Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia

For nearly 50 years, this unique single-volume encyclopedia of world literature has been hailed as the best available. Here are over 10,000 informative entries, covering everything a reader could wish to know, including biographies of poets, playwrights, novelists, essayists and belletrists from around the world and through the ages, from Aristophanes to Toni Morrison, from Chuang Tzu to Juan Rulfo; plot summaries of important literary works, ranging from Beowulf to Wuthering Heights to Things Fall Apart; sketches of principal characters from literature, from Salome to Leopold Bloom; myth, legend and folklore, covering everything from Isis to the Midgard Serpentto to the paladins; biographies of artists, musicians, philosophers and other historical personages ranging from Roman emperors to U.S. presidents who figure prominently in literature; accounts of significant schools and movements in literature, such as the Bloomsbury Group and the Beat writers; original titles, as well as the most familiar English titles, for works in languages other than English and recipients of major literary awards, including Pulitzer and Nobel prize winners. From book cover.