Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Notable American Novelists, rev. ed. Edited by Carl Rollyson. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, Inc., 2008. 3 vols. 1535 p. $217.00. ISBN 978-1-58765-393-3.

Biographical sketches and analytical overviews of 145 of the best-known 19^th and 20^th century American and Canadian authors of fiction are found in this revised edition. While the signed essays appeared in other publications, those on living authors and the bibliographies for all articles are updated. Entries begin with birth and death dates and places, and titles and dates of the principal long fiction works. Other literary forms are discussed, achievements, and a brief biography are followed by an analysis section and the works chosen. Other major works are cited at the end of the article and a bibliography follows. Black and white photographs illustrate most entries. The complete list of contents of all three volumes is found in each, Appendixes include ten pages of "Terms and Techniques" and a four page timeline citing birth dates and places from the earliest author listed, James Fenimore Cooper to Barbara Kingsolver.