Sampson's Concise History was first published in 1941. Basically it was then a summary, in readable form, of the great Cambridge History, with some personal touches by Sampson. The second edition had a substantial new chapter by R. C. Churchill on twentieth-century literature and appeared in 1961. The present edition, prepared by Mr Churchill, provides a revision of the first thirteen chapters. Three very substantial new chapters are now added which have the effect of making this the only complete and up-to-date survey of world literature in English. The literature of the U.S.A. is now surveyed in extenso and in its own right. The literatures in English of Ireland, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, South Africa and the new African states are also treated. Students and general readers will find this a comprehensive and lively-minded survey, guide and reference book to the world's literature in teh English language.
Table of contents:
1. From the beginnings to the cycles of romance; 2. The end of the middle ages; 3. Renascence and reformation; 4. Prose and poetry: Sir Thomas North to Michael Drayton; 5. The drama to 1642: part I; 6. The drama to 1642: part II; 7. Cavalier and Puritan; 8. The age of Dryden; 9. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift; 10. The age of Johnson; 11. The period of the French revolution; 12. The nineteenth century: part I; 13. The nineteenth century: part II; 14. Empire and after: from the nineteenth to the twentieth century in Britain and overseas; 15. The literature of the United States of America from the colonial period to Henry James; 16. The age of T. S. Eliot: the mid-twentieth-century literature of the english-speaking world; Index.
Table of contents:
1. From the beginnings to the cycles of romance; 2. The end of the middle ages; 3. Renascence and reformation; 4. Prose and poetry: Sir Thomas North to Michael Drayton; 5. The drama to 1642: part I; 6. The drama to 1642: part II; 7. Cavalier and Puritan; 8. The age of Dryden; 9. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift; 10. The age of Johnson; 11. The period of the French revolution; 12. The nineteenth century: part I; 13. The nineteenth century: part II; 14. Empire and after: from the nineteenth to the twentieth century in Britain and overseas; 15. The literature of the United States of America from the colonial period to Henry James; 16. The age of T. S. Eliot: the mid-twentieth-century literature of the english-speaking world; Index.