ENG 469: Contemporary Literary Criticism

Library Resources October 2006

Reference materials on theories The Continuum Encyclopedia of Modern Criticism and Theory. Ref PN 94 .C695 2002
A chronological and regional arrangement of people and movements.

Critical Terms for Literary Study. Ref PN 81 .C84 1995

Lengthy essays on aspects of literature and culture, discussed from lit crit and theoretical perspectives.

Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. Ref PN 81 .E53 1997

Entries on writers, critics, topics, and theories.

Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism. 2 vols. Ref PN 86 .E63 1999

Articles on genres, critics, and theories.

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism. Ref PN 81 .J554 2005
Lengthy articles on critics, movements, and theories.

Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Ref PN 94 .S45 1997

Ten essays on broad groups of literary theories.

Biographical reference materials Literature Resource Center

This database consists of content from many different reference works and periodicals. For good biographical information, look for articles from the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

See Christine for help finding biographical reference info on non-English-writing authors.

Finding books Earlham Libraries Catalog

Besides subject searches on particular writers, consider browsing the formal subject headings. Below are examples; see Christine for help identifying headings that relate to your topic. For a broader look at time periods and movements: American literature 19th century history and criticism For critical theories: Criticism Marxist Criticism Feminist literary criticism Historicism For themes and movements: Ecology in literature Group identity in literature

Naturalism in literature

Finding journal Articles MLA International Bibliography

Indexes journals and books in many languages. The most comprehensive tool we have for research literature. Use the SFX button for help identifying to what we have access.

JSTOR
A select set of scholarly journals. Usually missing the current 3-5 years.

Academic Search Premier

A large multidisciplinary database of magazines and journals.

Literature Resource Center

Look under the tabs for Literary Criticism and Articles.

Help with history of critical reception Contemporary Literature Criticism. Ref PN 771 .C59 Twentieth-century Literature Criticism. Ref PN 771 .G27 Nineteenth-century Literature Criticism. Ref PN 761 .N56
These two large sets are among several published by Gale that cover classical to contemporary literature. They excerpt criticism on particular writers and their works, offering a browsable look at various critical responses over time. To find your author in a set, look in the index in the last volume; many authors are covered in more than one volume. Note: these sets are also in Literature Resource Center, but you can only display one excerpt at a time.

Indexes to older periodicals JSTOR Pooles Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1902 19th Century Readers Guide, 1890-1899 Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900-1999 Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 Years Work in English Studies, 1926-1995 stacks, 1996-2003 Ref PR 35 .Y4 American Literary Scholarship, 1963-2002 Ref PS 3 .A47 Years Work in Critical and Cultural Studies, 1991-2003 Ref HM 101 .Y4
These works summarize and discuss the criticism that has been published in the given volumes year. Helpful for understanding how particular works of criticism fit into critical trends and movements, and how the criticism evolves over time.

Individual bibliographies of authors

Search the online catalog by subject keyword, using the authors name and the word bibliography.

Biographical studies of the author MLA search on author and reception