Edited by an author of many books on African writers and literature, this encyclopedia covers all aspects of African literature produced in all of the major languages. Both sub-Saharan and North African literatures are represented, although for works in Arabic the focus is on the modern period.

More than 600 signed articles by academic specialists treat mostly individual authors, both well known and less established. Longer essays deal with historical and cultural issues concerning the study of African literature, including criticism and theory and its development as a field of scholarship. Essays on Autobiography, Feminist criticism, and Islam in African literature, as well as regional overviews such as Gikuyu literature and West African literature in English, make this a useful starting point for exploration of African literature. Because these more general articles are one of the strengths of the work, it would have been helpful to list them in the fore matter, as it is a guessing game to find them. Most articles, including the biographical entries, have a very small list of references for further reading. Although reasonably up-to-date, these lists are often a mixture of a few primary and secondary works, not the most impressive feature of the volume.

This new edition of David Lodge's Modern Criticism and Theory is fully revised and expanded to take account of the developments in theoretical contemporary literary criticism since the publication of the first edition in 1988. Building on the strengths of the first edition, this volume is designed to introduce the reader to the guiding concepts of present literary and cultural debate by presenting substantial extracts from the most seminal thinkers. As with the original edition there is a selection of the most important and representative work from the major schools in contemporary criticism.

Concise introductions with updated suggestions for further reading give a context for each essay and the editors have provided footnotes that help explain the most difficult references. Both students and general readers are encouraged to identify for themselves links between essays, as the selection is ordered both historically and thematically.

How can we best forge a theoretical practice that directly addresses the struggles of once-colonized countries, many of which face the collapse of both state and society in today's era of economic reform? David Scott argues that recent cultural theories aimed at "deconstructing" Western representations of the non-West have been successful to a point, but that changing realities in these countries require a new approach. In Refashioning Futures, he proposes a strategic practice of criticism that brings the political more clearly into view in areas of the world where the very coherence of a secular-modern project can no longer be taken for granted.

This welcome addition to the Blackwell Guides to Criticism series provides students with an invaluable survey of the critical reception of the Romantic poets
* Guides readers through the wealth of critical material available on the Romantic poets and directs them to the most influential readings
* Presents key critical texts on each of the major Romantic poets – Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats – as well as on poets of more marginal canonical standing
* Cross-referencing between the different sections highlights continuities and counterpoints

This comprehensive guide to the history of literary criticism from antiquity to the present day provides an authoritative overview of the major movements, figures, and texts of literary criticism, as well as surveying their cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts.

• Supplies the cultural, historical and philosophical background to the literary criticism of each era
• Enables students to see the development of literary criticism in context
• Organised chronologically, from classical literary criticism through to deconstruction
• Considers a wide range of thinkers and events from the French Revolution to Freud’s views on civilization
• Can be used alongside any anthology of literary criticism or as a coherent stand-alone introduction