张定铨等编著的《新编简明英国文学史》的主要对象是英语专业学生，同时兼顾社会上部分自学英语者的需要，可以用作教材，也可作为写作英国文学论文时的参考书。本书编排上打破以历史顺序逐一介绍作家的格局，采用主题线索、体裁线索、历史线索相结合的方式。这两种方式各有利弊：前者容易操作，容易单个记忆，缺点是作家与作家之间的有机联系被割断，由于不连贯，读来缺乏整体美感；后者操作比较困难，但是避免了前者的缺憾。为了做到简明扼要，线条清晰，易于阅读，本书在目录编排、章节结构上都费了一番心思。书后附有主要作家、作品编年目录，并有索引，以方便读者查闭。

张定铨等编著的《新编简明英国文学史》简洁而全面地介绍了英国文学发生、发展、演化、嬗变的流程。基本框架设计颇具新意——采用主题、体裁、历史三结合的方式。脉络清晰，裁取合理，评述到位。语言浅显流畅，内容深入浅出，易学易懂。其二战后的部分更是填补了同类书这方面的空白。既是大学英语专业学生学习文学的好教材，又为广大文学爱好者提供了学习语言的好素材。

Chapter 1 The Beginning Period of English Literature

Chapter 2 The Glory of Poetry:From Sidney to Pope

Chapter 3 The Golden Age of English Drama

Chapter 4 The Beauty of Prose :From Malory to Pepys

Chapter 5 The Rise of the Novel

Chapter 6 A False World:English Dream from Dryden to Sheridan

Chapter 7 Emotion and Nature in Romantic Poetry

Chapter 8 Female Novelists in 19th-Century England

Chapter 9 Social Images in 19th-Century English Novels

Chapter 10 Satirical Voices and Humanistic Concerns:English Prose in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Chapter 11 Various Moods in 19th-Century English Poetry

Chapter 12 Social Life on the Stage:English Drama from Wilde to O'Casey

Chapter 13 The Erosion of Confidence:Major Novelists in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centruies

Chapter 14 The Unseen Reality;The Stream of Consciousness Novels

Chapter 15 The New Poetry in the 20th Century

Chapter 16 Spiritual Crisis and Moral Tension:20th-Century Novels before 1950

Chapter 17 Despair and Absurdity in Contemporary English Drama

Chapter 18 Diversified Topics in Contemporary English Novels

Chronological Table of Major Writers and Their Impoatant Works

Bibliography

Index