The Eighteenth-Century Literature Handbook is an invaluable introduction to literature and culture in the eighteenth century. It provides a one-stop resource for students with the essential information and guidance needed from the beginning of a course through to developing more advanced knowledge and skills. It includes: - introductions to authors, texts and contexts - guides to key critics, concepts and topics - an overview of major critical approaches, changes in the canon and directions of current and future research - case studies in reading literary and theoretical and critical texts - annotated further reading (including websites), timeline, glossary of critical terms. Written in clear language by leading academics, it is an indispensable starting point for anyone beginning their study of eighteenth-century literature.