Cyclopedia of Literary Characters

This comprehensive edition combines the characters profiled in the first three editions of Cyclopedia of Literary Characters (1963, 1990, 1998) along with brand new coverage of characters that appeared in works of fiction published between 2000 and 2012. This series offers readers the opportunity to become familiar with both famous and less well-known personalities from classic fiction.

These character descriptions can be used alone to begin researching character development and motivation in a novel. They also can be used as a starting place for analysing an epic play or novel and its author’s writing style and technique.

Articles are arranged alphabetically by book title and begin with ready-reference top matter information about the author and the book, including each book’s title, foreign title if originally published in a language other than English, author’s name with birth and death years, date of first publication, genre, locale, time of action, and plot type. The characters are arranged by order of importance within each article. The central or key characters receive lengthy descriptions; supporting and minor figures receive less extensive treatment. Books by a given author that commonly are studied together are treated in a single article, allowing the user to study character development across the books. Heavily cross-referenced indexes allow easy access to all title covered. Pronunciation guides are provided for character names that are most likely to be mispronounced.

Three indexes are found at the back of volume 5, and are designed to help the user more readily access the text. First, there is a complete list of titles, including cross-references. Second, an Author Index lists titles by author; again cross-references are included. Finally, the alphabetical Character Index lists the more than 29,000 characters described, using last names if those appear in the original works, or using first names or descriptions. The Character Index is a valuable aid in locating the author and work or works with which a particular character is associated.