September 2006

This is an initial booklist suitable as general background for library resources for Literature Studies in English course of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.  It contains books which could be used as texts.  Acknowledgement and thanks go to Anthony Tilke, Librarian at the Yokahama Intl School, who provided very helpful lists of books for a school newly starting the IBDP.  These suggestions formed the basis of this list. 

The list is lightly annotated and hopefully teachers will find it helpful.  The annotations must remain somewhat tentative in that they are generally the result of browsing, on my part, rather than a thorough reading of the individual titles.  Many of the titles are standard reference books which are fairly self-explanatory though, where there are one or more identical books by different authors, I have tried to indicated the one(s) that appear most user-friendly.  As for the many books now available on the subject of approaches to literary appreciation, close-reading, essay-writing, expressing ideas, and so on, I have again tried to indicate the one(s) I imagine students would find more interesting or helpful.  There are now a number of excellent books addressing these subjects, books which make many of the standard formal approaches appear quite outdated and relatively dull.  My own bias is to avoid those books on literary appreciation which are formatted in the shape of boxes, tables and headings in favour of the other kind which try to speak more personally about the way(s) to read, talk about, understand, write about, literature.

Please Note   All prices are in Australian dollars and include 10% GST.   However this GST does not apply to exports from Australia.

Send orders to Austral Ed by post, fax or by email.  Payment can be made with Bank cheques in Australian dollars, by direct bank transfer or by credit card.  Freight is sent by the most economical method, depending on urgency.

Annotated by Ron Shapiro formerly Senior Lecturer in Australian, Asian and  Contemporary  Literatures at the University of Western Australia
                                                                                                       

Books to support IBDP Literature Studies in English

Brockett, Oscar G and Franklin J Hildy
History of the Theatre  2002  hardback $112.95
Although the authors say this is not an all-inclusive book on theatre, it is certainly a big book packed with historical detail, more than school students might be expected to know.  This is a standard reference book first published in 1968 and has gone through eight editions since then.  While it mainly concentrates on the European tradition it also has a secondary interest in African and Asian theatrical traditions and also some interest in the changing critical responses to theatre over successive centuries.  This is an authoritative and often detailed account which nevertheless might prove a little intimidating to the uninitiated student.

Brown, John Russell (ed)
The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre   2001  pb $59.95
Tells the story of theatre from Greek and Egyptian origins to today through a list of academic contributors who are specialists in their interrelated fields, taking into account social and economic factors as well as technological changes in theatre, but also going into a certain amount of specialist detail.

Cuddon, J.A.
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory  1999   4th ed  

pb $28.00
Published over 20 years ago this is the 4th updated and revised edition of this reference for students of literature and literary theory aimed at students of literature and of literary theory.  Contains descriptions of the traditional literary vocabulary and also of theoretical, historical and cultural terms in contemporary literary studies.

Drabble, Margaret (ed)                       
The Oxford Companion to English Literature 6th edition   2000    hardback $99.95
A standard reference book first published in 1932 but updated many times to cover the new figures and issues in English literature into the new millennium as well as historical influences and influences from other cultures.  Generally regarded as offering an unrivalled encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of English literature.  Tends to incorporate a greater degree of critical evaluation in its entries than the corresponding Cambridge Companion, and in scope remains more focused on the canonical tradition than the Cambridge.
Also The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 6th edition  ed Margaret Drabble   2004 pb $34.95

Ellmann, Richard (ed)
The New Oxford Book of American Verse  1976   hardback   $110.00
Over three hundred years of American poetry demonstrating the many varieties in American writing from the amorous and confessional to the philosophical and political to the satirical and humorous including folksongs, ballads and hymns.

Howatson M C (ed)
Oxford Companion to Classical Literature   1997     pb $65.00
Presents all the important facts about the authors, tales and characters from ancient myth and literature, all seen in the context of the history and society of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, the material presented in an alphabetically arranged dictionary format.  It deals with the lives of individual classical writers as well as summarising characters and plots in the literature.  It coves emerging literary styles as well as the wider social and cultural background of the period.
Also The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature  ed M C Howatson & Ian Chilvers   1993   pb $37.95

Opie, Iona (ed)
Oxford Book of Narrative Verse  2002 pb $27.95 
An anthology which traces the storytelling tradition in verse from Chaucer to W.H. Auden covering some 60 important British authors.

Ousby, Ian
The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English  1996   hardback $85.00 pb  $69.95
An invaluable source and reference book to all people, books, and other matters literary, updated to include previously 'unauthorised' genres such as crime fiction, science fiction, children's fiction, etc but broadened to also include the recent postcolonial literatures of regions like Africa, India and the Caribbean.  Entries occur under author, title, genre, movement, poetic form, critical concept, etc and each entry is brief in its factual contextualisation of the topic though generally without attempt at critical evaluation.
The third edition of The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English edited by Dominic Head was published in April 2006.   Hardback $75.00  
This edition has been considerably revised and updated and contains 280 new author entries.

Ritter, Robert
Oxford Style Manual  2003     hardback  $99.95
Combines in one volume The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors and The Oxford Guide to Style.  Very helpful for all book, magazine and Internet publishers.

Stringer, Jenny (ed)
Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Literature in English  1996   hardback   $175.00
This is a comprehensive reference to English language writers and writing throughout the present century, in all the major genres and from around the world.  It is especially useful for Commonwealth writers.

Styan, John L.
Modern Drama in Theory and Practice
Vol 1 Realism and Naturalism  Vol 2  Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd 
1983      $59.95   each volumeBegins with the nationalist revolt in France against the traditional styles of theatre.  Describes the development of various movements reflected in the works of major and minor dramatists.

Watt, Ian
The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding   2000     $32.95
Watt's study of the rise of the novel, first published in 1957, remains the authoritative account of the social conditions which, in the 18th century, gave rise to the particular mode of story-telling that came to be known as the 'novel'.  It remains a mandatory primer to any understanding of the specific qualities characterising this genre from its beginnings and subsequent development.

Cambridge Contexts in Literature series  pb $31.95 each book
A series designed for advanced students of literature offering critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres.  Each volume covers the literary, cultural and historical contexts to the particular topic, whether the topic be Chaucer or modern women writers, or any of the fourteen titles in the series. Each volume aims at comprehensiveness achieved through succinctness and careful choice of excerpt or example.  Further each volume offers ideas on how to write about the topic and suggests assignments and key focus questions. A series which aims at breadth rather than extended or detailed discussion.
American Drama 1900 -1990   by Don Shiach  2000
American Prose and Poetry in the 20th Century by Caroline Zilboorg  2000
Metaphysical Poetry by Richard Willmott  2002 
Post-Colonial Literature  by Christopher O'Reilly 2001 
Romanticism by David Stevens   2004
Shakespeare and Jacobean Tragedy  by Rex Gibson 2001
The Age of Chaucer by Valerie Allen 2004
The Gothic Tradition by David Stevens  2000
The Great War in British Literature by Adrian Barlow  2000
The Modern Short Story by Frank Myszor  2001
The Victorian Novel by Barbara Dennis  2000
20th Century British Drama  by John Smart  2001
Women's Writing by Caroline Zilboorg  2004

Cambridge Companions to Literature series pb $49.95 each

This series provides an introduction to major authors, periods and genres.  Each book has a collection of essays by a range of scholars giving a range of critical perspectives, with an emphasis on social, historical and literary context.  The books are an excellent reference for teachers and senior students.    Titles include the following -   

Australian Literature

British Romanticism

Crime Fiction

English Literature 1740-1830

English Poetry

Greek Tragedy

Literature of the First World War

Modernism

Postcolonial Theory

Postmodernism

Science Fiction

Victorian Novel

Victorian Poetry

Margaret Atwood

Jane Austen

Beckett

Brecht

The Brontes

Chaucer

Anton Chekov

Joseph Conrad

Charles Dickens

John Donne

T S Eliot

F Scott Fitzgerald

Robert Frost

Thomas Hardy

Ibsen

Keats

Arthur Miller

Sylvia Plath

Tom Stoppard

Tennessee Williams

Virginia Wolfe

Wordsworth                      (Contact Austral Ed for a complete list.)

Texts

Croft, Stephen & Helen Cross
English for the IB Diploma  2003     $49.95
An excellent book focusing on the particular skills required for the IB diploma, or for any serious study of literature.  Students of literature, as say compared with more 'factual' subjects like history or science, are often unsure what exactly their subject consists of, what method to follow, what precise moves to make when approaching a particular text, or what an examiner might be looking for.  This book is one of the best guides to date detailing the steps the student needs to have in mind when asked to talk about, or write about, a question or a literary passage.  It also includes a very helpful chapter on the extended essay in English for the IBDP. 

Peet, Malcolm & David Robinson
Leading Questions   1992  $50.50
 The blurb describes this book as a sourcebook and a survival book, academically rigorous but also an irreverent and entertaining read.  At heart it is to do with literary appreciation for upper school students directed in an entertaining and personal way to the student at this level.  In fact it is an excellent introduction to the skills involved in the close reading of literary texts while, at the same time, pointing to many of the problems that some contemporary critics have voiced about close reading methods while, at the same time again, explaining many of the basic literary terms and concepts involved in any serious study of literature. Highly recommended.

Pope, Rob
The English Studies Book  2002  pb $61.00
Whereas English for the IB Diploma is easily accessible for the student, The English Studies Book, while covering much the same ground, is bigger, more comprehensive, more formally structured and might better suit the teacher than the student; for instance, it doesn't offer the basic step by step approach of the other book though in its own way it is quite sound.

Royston, Mike
Finding a Voice: Personal Response to A Level English  1998 pb $60.95
Like Leading Questions, this is a book directed to upper school students full of excerpts, students' own work, specimen questions and answers, self-assessment activities, etc.  all with the aim of encouraging students develop some interactivity with the texts they read.  It is a very good book, not quite so readerly or entertaining as Leading Questions, rather more of a workbook but clearly set out under chapter headings like "How to read and write about poems", "Arguing your case",  "how to write what you mean", etc.

Sadler, Hayllar and Powell
Appreciating Poetry   1986  pb $35.95
If some students feel a little insecure when asked to talk meaningfully about literary texts, this is especially true of poetry, a genre which deliberately places itself at one further remove from the 'factual' world compared with prose.  And this is the acknowledgement with which this book starts.  What it then aims to do is to give the student a concrete step by step method which will enable him/her to talk about a poem in a meaningful way, to show the student a way into a poem, and then a way to talk about the experience.   A book for students and teachers alike.

Wood, Jeffrey and Lynn
Cambridge Critical Workshop   1995   $34.95
A collection of materials which are aimed at developing the skills of unseen literary criticism for students of literature at an advanced level.  Good to see that some educators still see the importance of close-reading at a time in a period when some postmodernists claim that this activity has no value.  The excerpts are taken from the classic canon and are generally of interest and significance in terms of structure, texture, tone, etc.  The book also includes examples of student answers to specific questions, showing how an argument might be started, developed and terminated.

If you would like to order any of the books listed above, send orders to Austral Ed by fax, post or email.    All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST of 10% which is not applicable for overseas schools.

© Kate Shepherd 2008.