THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997             TAG: 9702130552
SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J3   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW 
                                            LENGTH:   23 lines

THE REFERENCE SHELF

THE OXFORD COMPANION TO AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

EDITED BY WILLIAM L. ANDREWS, FRANCES SMITH FOSTER & TRUDIER HARRIS

Oxford University Press. 866 pp. $49.95.

This comprehensive volume chronicles 250 years of African-American literary history through biographies of more than 400 writers; synopses of novels; discussion of literary characters, character types and cultural icons; articles on black poetry, fiction and drama, autobiography, slave narratives, oratory and journalism, and much more. There are entries on 150 major works of black literature and on such topics as customs, cultural expression and aspects of black experience. This is a gold mine of information for the student and the scholar. Editors Andrews and Harris are English professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Foster is a professor of English and women's studies at Emory University in Atlanta.