Preface to the Second Edition
The first edition was published in 2000. Each year a reprint has allowed minor
corrections and added titles, a name, a death-date. The publishers have asked for a
second edition. Those familiar with the first will notice three main differences. The
final sections have been expanded and/or rewritten to take account of new authors
and have been revised and updated to reflect fresh discoveries and emerging critical
emphases. A few poetic illustrations have been added. The text has been overhauled,
with many small changes, updates and corrections.
New names,titles and emphases appear throughout, but chiefly in later sections.
More attention has been paid to Shakespeare, Scott, Christina Rossetti, Hardy,
Virginia Woolf, Auden, Isherwood, Waugh and Muriel Spark. Among those
discussed for the first time are Disraeli, Chesterton, Firbank, Jean Rhys, Stevie Smith,
V. S. Naipaul and Patrick O’Brian. Topics further developed include post-
modernism, internationalization, minority writing, multi-culturalism, literary biog-
raphy, and genre fiction, especially crime and fantasy. Changes in the literary
marketplace are noted. Those whose suggestions improved reprints for the first
edition are thanked in the Acknowledgements on page xiv. This second edition in
indebted to the care and kindness of Professors Andrew Breeze of Navarre, and Peter
Davidson of Aberdeen, to whom my thanks.xviiiAlexander Prelims 16/11/12 2:19 pm Page xviii