The Routledge dictionary of literary terms : based on "A dictionary of modern critical terms", edited by Roger Fowler

273 Pages·2006·1.894 MB·English

by  Fowler, Roger, Childs, Peter

The Routledge Dictionary of
Literary Terms
The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Termsis a twenty-first century update of Roger
Fowler’s seminal Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms. Bringing together original
entries written by such celebrated theorists as Terry Eagleton and Malcolm Bradbury
with new definitions of current terms and controversies, this is the essential reference
book for students of literature at all levels.
This book includes:
New definitions of contemporary critical issues such as ‘Cybercriticism’ and
●
‘Globalization’.
An exhaustive range of entries, covering numerous aspects to such topics as genre,
●
form, cultural theory and literary technique.
Complete coverage of traditional and radical approaches to the study and production
●
of literature.
Thorough accounts of critical terminology and analyses of key academic debates.
●
Full cross-referencing throughout and suggestions for further reading.
●
Peter Childs is Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of
Gloucestershire. His recent publications include Modernism (Routledge, 2000) and
Contemporary Novelists: British Fiction Since 1970(Palgrave, 2004).
Roger Fowler(1939–99), the distinguished and long-serving Professor of English and
Linguistics at the University of East Anglia, was the editor of the original Dictionary
of Modern Critical Terms(Routledge, 1973, 1987).
Also available from Routledge
Poetry: The Basics Who’s Who in Contemporary
Jeffrey Wainwright Women’s Writing
0–415–28764–2 Edited by
Jane Eldridge Miller
Shakespeare: The Basics 0–415–15981–4
Sean McEvoy
0–415–21289–8 Who’s Who in Lesbian and
Gay Writing
Literary Theory: The Basics Gabriele Griffin
Hans Bertens 0–415–15984–9
0–415–18664–1
Who’s Who in Dickens
Contemporary British Novelists Donald Hawes
Nick Rennison 0–415–26029–9
0–415–21709–1
Who’s Who in Shakespeare
The Routledge Companion to Peter Quennell and
Postmodernism (Second Edition) Hamish Johnson
Edited by Stuart Sim 0–415–26035–3
0–415–33359–8
Who’s Who in Twentieth-Century
The Routledge Companion to Russian World Poetry
Literature Edited by Mark Willhardt
Edited by Neil Cornwell and Alan Michael Parker
0–415–23366–6 0–415–16356–0
The Routledge Dictionary
of Literary Terms
Peter Childs
and
Roger Fowler
Based on
A Dictionary of
Modern Critical Terms,
edited by Roger Fowler
First published in 1973 as A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms
Revised edition published in 1987
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
This edition published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© Routledge 1973, 1987, 2006
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Routledge dictionary of literary terms / [edited by]
Peter Childs and Roger Fowler.
p. cm.
‘Based on A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms, edited by
Roger Fowler.’Rev. ed. of: A dictionary of modern critical terms.
Rev. and enl. ed. 1987.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Literature – Terminology. 2. English language – Terms and
phrases. 3. Literary form – Terminology. 4. Criticism – Terminology.
I. Childs, Peter. II. Fowler, Roger. III. Dictionary of modern
critical terms.
PN41.D4794 2005
803–dc22 2005006915
ISBN 0–415–36117–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–34017–9 (pbk)
To Claire Philpott,with thanks

Contents
Note on the style of references viii
List of terms ix
Dictionary of literary terms 1
Notes on contributors 254
Note on the style
of references
Cross-references give the article to which the reader is referred in SMALLCAPITALS.
Further reading is suggested wherever appropriate, sometimes within the text and
sometimes at the end of articles, whichever is stylistically more suitable. Dates of first
editions are given when they are significant, but usually the most accessible and
convenient modern reprintings and translations are cited.
List of terms
Absurd 1 Catastrophe 23
Action, actor 2 Catharsis 23
Aestheticism 2 Cento(nism) 23
Aesthetics 3 Character 23
Affective fallacy 4 Chicago critics 25
Aktualisace 4 Chorus 26
Alienation effect 4 Classic 26
Allegory 4 Closure 28
Alliteration 5 Code 28
Alterity 5 Cohesion 28
Ambiguity 6 Comedy 28
Analysis 7 Comedy of manners 29
Anticlimax 9 Comparative literature 29
Anti-hero 9 Competence, literary 31
Apocalyptic literature 9 Complaint 31
Aporia 10 Conceit 31
Appreciation 10 Concrete poetry 32
Archaism 10 Consonance 33
Archetype 11 Context 33
Aristotelian criticism 11 Contradiction 34
Art 11 Convention 35
Assonance 11 Couplet 36
Atmosphere 11 Creation 37
Author 12 Criticism 38
Autobiography 14 Critique 40
Ballad 15 Cultural criticism 41
Baroque 16 Cultural materialism 43
Belief 18 Culture 44
Bildungsroman 18 Cybercriticism 46
Biography 20 Dada 48
Burlesque 22 Decentring 48
Cacophony 23 Deconstruction 48
Caricature 23 Decorum 51
Carnival 23 Defamiliarization 52