One of a series of reference volumes, each profiling 12-15 authors by providing critical excerpts taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals. There are approximately 350 excerpts in each volume, each one prefaced by a full citation and annotation. Readers are also provided with an introduction to each author, a bibliographic listing of primary works and suggestions for further reading. The focus is on novelists, dramatists, poets and short story writers who are living, or who have died since 1959.