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A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference)
 
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A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) [Paperback]

Chris Baldick
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; 2nd Revised edition edition (1 Oct 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 019280118X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192801180
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 427,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Chris Baldick
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Product Description

Product Description

Containing over 1000 of the most troublesome literary terms encountered by students and general readers, this book gives clear and often witty explanations to terms such as hypertext, multi-accentuality, and postmodernism. Among the book's features are: extensive coverage of traditional drama, rhetoric, literary history, and textual criticism; fully updated terms that have become prominent in the last few years; and advice on further reading for particular terms and for general terms.

About the Author

Professor Chris Baldick is Professor of English at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He edited 'The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales' (1992), and is the author of 'In Frankenstein's Shadow' (1987), 'Criticism and Literary Theory 1890 to the Present' (1996), and other works of literary history. He has edited, with Rob Morrison, 'Tales of Terror from Blackwoods' Magazine', and 'The Vampyre and Other Tales of Macabre', and has written an introduction to Charles Maturin's 'Melmoth
the Wanderer' (all available in the Oxford World's Classics series).

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Customer Reviews

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful and straight forward, 10 Jan 2004
This review is from: A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
This dictionary is a joy, particularly for the new English Literature student. It's definitions are succinct and informative, including pointers for further reading. It's not definitive but is a great book to have on hand for quick and easy reference.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Oxford Literary Terms Chris Baldick, 28 Mar 2011
This review is from: A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
The book is a must for anyone taking English degree or A level. Easy to use reference book. Recommend.
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Amazon.com: 4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, but not flawless, resource, 17 Nov 2000
By Michael J. Mazza - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
"The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms" is an excellent reference work for students of literature or cultural studies, or for anyone who wants to enrich his or her vocabulary with a variety of fascinating terms. Beginning with "the absurd" and ending with "zeugma," Chris Baldick has assembled a marvelous bestiary of literary terms and has provided concise explanations of each one.

Baldick's choices cover a wide range of history, geography, and ideology--from the Senecan tragedy to the campus novel, from the haiku to the Petrarchan sonnet, from Romanticism to Russian Formalism. Particularly useful is his inclusion of many originally non-English terms: "Sturm und Drang," "bricolage," and many more.

Of course, no project of this nature can be exhaustive, particularly when it is crammed into 246 pages. And yet, I wonder at the rationale behind some of Baldick's inclusions and omissions. Why, for example, is there an entry for Homeric, but none for Dickensian? For the Harlem Renaissance, but not for the Black Arts Movement? For Brechtian, but not for Kafkaesque? For logocentrism, but not for phallocentrism? For science fiction, but not for horror? For braggadocio, but not for tragic mulatta?

Nevertheless, this is still one of my favorite reference works. So if you're planning a Festschrift, if you're contemplating a revival of Vorticism, or if you want to spice up your latest jeremiad with some Spoonerisms, check out this book. It will make you feel like a true skald!


17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Handy desktop reference, esp for novices, 7 Jun 2003
By richardpinneau.com - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
This is a quite serviceable dictionary, with 1000-odd entries. At only 250 pages, however, the treatment of complex terms, schools, and issues must often be cursory. This second edition, is however, nicely updated from the 1990 first edition, and presents a more readable typeface on better paper. Being relatively small, it may be the most convenient literary dictionary to keep by your side. For a similar investment, however, you might consider the vastly more thorough 1000-page PENGUIN Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th edn by Cuddon & Preston, 1998, ISBN: 0140513639 ) - possibly out of print as of this writing, but a bargain reference at the used price being asked by some Amz connections [ perhaps Penguin is on verge of releasing a 5th edition? ].

For more *depth* of coverage for important literary concepts and controversies, serious literary students will more appreciate the BEDFORD Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (Murfin & Ray, 1998). While the Oxford aims more at comprehensiveness in including terms (so that the reader can find "memoir-novel" and "misprision" for example), the Bedford strives for depth of explorations and interrelations of terms (a dictionary that could be considered "authored" as well as edited) - see review at ISBN 0312115601 .

In summary, OXFORD is a *concise* dictionary; PENGUIN is a comprehensive dictionary; BEDFORD is a stimulating exploration and integration of terms and concepts.


12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tool For English Majors, 30 May 2003
By A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What should ... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)
Literary dictionaries are usually tough nuts to crack. By the nature of the book, there is an educated obscurity to most of the terms. "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms" conquers this by displacing the less useful words with very readable definitions of the words the book lists.

For example, 'plurisignation,' a somewhat difficult word to say, sends the reader, sans definition, to 'ambiguity,' which enjoys a more sensible, approachable definition.

Finishing the book is 'zeugma,' which Baldick describes as a figure of speech "by which one word refers to two others in the same sentence." He gives us a taste of William Shakespeare in a sample of a zeugma, "Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss."

It is adequately cross-referenced, and is accessible for browsing without becoming lost in heady terms.

Who should read this? Any college freshman studying literature. This is a solid handbook, and is begging to be used in classrooms, taught letter-by-letter, entry-by-entry. Knowing these terms (about 1,000 in all) will clear up a lot of headaches while reading literary criticism and essays.

I fully recommend "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms" by Chris Baldick.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
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