Volume 2

One of the pioneering works in literary historiography, the book A Short History of English Literature combines in a remarkable manner the historical and the critical principles that ought to govern any literary history. On Saintsbury’s own testimony, the book is not meant to be “bird’s-eye views”. It is, in fact, a fine critical survey of the entire history of English literature from its beginning to the end of the Victorian period.

Saintsbury’s copious scholarship, fine clarity of thought and literary sensibility have made the approach to each text both microscopic and telescopic so that while a text is kept under a sharp critical focus, all the relevant contextual aspects are touched upon to further illuminate it.

Despite Saintsbury’s Englishness, the book, as a short but succinct account of the history of literature, is of perennial value.

While any student of English literature will find the book immensely useful, anybody interested in English literature will find it eminently readable and interesting.