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Characters in 20th-Century Literature provides essays on the most-studied literary characters from international contemporary writers. Book 1 features more than 1000 fictional characters from the works of 300 writers.

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Library Journal Review

This book provides character sketches within plot summaries for over 2000 characters in more than 600 works by 250 20th-century writers, over half of whom are from the post-1960 era. Because date of death is used to determine whether a writer may be called ``20th century,'' many 19th-century writers are included: Zola, Tolstoy, and Twain, for example. Other important writers are excluded: Algren, Barthelme, Cozzens, and Mansfield, to name a few. A popular writer like Ayn Rand is included but not Margaret Mitchell or Jean Auel. The entries themselves are primarily factual rather than analytic and the selections often arbitrary: why include Doctorow's Ragtime but not World's Fair ? There are misreadings (e.g., the meaning of Catch-22 ). The ``Further Reading'' section is of inconsistent value and relies too heavily on other Gale publications. Definitely not recommended.--Peter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mich. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Selecting the most important literary characters in 20th-century world literature is a daunting task. Harris claims to describe more than 2,000 from 250 of this century's "major novelists, dramatists, and short story writers." The term "twentieth century" refers to authors still living or those who have died since 1899, but Harris has chosen to concentrate on authors writing since 1960. Special attention is given to "minority writers and authors from emerging nations." The fact of such period and geographic emphases may explain why writers such as Dorothy Richardson, C.P. Snow, and Patrick White have been omitted. Generally, characters from the most representative and well-known works of an author have been selected. Plot summaries and comments on theme and style are brief but useful and pertinent. Actual character analysis is minimal. Each author entry has a list of references appended, which always includes titles in Gale serials such as Contemporary Authors and Contemporary Literary Criticism. In addition, there are usually several references to other relevant book and journal titles. More detailed discussions on many, but not all, of the works included can be found in the Magill Masterplots sets. There are character and title indexes. Recommended to libraries that need a supplement to the Magill series. -J. G. Packer, Central Connecticut State University