Thick reference books traditionally have been solemn tomes, housed and read in library reference rooms where sudden snorts of laughter are unexpected and unappreciated. By this standard, the doorstopper under review here would set off warning lights in librarians who, browsing through it, come upon the entry for Evelyn Waugh: “Waugh was very unhappy. He attempted suicide by drowning but was foiled by an inconvenient shoal of jellyfish.”
This is one of those books you can open to any page and start reading. The author, John Sutherland, is emeritus professor of modern English literature at University College, London, as well as a former long-time member of the Caltech faculty, a dual background that makes him accessible to readers on both sides of the Pond. Now an editor, columnist, and critic in London, he has written what he calls “an idiosyncratic history of fiction in English.” His publisher calls it “opinionated,” and I call it a reference book that rocks.
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