Literary Criticism

Bob Gorman
Reference Librarian
Winthrop University
June, 2008

Dacus Online Catalog (DOC)

• To find books about an author, search by subject under the author's last name first.  For major authors, a subject search will list any biographies, bibliographies, critical essays, and other critical books owned by Dacus Library.
• Search DOC under author to find books by an author.
• DOC also lists the journals, magazines, and newspapers owned by Dacus Library.

Biographical Resources

• Literature Resource Center (online) provides access to
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography (Also Ref. PS 129 .D52x)
    • Includes a lengthy biographical essay and bibliography for each author.
    • Covers authors from all nationalities, eras and genres.
  • Contemporary Authors (Also Ref. PN 771 .C61x)
    • Includes a brief biographical essay and a limited bibliography for each author.
    • Covers only modern authors from all nationalities.
  • Scribner Writers Series
    • Includes in-depth essays on nearly 1,600 authors of all nationalities and time periods.
  • Twayne's Author Series
    • Includes 600 monographs from Twayne's US, English, and World Authors series

Guides to Criticism

(NOTE: the following resources provide excerpts from critical reviews and references to where full reviews can be found.)

• Contemporary Literary Criticism (Part of Literature Resource Center and also Ref PN 771 .C59)
  • Includes only living authors or those who have died after 1959.
  • Covers all genres and nationalities.
• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (Ref. PN 771 .G27)
  • Includes authors who died between 1900 and 1999.
  • Covers all genres and nationalities.
• Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism (Ref. PN 761 .N56)
  • Includes authors who died between 1800 and 1899.
  • Covers all genres and nationalities.
• Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (Ref. PN 610 .C56)
  • Includes authors who died before 1400.
  • Covers all nationalities and genres.
• Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 (Ref. PN 86 .L56)
  • Includes authors who died between 1400 to 1800.
  • Covers all genres and nationalities.
• Short Story Criticism (Ref. PN 3373 .S386)
  • Covers all nationalities and eras.
• Poetry Criticism (Ref. PN 1010 .P499)
  • Covers all nationalities and eras.

Indexes

• MLA International Bibliography (Online and also Ref. PB 35 .B1 .25)
  • Online version covers indexing from 1921 to present.
  • Print version covers indexing from 1921 to 1993.
  • Most comprehensive source for scholarly research on all aspects of  literature.
  • Provides citations only.
  • Indexes over 4,000 literary journals as well as monographic publications and dissertations.
  • Includes foreign language publications.
  • Can search by keywords, title, author, or subject.
  • Can limit search to a particular language and/or publication type.
• Arts and Humanities Search  (Online)
  • Covers indexing from 1980 to the present.
  • Indexes 1,300 arts and humanities journals.
  • Provides citations only.
  • Can limit search to English language only and/or article type.
• JSTOR
  • A multi-disciplinary scholarly journal archive
  • 83 journals are in the area of literature and language
  • Entirely full-text
• Academic Search Premier
  • Includes over 8,000 journals and magazines over half of which are full-text
  • Includes both scholarly and popular sources.  Can limit to "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) journals".
• Academic OneFile (Online)
  • Indexes over 10,000 journals and magazines, about 4,000 of which are full-text.
  • Includes both scholarly and popular references.  Can limit to "peer-reviewed (scholarly) publications".