Selected Resources in Literary Criticism

WebCat

WebCat is the online book catalog for Osterlin Library. Since you are looking for biographical and critical information about the author and their works, you might simply do a subject search on the author's name and browse the items listed.

Also, good keyword search phrases that locate literary criticism include the author's last name or title of a work combined with the word criticism. For example:

• Cather AND criticism
•  Hamlet AND criticism

To find biographical information about an author, do a keyword search on the author's last name and the subject term biography. For example:

• Kerouac AND biography

Context: You might also want to broaden your search and look for books that cover the literary movement or historical background or a general theme of your chosen literary work or author. For example:

• Beat generation
• Harlem Renaissance
• Women AND literature
• Love AND literature

Reference Sources

Terms & Concepts:
Find definitions of metaphor, Modernism, schools of criticism, or other literary concepts.

• A Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1993.
       REF PN41 .A184 1988
• Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2005.
       REF PN81 .J554 2005
• Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 4th ed. London, Penguin, 1999.
        REF PN41 .C83 1999
• Twentieth-century Literary Movements Dictionary. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2000.
       REF PN597 .T94 2000

Biographical and BioBibliographical Background Information:
To read more about the author of a work, the historical context of a work, succinct criticism, or to find references to other works of criticism.

Some Selected Reference Sources:

• American History Through Literature. Detroit: Scribner, 2006.
       REF PS 217 .H57 A84 (1820-1870) & REF PS 217 .H57 A85 (1870-1920 )
          ** Also available online via Gale's Virtual Reference Library!!
• Encyclopedia of American Poetry. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.
       REF PS 316 .E53 1998 (19th Century) and REF PS 323.5 .E53 2001 (20th Century)
• Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James, 1999.
       REF PN 771 .E5
• Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Gloucester, MA: Moulton, 1959.
       REF PR 83 .M73 1959 -- Multivolume set covers the years 680 - 1874.
• Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Sources. 4th ed. New York: MLA, 2002.
       REF PN50 .Q56 2003

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Library Online Databases

( indicates a highly recommended starting point)

• Contemporary Authors
  A full-text database that provides complete biographical and bibliographical information and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.
• Contemporary Literary Criticism
  Extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors. Each CLC--Select entry contains a biographical/critical introduction, listing of principal works and sources for further study
• EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite
  Academic Search Elite provides full text for more than 1,850 publications, including nearly 1,300 peer-reviewed journals.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library
  Includes the full text of the reference book series History Through Literature - 1820-1870 and 1870-1920, which takes a "new historicist" approach to literary criticism. To access visit www.nmc.edu/library => Find Books => Ebooks => Gale Virtual Reference Library => Click on "View Publications" under the "History" category
• Infotrac General Reference Center Gold
  A general interest database with full-text articles from 1980 to the present.
• JSTOR
  A searchable full-text archive of scholarly journals, including eleven in the area of literature. This is one of our databases that indexes journals back to the 1800's, extending further than the average range of most online indexes of 20 years.
• NetLibrary eBooks
  Full text of eBooks, including some works of literary criticism. Search on author's name or title of a specific work. Very similar to searching WebCat (see above).
• Twayne Authors Series
  A full-text database that provides critical introductions to the lives and works of World, English, and U.S. writers as well as the history and influence of literary movements and the development of literary genres.
• WilsonSelect
  A general-interest database with full text articles from 1994 to the present.

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Selected Literary Research Websites

Osterlin Library Literature Subject Guide
Includes a collection of high quality literary research-related websites.