Companion to English Literature

Ed. Diana Birch (OUP, £35)

The first Oxford Companion to English Literature was published in 1932, and soon became an essential reference book for teachers and students. Of course, it often has to be updated, and I was happy to exchange my own edition (the fifth) for this one (the seventh) which is just out.

It has a new editor, more than 1,000 new entries, and four introductory essays on Literary Culture and the Novel in the New Millennium (Hermione Lee); Cultures of Reading (Kelvin Everest); Black British Literature (Bénédicte Ledente) and Children’s Literature (Michael Rosen). Every page has been thoroughly revised. ‘English literature’ can be defined very broadly. Many people feel there are no ‘serious’ living novelists to compare with the great Victorians and believe that a good crime novel or fantasy may have more to offer. For instance, are Ruth Rendell and J.K. Rowling here? Yes, they are. So is Neil Gaiman, the comic king, and so are several travel, science fiction and post-colonial writers. So are critics, booksellers, famous foreign authors and the occasional non-English and non-literary figure like Mozart. So are the Carry On films and Rupert Bear.

So, a delightful and useful miscellany. We will all have our gripes; I for one would have liked to see more about the literatures of Wales and Scotland and am rather sad that many entries on individual novels have had to go; no longer can you read a detailed summary of The Old Wives’ Tale or The Wings of the Dove. But whatever you are looking for, you should find the basic facts in this edition, which has been put together by a distinguished team of scholars. It will go into all good libraries and idle browsers will enjoy it too.