Supplement XV is focused on contemporary writers, many of whom have had little sustained attention from critics thus far, although most are well known. As ever, the purpose in presenting these critical and biographical essays is to bring readers back to the texts discussed, to help them in their reading, and to generate appreciation for the role these writers have played in the creation of a distinguished and useful cultural past and literary present.
Supplement XII centers on contemporary writers from various genres and traditions who have had little sustained attention from critics, although most are well known. Among the poets discussed are Fleur Adcock, Kamau Brathwaite, G.F. Dutton, Peter Fallon, Hugh MacDiarmid, and R.S. Thomas. A fair number of contemporary fiction writers are considered, including Peter Carey, Louis De-Bernières, Janice Galloway, Philip Kerr, David Malouf, and Patrick O’Brian.
BRITISH WRITERS, Supplement XIBritish Writers, Volume 1-8 (vol.8 is an index to volumes 1-7), is a collection of critical essays covering writers who have made significant contributions to British, Irish, and Commonwealth literature from the 14th century to the present day.
The goal of the supplements has been consistent with the original idea of the series: to provide clear, informative essays aimed at the general reader. These essays are meant to introduce a writer of some importance in the history of British or Anglophone literature.
In British Writers, Retrospective Supplement I, the substantial reconsiderations of twenty major British and Irish authors, ranging over the centuries from Christopher Marlowe, the great Elizabethan playwright, to well-known contemporary writers, such as Seamus Heaney and Harold Pinter, are presented. In each article, the critic looks back at the whole career of an author who has made a significant impact on literary history, offering close readings, supplying biographical data, and sifting the most recent critical responses to these writers.
