The Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction

A unique A-Z guide to the literature of this fascinating era

With over 800 A-Z entries covering writers, individual works, literary periodicals, and general themes, this companion offers information about the writings, the authors, and the preoccupations of the Edwardian era. There are also entries on the themes and genres that emerged during this era.'This oozing, bulging wealth of the English upper and upper-middle classes.' This was how George Orwell saw the Edwardian period. What images do we see when we think of that era? Ladies munching delicately on cucumber sandwiches? Gentlemen in straw boaters punting gently down rivers? Looking at the authors and authoresses of this time and the things that they wrote about, it seems that there is more to that era than this chocolate-box image of long, lazy summer afternoons would imply. In fact the Edwardian period was a time of much anxiety and insecurity about the changes that were taking place and the ideas that were emerging, and the fiction which arose from them serves as evidence for this. In this unique guide, described as 'a tremendous achievement' by the TLS, literature scholars Sandra Kemp, Charlotte Mitchell, and David Trotter explore the broad sweep of writing that emerged from the early 20th century. Now available in paperback, the Companion offers a wealth of information on the writers, the works, the themes, and the ideas of this fascinating literary era. From Walter Besant's The Fourth Generation, to James Joyce's Dubliners, the Companion doesn't merely centre on works from the Edwardian period but also explores those whose fiction influenced writers at the start of the period and those who took those writers' themes and ideas up to the next level. It also provides details on some of the now neglected and forgotten gems that came from that era. Around 800 authors are covered and there are also entries on some of the most significant novels of the period. An unprecedented number of women began to publish at this time and they represent nearly half of the author-entries in the Companion. There are also entries on the themes and genres that emerged. This was a period when the urban middle and lower classes became not only the subject of fiction but also a substantial part of its readership. Never before had novels been so cheap...