Imaginary People is a delightfully entertaining and informative Who`s Who of over 1,300 fictional characters (including some animals) who never were--the great products of the creative imagination whose names have become famous during the last two and a half centuries, not just from novels and short stories but also from plays, opera, ballet, films, comic strips, songs, radio and television.

Where else would Batman rub shoulders with Ebenezer Scrooge, Snoopy with Jay Gatsby, Hiawatha with Fanny Hill, Mickey Mouse with Manon Lescaut, Lady Chatterly with the Cowardly Lion, Citizen Kane with Anna Karenina, Charlie Chan with Carmen, or Walter Mitty with Moby Dick?

This glittering parade of "imaginary people" has been almost entirely drawn from the English-speaking world. The main criterion for selection is that the fictional character has "lived" beyond the original source, either by being perpetuated from work to work or by adaptations to other media. The appearance of all these characters in one volume makes for an original and innovative reference source that will not only entertain the reader but encourage him or her to spend many more hours with the original creations of the finest story tellers of modern times.