"This accessible and useful source is the first of a 12-volume series focusing on major fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from various geographic areas of the world. It uniquely combines literary and historical information, arranged in alphabetical order by the title of the work. Each of the 50 entries includes an introduction that discusses the work by genre, place, and period; a description of its social and political background; a summary of plot or contents; a description of the social, political, or literary events of its author's life and the way they have influenced the plot of contents of the work; and a list of sources and further readings. The remaining 11 volumes will cover the literatures of Africa, Asia, modern england and Ireland, Spain and Portugal, France, the Middle East, Italy, India, and Jewish literature. This series will be a welcome addition to public and academic libraries. It will be most useful to high school students and undergraduates."--"Outstanding reference sources 2000", American Libraries, May 2000. Comp. by the Reference Sources Committee, RUSA, ALA.