This is a well‐produced reference book, intended as a support to the critical study of literature in which the supernatural features. Presented in a conventional encyclopedia style, it contains entries for authors, individual works including novels, short stories, poems, films, TV scripts, and some more general articles on themes and motifs, e.g. angels. Film and televisual content is limited to versions of literary works and does not cover the supernatural in those media per se. Length of entries is variable, from a couple of paragraphs (C.S. Lewis) to around 3,000 words (Ramsey Campbell and Edgar Allan Poe), and this is intended to reflect the relative importance of the subject. Every entry is attributed.
Material is contributed by more than 50 writers, for whom brief biographies are provided. The majority of the contributors are academics, although professional writers, publishers and librarians are also represented. They are also predominantly US is origin, despite the presence of a handful of British, Canadian and European writers. Contributors have been encouraged to take an analytical, rather than purely descriptive, view of their material, although plot synopses are part of the entries dealing with specific works.
The interpretation of supernatural is broad, including legend and science fiction, as well as the occult, horror and gothic. Fantasy is specifically excluded, hence there is no entry for Tolkien or J. K. Rowling, (although the index reveals a number of references to both) and most contemporary British writers of fantasy (such as Ursula Le Guin, Alan Garner and Philip Pullman) are not covered. Otherwise, the range of authors included is wide, broader than those normally associated with writing about the supernatural, so that we find, for example, Dickens and Lord Byron alongside the more expected Poe and LeFanu. The inclusion of Gothic brings in a great deal of Victorian literature, which might not usually be considered very supernatural in nature.
A major feature of the book is the bibliographic content, and it is significant for recording the output of writers (although usually only the first edition of a work is recorded). “Non‐supernatural” publications of authors may also be included, although this is not done systematically. Where appropriate, entries may have a bibliography of critical works, and there is a general bibliography that lists important critical works and reference materials.
In addition to a substantial general index, there are indexes for motifs, and for fictional characters. The book is also unusually prefaced by an alphabetical list of entries, and lists of entries under the headings, Authors (subdivided by nationality), Editors and Critics, Genres, Magazines, Motifs, Publishing and Publishers, Religions, Beliefs and Philosophies, and Works. These allow a systematic approach to the material, and also enable access to the minor literature, which is extremely useful in this sort of literature.
The presentation is generally good, with the material clearly laid out, although the choice of font (Bernhard Modern) is unusual and not very attractive, and I found it slightly off‐putting. There are many black and white illustrations, photographs and portraits of authors, and illustrations of works and themes. Otherwise, this work is to be recommended as a scholarly and well‐produced source of all kinds of information about its subject.
