Literary Onomastics

Reviews / Votes

No one is better prepared than Dorothy Dodge Robbins to present a survey of the study of names in literature. Having recently served for two years as president of the American Name Society, Dr. Robbins really knows the current trends in language and literature, and has collected a first-rate group of contributors writing on a variety of salient subjects. Offering precise tools and new research, Literary Onomastics is an excellent introduction for those unfamiliar with onomastics as well as a very useful read for the experienced scholar. -- Grant Smith, professor emeritus, Eastern Washington University This excellent volume makes a strong contribution to the study of names in literature. Individually, the essays offer new insights into selected texts from different genres; collectively, they showcase a range of approaches within the field. All are interesting and enjoyable to read, combining rigorous scholarship with clarity of style. -- Carole Hough, University of Glasgow Names and naming are integral to both individual and social construction of identity, whether in real life or in literature, where names focus character and structure narrative. Literature also interrogates the value of names, not only mirroring our experience but estranging it, insisting that we not take names or naming for granted, as we tend to do in everyday life. Literary Onomastics explores name phenomena in the name-play of Renaissance poetry, the socially salient use of names and naming strategies in fiction by women of color, as fascinating elements of narrative design in works of fantasy, and more. This is an excellent inaugural volume for a most promising series about onomastics in all its implications. -- Michael Adams, University of Indiana, Bloomington