"This 'edition combines the characters profiled in Cyclopedias of Literary Characters (1963) and Literary Characters II (1990). It also includes all characters that appeared in more recent works of Masterplots II published through 1995.' Publisher's Note. 'Entries are arranged alphabetically by the title of the work ... [They] begin with the book's title, foreign title if originally published in a language other than English, author's name with birth and death years, date of first publication, genre, locale, time of action, and plot type. Characters are arranged in order of importance; major characters have 100- to 150-word write-ups. Volume 5 contains three indexes: title, author, and character.'" Booklist.

Contains analyses of characters that appear in novels, plays, epics, and other classics of world literature, providing lengthy descriptions of central characters, and less extensive discussions of supporting players; and arranged alphabetically by title.

Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised Edition examines more than 29,000 major characters from 3,294 important works of literature. It includes the major characters from over 1,400 titles appearing in Masterplots, Revised Second Edition (1996). This comprehensive edition combines the characters profiled in Cyclopedia of Literary Characters (1963) and Cyclopedia of Literary Characters II (1990). It also includes all characters that appeared in more recent works of Masterplots II published through 1995. This revised work includes 574 articles on new titles and 84 rewritten articles, with all-new title, author, and character indexes.