Critical Survey of Drama, Second Revised Edition, combines, updates, and expands two earlier Salem Press reference sets: Critical Survey of Drama, Revised Edition, English Language Series (1994), and Critical Survey of Drama, Foreign Language Series (1986). This new eight-volume set contains 613 essays, of which 548 discuss individual dramatists and 65 cover overview topics. The set also contains lists of major dramatic awards, a detailed time line of world drama history, a glossary of dramatic terms and movements, and a bibliography. Of the revised edition’s 548 profiles, 90 are completely new essays, primarily reflecting playwrights who have recently come to be regarded as established figures in theater. More than 110 author profiles have been updated and revised to include the authors’ new works and achievements, developments in their personal lives, more current analysis, and updated bibliographies. All other author profiles have been re-edited and the bibliographies have been updated and annotated. Each dramatist essay starts with direct ready-reference material: birth/death dates and places and list of the author’s major dramatic works. Every essay also includes a brief survey of the author’s publications in other literary forms, a summary of professional achievements and awards, and an extended biographical sketch. The bulk of each entry is a clearly written, extensive critical analysis of the writer’s major dramatic works and career. Each entry ends with an annotated bibliography of secondary works about the author, providing a solid list of sources for further study. Overview essays, which are arranged under broad subject headings, cover dramatic traditions in the United States and other parts of the world, as well as various genres and techniques. The set includes more than 30 new overview essays. More than 25 of the original overview essays have been updated to reflect current trends in the theater. In addition to the overview essays, volume 8 includes an annotated general bibliography; a chronological listing (by birth dates); a geographical index that separates dramatists by the geographical areas in which they have lived or worked; a categorized list of dramatists, which groups them by movement, dominant genre, or ethnic affiliation; and a comprehensive subject index.
