary to a history of English literature, or to the special study of a part of it. The dictionary is also a general sketch of European literature as well as a comprehensive survey of the periods of European literature. The period covered by this massive work extends from the twelfth to the twentieth century. The DICTIONARY OF EUROPEAN LITERATURE comprises general articles on movements or topics continuous through several centuries and countries; concise surveys of the literary history of the chief countries; critical and biographical accounts, with a minimum of bibliography, of minor and major writers, and definitions of such literary terms as the student or general reader is likely to encounter.