The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (3rd edition)

This is the third edition of a dictionary initially published in 1990; a revised second edition appeared 11 years later. The compiler writes in his Preface that another 180 entries have been added “extending the book's coverage not only of recently circulated terms but of modern critical and theoretical movements, schools of American poetry, Spanish verse forms, life writing, crime fiction, and much else”. In addition, there are additional works of recommended reading and web resources (p. viii).

The entries vary in length. They begin with a three‐sentence paragraph on Abjection and conclude with a six‐sentence paragraph explaining Zeugma. This...