A Concise History of English Literature

Author: Gao Jihai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Considering the needs of a large number of English enthusiasts and students of English majors in China to study British literature, we decided to compile an English A Brilliant History of British Literature and a companion Selected Readings in British Literature, aiming to achieve the following objectives:
1. Combine history and selection, with history as the main focus and selection as the auxiliary. The history is concise and straightforward, highlighting key points for easy memorization; the selected works are renowned masterpieces with detailed, accurate, and standardized annotations to reduce comprehension difficulty.
2. Introduce the historical background and authors' biographies as briefly as possible, while providing in-depth analysis of the artistic features of representative works of literary schools and important authors.
3. Organize the material chronologically, determining the length of each author's coverage based on their significance.
4. Written entirely in English, with language striving for simplicity, vividness, and accessibility.
5. The concise history treats each author as follows:
a) Introduction to their life and major works;
b) Analysis of the themes and artistic features of key works;
c) Achievements and influence.
6. The structure of the selected readings is as follows:
a) Author bio;
b) Work introduction;
c) Excerpt;
d) Annotations;
e) Discussion questions.
7. In selecting authors and works, we respect the consensus of most scholars while also reflecting personal editorial preferences.