This volume, eighth in the annual series, provides for scholars, students, and general readers a systematic, evaluative guide to current published studies on American literature. Half the chapters summarize the year's published work on individual authors, and half are devoted to genres and periods. The eighteen contributors, acknowledged scholars in their fields, describe and evaluate significant published works, give a sense of trends in scholarship and criticism, and indicate areas for fruitful research. A key to the abbreviations used is provided. An index is also provided, giving references to literary and historical figures referred to throughout the book as well as authors of the works surveyed. (Author/JF)