LibGuides: Liberal Arts -- Literature Research Guide: Literature

Literature

Key Databases for Literary Criticism

Literature Resource Center - Gale
Comprehensive coverage of writers and their works from all genres and disciplines. Includes materials on authors' biographies, work overviews, literary criticism, and more.
MLA International Bibliography - EBSCOhost
Covers topics such as literature, language and linguistics, folklore, and literary theory and criticism.
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Includes extensive bibliographies of journal articles, books, and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA).
JSTOR
Contains over 500 major academic research journals covering topics in arts, humanities, business and sciences. Key advantages of JSTOR include the scholarly nature of the content and the availability of full-text for most titles.
Project Muse
Full text of 250 peer-reviewed, scholarly journals from the arts, humanities and social science disciplines.
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Contains complete content of every article, including charts, graphics and images.
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
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Access thousands of articles in the liberal arts and sciences subjects.

Power Search - books, articles +more

Literary Criticism -- print

Articles on American Literature (pre-1967)
PS221.L399 (Reference)
PS221.L4 (Reference): These volumes list literary review articles by the subject author and by about 20 select topics, such as, fiction, regionalism, foreign influence, etc. Scan the table of contents for relevant headings.
Reader's Index to the Twentieth Century Views of Literary Criticism Series.
PN81.P75 (Reference): This actually includes the index pages for 100 collections of critical essays on specific authors. Horn Library has all of the works indexed.
Salem, James M. A Guide to Critical Reviews.
PN81.P3 (Reference): Part I: American Drama, 1909-1969.; Part II: The Musical, 1909-1974; Part III: Foreign Drama, 1909-1977.
United States Fiction, 1870-1910.
PS21.E35x (Reference): Index to contemporary critical comment 1870-1910 on U.S. writers. Research
American Literary Scholarship: an annual. 1963 to the present.
PS3.A47 (Reference): Annual review of new scholarship on American Literature. Scan the table of contents and the index for each volume.
The Reader's Advisor; A Layman's Guide to Literature. 13th edition.
Z1035.R42 vols. 1-5 (Reference): Volume 1 covers "The Best in American and British Fiction, Poetry, Essays, Literary Biography, Bibliography, and Reference. Volume 2 covers "The Best in American and British Drama and World Literature in English Translation"

Biography - E-Resources

Gale Directory Library This link opens in a new window
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Find older directories of industry and professional associations (2018), consulting firms (2011), research centers (2009), brands, and companies (2008).
Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window
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Find an online encyclopedia and/or a specialized reference source.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
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Provides articles on every aspect of the visual arts from prehistory through the present. Included are links to 130,000 color images and 21,000 biographies.

Biographies (Print)

Cyclopedia of World Authors II
Call Number: PN451.C93 (4 vols.)
Brief critical biographical essays with lists of principle works and critical references. The revised edition covers writers from ancient times to the present.
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Call Number: PS21 .D52x
Lengthy biographical and critical essays on authors are grouped together in volumes organized by topic, period, or genre with good bibliographies.
American Women Writers; A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the present.
Call Number: PS147.A42 1988

Encyclopedias for Literature (Print)

The following titles can give you an excellent quick overview of literary concepts, major themes, national literatures, and major works and authors. They are great to use when looking for a brief initial introduction. Most research papers will require additional research into primary and secondary sources; these resources are great for helping initially familiarize yourself with a topic and developing a research hypothesis.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Modern World Literature.
PN41.C64

Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. Wolfgang Bernard Fleischmann, ed.
PN774.L4333 3 vols.

World Literature and Its Times
PN50.M625 4 vols.

Cassell's Encyclopedia of World Literature.
PN41.C3 1973 3 vols.

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama, Second Edition.
PN1625.M3 vol. 1-5

Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.
PN1021.E5