Books by Robert L. Gale

This reference is a comprehensive guide to Hearn's life and career. Included in the volume are hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries for individual works by Hearn and collections of his writings, for members of his family, and for the colleagues and acquaintances who figured prominently in his life.

From a vantage point of 100 years on, readers can, with this book, look back on the excitement and ferment of the turbulent decade of the "Gay Nineties" and find the seeds of the joys and anguish, the excesses and successes of the 20th century. It is suitable for browsing or research.

This brilliant, faultless, impeccably constructed work will maintain its status as an outstanding research tool invaluable both to undergraduate students and to scholars of James. It is unquestionably worthy of `The Master, ' its subject. ChoiceCalled a Shakespeare of the novel and America's only fully realized literary artist by Leon Edel, his prize-winning biographer, Henry James was also one of the most prolific American writers. His massive literary output included approximately 300 critical essays, 134 novels and stories, 15 plays, and some 15,000 letters. A Henry James Encyclopedia offers both the interested reader and committed scholar a wealth of information about James and his work never before available in one volume. More than 3,000 entries summarize each of James's works, describe every fictional and dramatic character in them, identify writers and artists James reviewed, discuss each important man and woman he associated with or wrote to, and define members of his extended family.The extensive encyclopedia section is preceded by a chronology that details important events in James's life. The encyclopedia itself is arranged alphabetically in one continuous set of entries, making it extremely easy to find specific information. Cross references are indicated by asterisks. In addition, twelve appendices list James's works, contacts, and characters by type (Plays, Friends of James, Actors, Actresses, Theater Managers, Composers, and Singers Mentioned by James, and so on). A bibliography completes the volume. The only book of its kind ever produced for an American writer, A Henry James Encyclopedia will be an indispensable source for Jamesian scholars as well as for students just beginning their study of his work. As such, it is an important acquisition for every American literature collection.

Best remembered today as the author of The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow continues to be one of the most popular poets in American literary history. This book is a guide to his life and writings. A brief introductory essay overviews Longfellow's life and accomplishments. A chronology then summarizes the chief events in his career. Hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries follow, discussing individual poems, his other writings, his family members and professional associates, and topics related to his life and literary achievements. Entries list works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.Longfellow has also enjoyed fame worldwide; in England, his poems outsold those of Browning and Tennyson. In addition to being a gifted poet, Longfellow had a brilliant career as a college professor. He wrote numerous critical works and translations, and was also a leading American Dante scholar. He frequently wrote letters, and his admirers often sought his advice on personal and professional matters.

The encyclopedia that comes after the list of entries contains brief, alphabetically arranged articles for performers, military personnel, theologians, composers, critics, educators, explorers, historians, industrialists, inventors, authors, artists, physicians, scientists, sculptors, and numerous events and creative works.

The bulk of the Companion comprises alphabetically arranged entries on Bierce's major works and characters and on historical persons and writers who figured prominently in his life and career.

Dashiell Hammett's writing career began with the publication of The Parthian Shot, a tiny short story in The Smart Set in 1922, and virtually ended when he published 3 outstanding stories in Collier's in 1934.

For too long Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was dismissed as a timid New England local colorist, known principally for her novels and short stories based in her native state of Maine.

Herman Melville is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. Known primarily as the author of Moby-Dick, he wrote several other novels, short stories, and poems. With the rise of interest in Melville in the 20th century, critical and biographical studies of Melville continue to be published at an ever-increasing rate. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive guide to Melville's rich and complex literary career.The volume includes several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for all of Melville's works and characters, and for his family members, friends, and acquaintances. Entries on the most important topics include bibliographies. The encyclopedia is more factual than critical, but scholarship from 1990 and beyond is emphasized throughout. The book also gives special attention to the 19th-century women who influenced Melville, for these women have often been overlooked. A chronology overviews the principal events in Melville's life, and a selected bibliography lists major studies.

A guide to primary and secondary data on the life and works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It comprises around 1500 entries, identifying all of Hawthorne's characters, summarizing the plots of his fiction and the substance of his essays, and introducing his family members, friends and associates.

Gale considers the imagery in all of the 135 novels and short stories of Henry James and presents what may well be the first extensive treatment of figurative language in the complete works of any novelist. All of the images have been recorded, but the author does not claim too much for his deductions concerning them.

Ross Macdonald is best known as the creator of private detective Lew Archer and as the author of such works as The Drowning Pool (1950) and The Underground Man (1971).

F.Scott Fitzgerald known for "The Great Gatsby" (1925), actually wrote several novels, 178 stories and a number of plays, film scenarios and essays. This reference includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries for Fitzgerald's works, characters, family members, friends and acquaintances.