The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Oxford Companions) Review This is a sympathetic study of an important part of recent social history. (Contemporary Review)Continues to stand out as distinctive, authoritative, and a work of excellence' (Reference Reviews)Increasing user-friendliness and a nice "up to date" feel (Reference Reviews)Sumptuous volume. (Ferdinand Mount, Standpoint)Detailed, clear and lively accounts. (Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman)A classic now made contemporary, this really is a boon companion. (Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman)Birch and the contributors have done an excellent job. (Sameer Rahim, Daily Telegraph)Excellence is in the details. (Times Literary Supplement, Henry Hitchings)This is a scrupulously produced, smartly laid-out, academically serious and at the same time relishably browsable book. (Henry Hitchings, The Times Literary Supplement)It offers companionable assistance; it's your pal in literary need. (John Sutherland, Sunday Times) 				    	 					 About the Author Dinah Birch is Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University. She was previously a fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. Her works on 19th-century literature include a number of books and articles on the critic John Ruskin. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television. Margaret Drabble (editor of the 5th and 6th editions) is a distinguished novelist and biographer. Her many novels include Jerusalem the Golden, The Needle's Eye, The Seven Sisters, and The Sea Lady. She has also written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson.