Greenwood Press

Library Bookwatch, August, 2005

Greenwood Press

88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881

1-800-225-5800 www.greenwood.com

Elizabeth Chesney Zegura edits The Rabelais Encyclopedia (0313310343, $95.00), about a French humanist who was one of the finest French writers of Renaissance times. Specialty college-level holdings on French literature or Renaissance history will find The Rabelais Encyclopedia a specialized yet important addition, providing in-depth coverage of five books written between 1532 and 1553 which rivaled the works of Shakespeare in their time. Rabelais is read in numerous courses on French literature and Renaissance history, so this will prove indispensable for such a collection. Mary Steible's Coriolanus: A Guide To The Play (0313329621, $55.00) joins others in Greenwood's 'Guides to Shakespeare' series, analyzing a play which holds thematic consistency in presenting a class conflict between Roman patricians and plebeians. Use this as a reader's guide to the play: it discusses the history of Coriolanus, its metaphors, provides a plot summary, and discusses its historical, cultural and literary significance as an influencer of Shakespeare. Greenwood's literary biographies are recommended picks for any studying a significant author's works, and Connie Ann Kirk's Sylvia Plath (0313332142, $29.95) is a vivid, complex coverage presenting the facts of her life as they are currently known. Research reflects the latest updated scholarship, including new information from her unabridged journals published in 2000, and the recently accessible Ted Hughes archives, making Kirk's SYLVIA PLATH much more detailed than its biographical predecessors. James H. Meredith's Understanding The Literature Of World War I (0313312001, $45.00) joins others in the 'Literature in Context' series to present high school to college level students with a 'casebook' to issues, sources and historical documents. Students may use this to understand both World War II history and the fiction works which resulted in such classics as All Quiet On The Western Front, making it of dual importance to both American history and literature classes. Also contributin to the 'Literature in Context' series is Lynn Domina's Understanding Ceremony (03-13328595, $45.00), providing a student casebook of examples blending Native American history and insights with a survey of Native and Western literature reflecting on ceremony. Close relationships between social and political issues and Native American literature's rise are revealed in an exciting, different study.