Scribner launches a new literature reference source with this volume, accompaniment to its well-established British Writers series. While that series focus on writers, the new one concentrates on works. The first volume contains extensive essays on 20 literary classics in various genres, selected after researching the curriculum and consulting with professors. Although many of the choices are unsurprising, others are not typically given to beginning students of literature, reflecting the fact that the new series is intended for a somewhat advanced audience.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
In many ways and for various reasons, Tristram Shandy is one of the great books of prose fiction. In its humor, universality, and insight into humanity, it reminds one of Petronius, Rabelais, Cervantes, Swift, and Joyce. In its concern with motives and with the psychology of the individual, in the writer's approach to the problems of novel writing, it makes great sense to the modern reader.
