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Subject Guide for English & American Literature
English & American Literature: Critical materials on authors; book reviews of novels, biographies, and critical works of literature; novels; plays; poems; short stories.
Reference & Instructional Services and/or Libraries materials include catalogs and/or databases to answer your literary inquiries.
Web resources for serious exploration of English & American Literature.
The following is a highly selective list of literary web-resources:
Literary Index is a sound assessment of significant literary resources available on the WWW with connections to recommended sites.
Literary Resources on the Net at the University of Pennsylvania is a major WWW source of literary sites.
Missing Pages is another useful site of relevant web sources related to Literature developed by UCB English Department Faculty Member, Dr. Mary Klages.
Voice of the Shuttle is a major site listing connections to literary sites concerned with English and American Literature, Minority Literature, and other English literary classifications by genre or country.
Gender Studies lists a multitude of sites dealing with women studies; feminist theory; gay, lesbian, and queer studies; and much more.
Literary Theory sites on the WWW will be found at this location.
To find books by an author do an AUTHOR search in Chinook.
To find books about an author or an author's work, do a WORD search in Chinook and type in the author's name. It is usually useful to type in the last name first.
To find critical journal articles about authors and/or their work, the primary and most comprehensive index/database is the MLA . Alternate, though not as in-depth, indexes/databases are HUMANITIES ABSTRACTS or ARTICLES 1st. To get to any one of these three indexes, connect through Chinook to the FIRSTSEARCH Gold Option, then select the Humanities Topic area.
REMEMBER: To see if the University Libraries has the journal, look up the journal's name in Chinook's PERIODICAL search.
Reference Works which contain short biographical/critical articles about authors are:
DICTIONARY OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY
REF PS129 .D52Look in the "Index" of the latest volume to find in which volume the discussion of a particular author will be found.
AMERICAN WRITERS
REF PS129 .A55
BRITISH WRITERS
REF PR85 .B688Five sets found in Reference which contain limited critical article excerpts on particular authors of the period or on a specific work are:
CONTEMPORARY LITERARY CRITICISM
REF PN86 .C16
TWENTIETH CENTURY LITERATURE CRITICISM
REF PN771 .G27
NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE CRITICISM
REF PN761 .N5
LITERATURE CRITICISM FROM 1400 to 1800
REF PN86 .L53
SHAKESPEARE CRITICISM
REF PR2965 .S43There are numerous other short biographical reference works. A good index to authors listed in these is the BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY MASTER INDEX. Use the Reference Network , Antero Computer, to locate this index and it may suggest a specific reference work to consult.
To find information in books about a novel, do a WORD search on Chinook under the author's name and under the title of the work (use both). Once you get to that area of the Norlin stack, make certain you check "indexes" of all books in that specified area under the title of the work.
To find critical journal articles about a novel, the primary most comprehensive index/database is the MLA. Look under the title of the work, as well as under the author's name.
Two alternative indexes are the Humanities Index and the Academic Index. A set of alternative reference resources which contain excerpted reviews and critical articles are: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism, 17th Century Literary Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, etc.
Books about a specific poem generally are not found in the Library. However, sections of books which provide a critical discussion of an author's overall work may discuss a specific poem. Connect to Chinook, do a WORD search on the author's name to find where those books are in the Library. Go to that area and look in each book's 'Index' under that specific Poem's title.
There are usually only a few critical articles written about specific poems. For those few articles the primary most comprehensive index/database is the "MLA." Use the title of the work to see if there are specific references. Using the author's name may retrieve general critical discussion about an author's poetic work. Alternative indexes/databases are the Humanities Index and the Academic Index.
The best resources for finding critical discussions about specific poems are the following bibliographies. Under the poet's name, look for the title of the poem and check Chinook to see if the work or journal is in the Library. Ask at the reference desk for further assistance.
