Synopsis
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman presents a comprehensive resource complied by over 200 internationally recognized contributors, including such leading Whitman scholars as James E. Miller, Jr., Roger Asselineau, Betsy Erkkila, and Joel Myerson.
This volume comprises more than 750 entries arranged in convenient alphabetical format. Coverage includes:
- Biographical Information: all names, dates, places, and events important to understanding Whitman's life and career
- Whitman's Works: essays on all eight editions of "Leaves of Grass," major poems and poem clusters, principal essays and prose works, as well as his more than two dozen short stories and the novel, Franklin Evans
- Prominent Themes and Concepts: essays on such major topics as democracy, slavery, the Civil War, immortality, sexuality, and the women's rights movement.
- Significant Forms and Techniques: such as prosody, symbolism, free verse, and humour
- Important Trends and Critical Approaches in Whitman Studies: including New Historicist and cultural criticism, psychological explorations, and controversial issues of sexual identity
- Surveys of Whitman's International Impact as well as an assessment of his literary legacy.
Useful for students, researchers, librarians, teachers, and Whitman devotees, this volume features extensive cross-references, numerous photographs of the poet, a chronology, a special appendix section tracking the poet's genealogy, and a thorough index. Each entry includes a bibliography for further study.
School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-The best reference books fan the flame of student interest, nudging them from the need for an answer to the desire to know more. This encyclopedia does just that and more, covering everything from Whitman's relationship with Dr. Henry Abbott to the Young American Movement. Along with the expected articles on the important influences on his work (Homer, the Bible, Ralph Waldo Emerson), there are also entries for the many authors who were influenced by him (James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams). The writing is clear and lively. The book has a handful of black-and-white photos. Complete with a comprehensive chronology and a genealogy, this volume will be useful for students just being introduced to the poet as well as those who have grown to love his work. Libraries owning Gay Wilson Allen's Walt Whitman Handbook (Hendricks) and the Reader's Guide to Walt Whitman (Syracuse Univ., 1997) will still want this important title.-Herman Sutter, Saint Pius X High School, Houston, TX Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.