内容简介：
The "Scribner Writers Series has set the standard for literary reference for more than 25 years. In addition to addressing the lives and careers of important writers, the articles discuss the themes and a styles of major works and place them in pertinent historical, social and political concerns for today's readers. Novelists, playwrights, essayists, poets, short story writers, and more recently, genre writers in science fiction and mystery, are all expertly discussed in the more than 17 sets comprising this series. To see listings of writers for any volume in this section, go to the "Scribner Writers Series section online at www.gale.com/scribners. This new title in the "Scribner Writers Series covers 20 of the most influential works of British literature in each volume. Written in a clear, jargon-free style by experts in the field, essays cover individual works of British fiction exploring the themes, characterization, use of language and other nuances of these enduring pieces of literature. Volume 1 covers such titles as Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," Jane Austen's "Emma," Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" and James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." Volume 2 includes coverage of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."