Description
Book SynopsisIn all six of its volumes The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light. Fully grounded in sound literary and historical scholarship, the anthology takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors, and includes a wide selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of the worldwide connections of British literature, and it pays attention throughout to issues of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. It includes comprehensive introductions to each period, providing in each case an overview of the historical and cultural as well as the literary background. It features accessible and engaging headnotes for all authors, extensive explanatory annotations, and an unparalleled number of illustrations and contextual materials. Innovative, authoritative and comprehensive, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature has established itself as a leader in the field.
The full anthology comprises six bound volumes, together with an extensive website component; the latter has been edited, annotated, and designed according to the same high standards as the bound book component of the anthology, and is accessible by using the passcode obtained with the purchase of one or more of the bound volumes.
These two volumes provide an overview of British literature in its social and historical context from the Anglo-Saxon period through to the twenty-first century. They trace literary developments an all genres, and touch as well on key developments in the history of the language and the history of print culture. And they provide essential historical background for those unfamiliar with the unfolding of British political, social, economic, and cultural history during each of the six periods into which the study of British literature is commonly divided (The Medieval Period, The Renaissance and Early Seventeenth Century, The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, The Age of Romanticism, The Victorian Era, The Twentieth Century and Beyond). Included are a wide variety of illustrations, including 24 pages of color plates in each volume.
The material for British Literature: A Historical Overview has been drawn from the general introductions to the six volumes of the acclaimed Broadview Anthology of British Literature. A Historical Overview, Volume B is also available; this covers the age of Romanticism through the twentieth century and beyond.
Trade ReviewComments on British Literature: A Historical Overview:
“It is very hard to condense a period’s historical, cultural, political, and literary background in such a way as to engage and inform students and instructors alike. Broadview not only rises to that challenge; it succeeds magnificently. … These introductions are compelling and readable, informative and smart. One could not ask for a better overview of the major periods of British history!” — Amy Montz, University of Southern Indiana
Comments on The Broadview Anthology of British Literature:
“ … sets a new standard by which all other anthologies of British Literature will now have to be measured.” — Graham Hammill, SUNY Buffalo
“With the publication of the Broadview Anthology of British Literature, teachers and students in survey and upper-level undergraduate courses have a compelling alternative to the established anthologies by Norton and Longman. … This is a very real intellectual, as well as pedagogical, achievement.” — Nicholas Watson, Harvard University
“ … an excellent anthology. Good selections for my purposes (including some nice surprises), just the right level of annotation, affordable—and a hit with my students. I will definitely use it again.” — Ira Nadel, University of British Columbia
Table of ContentsPREFACE
INTRODUCTION TO THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM
- Political Parties and Royal Allegiances
Imperial Expansion
The Romantic Mind and Its Literary Productions
The Business of Literature
“Romantic”
A Changing Language
INTRODUCTION TO THE VICTORIAN ERA
- A Growing Power
Grinding Mills, Grinding Poverty
Corn Laws, Potato Famine
“The Two Nations”
The Politics of Gender
Empire
Faith and Doubt
Victorian Domesticity: Life and Death
Cultural Trends
Technology
Cultural Identities
Realism
The Victorian Novel
Poetry
Drama
Prose Non-Fiction and Print Culture
The English Language in the Victorian Era
INTRODUCTION TO THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: FROM 1900 TO MID-CENTURY
- The Edwardian Period
The World Wars
Marx, Einstein, Freud, and Modernism
The Place of Women
Avant-Garde and Mass Culture
Sexual Orientation
Ireland
Ideology and Economics in the 1930s and 1940s
The Literature of the 1930s and 1940s
Literature and Empire
The English Language in the Early Twentieth Century
INTRODUCTION TO THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEYOND: 1945 TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
- The End of the War and the Coming of the Welfare State
The End of Empire
From the 1960s to Century’s End
Ireland, Scotland, Wales
The New Millennium
The History of the English Language
Monarchs and Prime Ministers of Great Britain
Index
