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World Literature and Its Times V O L U M E 4 I British and Irish Literature and Its Times: The Victorian Era to the Present (1837-) World Literature and Its Times Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them Joyce Moss GALE GROUP Detroit New York Son Francisco London Boston Woodbridge,CT World Literature and Its Times Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them VOLUME TBritish and Irish Literature and Its Times JOYCE MOSS STAFF Michael L. LaBlanc, Production Editor Maria Franklin, Permissions Manager Shalice Shah-Caldwell, Permissions Associate Mary Beth Trimper, Manager, Composition and Electronic Prepress Evi Seoud, Assistant Manager, Composition Purchasing and Electronic Prepress Kenn Zorn, Product Design Manager Pamela A. E. Gal breath, Senior Art Director Michael Logusz, Graphic Artist Barbara J. Yarrow, Graphic Services Supervisor Randy Bassett, Image Database Supervisor Robert Duncan, Imaging Specialist Pamela A. Reed, Imaging Coordinator Dean Dauphinais, Senior Image Editor Robyn V. Young, Senior Image Editor Kelly A. Quin, Image Editor Joyce Nakamura, Literature Content Capture Managing Editor Sara Constantakis, Editor Motoko F. Huthwaite, Associate Editor Arlene Johnson, Associate Editor Michelle Poole, Associate Editor Mary Ruby, Technical Training Specialist @rMThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The authors and editors of this work have added value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrangement, and classification of the information. All rights to this publication will be vigorously defended. Copyright © 2001 Joyce Moss All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. ISBN 0-7876-3729-7 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2001089390 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Chronology of Relevant Events xvii Contents by Title xxxv Contents by Author xxxvii Photo Credits xxxix Entries Index 1 561 V General Preface T he world at the turn of the twenty-first century is a shrinking sphere. Innovative modes of transmission make communication from one continent to another almost instantaneous, encouraging the development of an increasingly global society, heightening the urgency of the need for mutual understanding. At the foundation of World Literature and Its Times is the belief that within a people's literature are keys to their perspectives, their emotions, and the formative events that have brought them to the present point. As manifested in their literary works, societies experience phenomena that are in some respects universal and in other respects tied to time and place. T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, for example, is set in post-World War I London, when Europe was rife with disenchantment. Coincidentally, Juan Rulfo's novel Pedro Paramo, set in Latin America over a spread of decades that includes the post-World War I era, features a protagonist whose last name means "bleak plain" or "waste land." The two literary works, though written oceans apart, conjure a remarkably similar atmosphere. Likewise Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko, set large