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Douglas Adams Publisher’s Note This new edition of Critical Survey of World Liter- reading groups, they can be used as paper topics ature, previously Magill’s Choice of World Literature, or conversation points. offers profiles of major writers outside the United In addition, phonetic pronunciation is provid- States from all time periods, accompanied by anal- ed for many foreign author’s last name -- for exam- yses of their significant titles of fiction, drama, po- ple, Aeschylus (EHS-kuh-luhs). A Key to Pronun- etry, and nonfiction. This work was originally pub- ciation appears at the beginning of all six volumes. lished in 1993, a supplement appeared in 1995, and then a revised six-volume edition was pub- Format and Content lished in 2009. This new edition covers 450 writers Critical Survey of World Literature is arranged in an at the heart of literary studies for middle and high A-Z format, by author’s last name. Essays vary from school students and at the center of book discus- approximately six to thirteen pages in length. sions among library patrons. It brings together in- Each begins with a block of reference information formation on the lives and works of writers from in a standard order: around the world in all genres. Its companion set, Critical Survey of American Literature, was published • Name by which the author is best known in 2016. • Born: place and date • Died: place and date Scope • Statement about the author’s literary For this edition of Critical Survey of World Literature, importance new authors include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The main text is divided into the following Patrick Chamoiseau, Orhan Pamuk, William sections: Woodward Self, Yann Martel and Amitav Ghosh. The list of authors span both the globe, represent- • Biography: chronological overview of the ing nearly fifty different countries, and time, from author’s life the sixth century BCE to the twenty-first century. • Analysis: discussion about the author’s style, This new edition also includes more women writ- dominant themes, and literary ers and authors of children’s and young adult lit- characteristics erature. • Works: profiles of one or more individual titles (novels, novellas, plays, poems, short Currency stories, essays) All the original essays were evaluated for their cur- • Summary: one or two brief paragraphs rency, and many were significantly revised. Biogra- summarizing the author’s legacy phy, Analysis, and Summary sections were updat- ed to include new titles or awards, changes in Each Works section lists the year in which the residence or employment, and alterations in criti- title was first published. For short stories, poems, cal and popular reception, with many including essays, or other short pieces, a collection of the new works. Bibliographies for all essays were re- author’s works in which the reader can find the viewed, and lists of the author’s works and sources title is also indicated. for further consultation were revised to provide Every essay ends with a bibliography listing readers with the latest information. both the author’s works in all genres (By the Au- Each essay includes a Discussion Topics sidebar thor) and sources for further study (About the that addresses the writer’s body of work, specific Author) and contains the thought-provoking Dis- works, or life as it relates to his or her literature. cussion Topics sidebar. All essays include the Aimed at students, teachers, and members of byline of the contributor. In addition, hundreds of ix Critical Survey of World Literature author portraits and thumbnail photographs of • Poets book jackets illustrate the text. • Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers • Screenwriters Reference Features • Short-Story Writers At the beginning of each volume are the Table of • Women Contents for that volume, including the works fea- • Geographical List groups authors by tured in the Works sections, and a Complete List country of their origin or where they did of Contents for the entire set. the majority of their writing Five helpful reference sections appear at the • Title Index lists all featured works in end of Volume 6: alphabetical order • Author Index lists all authors profiled in the • Glossary defines crucial literary terms for set, with a list of their featured works. the reader, with examples from world literature Acknowledgments • Category List groups authors by genre, Salem Publishing thanks the editor of the previ- gender, and identity into the following 12 ous edition, Steven G. Kellman, Professor of Liter- categories: ature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, • Children’s and Young Adult Literature and editor of this edition, Robert C. Evans, L.B. Writers Young Professor of English, Auburn University at • Gay or Bisexual Writers Montgomery. We also thank the outstanding writ- • Jewish Writers ers who contributed material for this new edition • Mystery and Detective Writers of the Critical Survey of World Literature and for its • Nonfiction Writers previous versions. A list of their names and affilia- • Novelists tions can be found in the front of Volume 1. • Playwrights x Key to Pronunciation Foreign and unusual or ambiguous English-language names of profiled authors may be unfamiliar to some users of Critical Survey of World Literature. To help readers pronounce such names correctly, phonetic spellings using the character symbols listed below appear in parentheses immediately after the first men- tion of the author’s name in the narrative text. Stressed syllables are indicated in capital letters, and sylla- bles are separated by hyphens. Vowel Sounds Symbol Spelled (Pronounced) a answer (AN-suhr), laugh (laf), sample (SAM-puhl), that (that) ah father (FAH-thur), hospital (HAHS-pih-tuhl) aw awful (AW-fuhl), caught (kawt) ay blaze (blayz), fade (fayd), waiter (WAYT-ur), weigh (way) eh bed (behd), head (hehd), said (sehd) ee believe (bee-LEEV), cedar (SEE-dur), leader (LEED-ur), liter (LEE-tur) ew boot (bewt), lose (lewz) i buy (bi), height (hit), lie (li), surprise (sur-PRIZ) ih bitter (BIH-tur), pill (pihl) o cotton (KO-tuhn), hot (hot) oh below (bee-LOH), coat (koht), note (noht), wholesome (HOHL-suhm) oo good (good), look (look) ow couch (kowch), how (how) oy boy (boy), coin (koyn) uh about (uh-BOWT), butter (BUH-tuhr), enough (ee-NUHF), other (UH-thur) Consonant Sounds Symbol Spelled (Pronounced) ch beach (beech), chimp (chihmp) g beg (behg), disguise (dihs-GIZ), get (geht) j digit (DIH-juht), edge (ehj), jet (jeht) k cat (kat), kitten (KIH-tuhn), hex (hehks) s cellar (SEHL-ur), save (sayv), scent (sehnt) sh champagne (sham-PAYN), issue (IH-shew), shop (shop) ur birth (burth), disturb (dihs-TURB), earth (urth), letter (LEH-tur) y useful (YEWS-fuhl), young (yuhng) z business (BIHZ-nehs), zest (zehst) zh vision (VIH-zhuhn) xxiii Douglas Adams Born: Cambridge, England; March 11, 1952 Died: Santa Barbara, California; May 11, 2001 Adams was a pioneer in both humor and science fiction and was among the first to combine the two genres, cre ating The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and other popular novels. at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982); and So Long, and Thanks for Courtesy of Michael Hughes from Berlin, Germany derivative work: Beao, All the Fish (1984). This popular success secured via Wikimedia Commons Adams’s fame in the world of comedy and ushered him into the world of science fiction. Adams at- Biography tended science-fiction conventions, campaigning Douglas Noel Adams was born in 1952 in Cam- for hu mor there at the same time that he promot- bridge, England, where he spent much of his early ed sci ence fiction to humor fans. life and his years of education. Adams’s signature Adams went in a new direction in his next novel trait was unpredictability. He was master of the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (1987), the sto- un expected—when his life story trudged toward ry of a private detective with a holistic approach to the usual university chapter, Adams set off on a solving his cases; he followed it with a sequel, The hitch hiking trip through Europe that stimulated Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, in 1988. He returned one of his most innovative ideas: a hitchhiker’s to the Hitchhiker’s series in his final novel, Mostly guide to the galaxy. Harmless (1992). The years at Cambridge University for Adams Adams married Jane Elizabeth Belson in 1991, were centered not so much on studying English as and the couple had a daughter, Polly. An atheist, on Footlights, the undergraduate comedy society Adams was so opposed to the christening of his that he shared with his lifelong comedic hero daughter that he invented his own naming cere- John Cleese, a member of the Monty Python com- mony. He placed his faith in science, not in reli- edy troupe. Like many Footlighters, Adams at- gion. Science was his way of making sense of the tained fame in the comedy world, contributing to universe: He tried to understand the universe bet- episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the sci- ter so he could better display it to his readers from ence-fiction series Dr. Who. He was inspired by his eye-opening perspective. such pop ular icons as his literary favorites P. G. To the ongoing chagrin of his publishers, Ad ams Wodehouse and Kurt Vonnegut and was influ- rarely met a publication deadline. At one point, a enced even more by the Beatles. frustrated publisher insisted that he end the sen- Adams’s career took off with The Hitchhiker’s tence he was writing and send in a manu script. The Guide to the Galaxy (1979). The popular series start- book was published, as was a sequel that tied the ed out as a radio program for the British Broad- loose ends that the half sentence cre ated.
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