An extensively revised, expanded, and updated edition of the classic guide to English Literature for the new millennium - nearly 600 new entries cover new figures and issues, and existing entries have been reworked to incorporate the latest scholarship. In addition to the extensive coverage of writers, works, literary theory, allusions, and characters, there are sixteen featured essay-style entries on key topics including black British literature, fantasy fiction and modernism. Thetext has been written by a team of more than 140 contributors under Margaret Drabble's editorial direction, including such distinguished names as Brian Aldiss, Lisa Appignanesi, Penelope Fitzgerald, Roy Porter, and Salman Rushdie, each writing on his or her specialist field of knowledge.