Literary Criticism Resources
The critical analysis of literature has necessitated creation of a vast number of indexes, finding aids, and other resources. Herein is a partial list of resources owned or licensed by LSU Libraries for the study of literature in all its forms. For assistance locating or using any of these resources, or if you need further help with literary research, e-mail Mike Russo.
52 Bookmarks Found with These Tags:
No Tags Selected Abstracts of English Studies (1958-1991)
Middleton Main Stacks: PE 25 A16 Library has: vols. 1-34 (1958-1991) This is a quarterly journal divided into four major categories: General, Britain, United States, and World Literature in English and Related languages. Each category is further divided into sections, and then into individual poets and authors. All abstract entries are brief and numbered. Each quarterly issue contains an index.
Middleton Reference: PS 153 N5 A344 2001 Scope: Articles provide an introduction to the work of specific authors. Each article includes a short biography, a survey of principle writings, and an assessment of the author's work as a whole. Indexing: Indexed alphabetically by author.
Middleton Reference: PS 129 A55 Scope: Essays on the lives, careers, and work of American writers of every period. Some articles in the main volumes are updated in the first Retrospective Supplement. Additional writers are treated in the ten subsequent supplements. Indexing: Indexing is alphabetical by author. Features: Each article includes a bibliography for further research.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
Middleton Reference: Z2011 .M69 Scope: The series covers a variety of subjects relative to the English language, including literature. Indexing: Each volume is indexed separately and includes both an author/subject index and a scholars index.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index
"Arts & Humanities Citation Index®, accessed via Web of Science, provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to find research data, analyze trends, journals, and researchers, and share their findings. Overcome information overload and focus on essential data from over 1,395 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as well as selected items from over 6,000 scientific and social sciences journals, with coverage available to 1975." (from Thomson Reuters)
Middleton Reference: PR 85 B688 Scope: This set complements the American Writers series and mirrors it in scope and content. Indexing: The main volumes are organized chronologically, with the eighth volume serving as an author-title index. The supplemental volumes are arranged mostly alphabetically by author.
Classical and medieval literature criticism
Middleton Reference: PN 610 C53 Scope: This series excerpts criticism of works from classical antiquity through the 14th century. Excerpts are fully cited in a bibliography at the end of each entry. Indexing: The author index in each volume is cumulative. The title index is specific to each volume. There is also an index of critics cited.
Middleton Reference: Z1224 .C6 (1981-1999)
Contemporary authors autobiography series
Middleton Reference: PN453 .C63 Coverage: This series includes information on over 100,000 twentieth century authors. Authors in every genre and writing in every form are included. Indexing: There is a cumulative author-title-subject index at the end of each volume.
Contemporary Literary Criticism
Middleton Reference: PN 771 C59 Holdings: v.1(1973)-v.130(2000) Scope: Presents criticism of the works of more than 2,000 of today's novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers and other creative writers living or who died after December 31, 1999. The work includes passages from published criticism. Authors are included based on critically acclaimed work or receipt of a major award. The series also includes writers about whom criticism is hard to find, e.g., science fiction and foreign authors. Authors may be discussed in more than one volume of the series. Indexing: At the end of each volume, there are cumulative author, topic, and nationality indexes. There is a title index specific to each volume. There is also a separate cumulative title index for the entire series. Cross-indexing to other Gale publications is built into these indexes.
Middleton Reference: PR603 .C6 2001 This work contains a large number of contemporary poets, and is arranged alphabetically by poet. Each entry contains a biography, a complete list of separately published books, and a signed essay. The work contains a title index. It also provides information on lesser known contemporary poets.
This work contains a large number of contemporary poets, and is arranged alphabetically by poet. Each entry contains a biography, a complete list of separately published books, and a signed essay. The work contains a title index. It also provides information on lesser known contemporary poets. Access to the 6th and 7th editions is available through the Biography Resource Center database.
Middleton Main Stacks: Z1231 .P7 G74 1989 This work is divided into three main sections: Magazines, Anthologies, and Poets. The work focuses primarily on American writers, though many foreign writers (mostly British) are also included. The Biographical Directory of Poets focuses on poets who currently write SF, Fantasy, and Horror Poetry. The work includes an index.
Critical survey of poetry : English language series
Middleton Reference: PR502 .C85 Primary entries are author entries. Each entry provides a biography, achievements, a list of works in other formats, criticism, and a bibliography. The first volume contains a list of contributors. Each volume contains a list of authors that it contains. There are twenty-two essays that provide an overview of the development and sub-genres of poetry. The essays and a cumulative index are contained in volume eight. Updates an earlier 8-volume edition (PN 1111 C7 Middleton Reference).
Critical survey of poetry : foreign language series
Middleton Reference: PN1111 .C7 1984 Primary entries are author entries. Each entry provides a biography, achievements, a list of works in other formats, criticism, and a bibliography. The first volume contains a list of contributors. Each of the first four volumes contains a list of authors. The fifth volume contains twenty-seven essays, each focusing on the literature of various countries. Volume five also contains a cumulative index.
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Middleton Reference- PS221 .D5 Library has: 1980-1988,1990,1992-93 Organized by author. Includes in-depth critical essays on the life and work of each author. Some authors get more than one article.
Dictionary of literary biography documentary series : an illustrated chronicle
Middleton Reference: PS129 .D48 1982 Objective: To make significant documents available and to supplement the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Coverage: All periods of literary development, all authors of note, and all genres and formats of literature are covered. Indexing: Indexing is cumulative, from volume to volume. The last volume contains the latest cumulative index. Indexing is mostly by author, but there is some subject indexing.
Epic and Romance Criticism: a Checklist of Interpretations, 1940-1972
Middleton Main Stacks: Z7156 .E6 C64 Volume one focuses on English and American Epics and Metrical Romances and Volume two focuses on Classical and Continental Epics and Metrical Romances. Entries are arranged alphabetical by title of poem. Volume one includes an index that contains nine additional titles.
Essay and general literature index
Middleton Reference: AI3 .E752 Scope: Covers man subjects in the humanities, including literature, from 1900 to 2000. This series indexes books of essays, not periodicals.Indexing: Each year is indexed separately. Each volume consists of one alphabetical author-subject-title index.
Guide to British drama explication
Middleton Reference: Z 2014 D7 D68 1996 Scope: Covers all of British drama from the beginnings to 1640. Indexing: Alphabetical by playwright.
Contains the full-text of Harper's Weekly during the Civil War era (1857-1865) and access to HarpWeek Reconstruction I (1866 - 1871). The HarpWeek Database consists of the pages of Harper's Weekly, scanned as images, together with a series of controlled-vocabulary indexes, which are interactively linked.
Middleton Reference: AI 3 H85 Library has: v.1 (1974/1975)-v.19 (1992/1993) This is a cumulative index to English language periodicals. Its scope includes language and literature. It is arranged alphabetically with author and subject entries. A separate listing of citations to book reviews is included. This index partly continues Social Sciences and Humanities Index (1965-1974), International Index (1955-1965), and International Index to Periodicals (1907-1955). All are fairly similar in arrangement and scope.
Index to American Periodicals 1700 - 1850
Two "Indexes to Early American Periodicals," covering the time periods from 1741 to 1935.
Middleton Reference: Z 5781 A1F5 Scope: Indexes 7,872 plays by 2,203 playwrights. Indexing: Each volume is divided into two indexes: an author index and a subject/title index.
Invisible Poets: Afro-Americans of the Nineteenth Century
Middleton Main Stacks: PS153 .N5 S48 This work focuses on twenty-six lesser-known African American Poets who published poetry in America during the nineteenth century. As a result, Paul Lawrence Dunbar is not included. Biographical information is included for all authors. The work is divided into one chapter per poet. It also includes sections on: bibliographies of the poets' works, an index and seven appendices. The appendices provide some bibliographic information for the following topics: Poets for Further Research, Occasional Poets, Anonymous Poets and Ada, Turn-of-the-Century Poets, Poets Erroneously Identified as Afro-Americans, the Creole Poets of Les Cenelles, and Phyllis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon: Bibliographies.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. JSTOR consists of a reliable and comprehensive archive of important scholarly journal literature. Louisiana State University currently participates in the following JSTOR Collection(s): Arts & Sciences I Collection Arts & Sciences II Collection Arts & Sciences III Collection Arts & Sciences IV Collection Arts & Sciences V Collection Arts & Sciences VII Collection Ecology & Botany Collection Health & General Sciences Collection
Middleton Main Stacks: PR83 .M73 1966 This work covers many major British and American authors. This edition of the work is divided into four volumes: v.1. The beginnings to the seventeenth century.--v.2. Neo-classicism to the romantic period.--v.3. The romantic period to the Victorian Age.--v.4. The mid-nineteenth century to Edwardianism. Authors are covered in chronological order based on the dates of their deaths. Entries contain biographical information and criticism.
Middleton Main Stacks: Z6511 .W44 1984 The work is arranged alphabetically by author and title. Most entries are author entries. It focuses on American and English Literature.
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800
Middleton Reference: PN86 .L57 (1984-2005) Scope: The series is a critical discussion of the works of 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th century novelists, poets, playwrights, philosophers, and other creative writers. The series does not include Shakespeare. Individual authors are covered in volumes 1-12. Themes are covered in volumes 13-47. Volumes 48 et sequitur. return to the standard author entry. Organization: Each entry begins with author information, such as his or her name and pseudonyms, dates, major works, a brief biography, and, when available, a picture. This section is followed by excerpts from criticism, arranged chronologically, and fully cited. This is followed by further readings in other Gale publications. Indexing: At the end of each volume, there are cumulative author, topic, title, and nationality indexes. (There is no title index in the topics volumes.)
Designed to meet the research needs of undergraduate and high school students, the Literature Resource Center provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combining Gale's most used literary databases in a single Internet-searchable service, the Literature Resource Center covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. Search by Author Name, Title, Genre, Literary Movement or Literary Themes, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search path.
In 1963, a Cyclopedia of Literary Characters in two volumes was added to the series. This Cyclopedia provides thumbnail character sketches to supplement the plot summaries of some of the works covered in the previous series volumes. And then, starting in 1986, came Masterplots II, which attempted to update and expand the earlier Masterplots editions. Masterplots II comes in five smaller series: American Fiction, World Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and European Fiction. Each of these series is indexed by title and author at the end of the last volume in the series. Scope: Masterplots, over the life of the series, summarizes works in every genre of literature, except the essay. Choices of literature are not limited to those written in English. Indexing: There is a cumulative index volume covering all the editions from 1949 to 1980. Indexing herein is by title and author.
MLA International Bibliography
Middleton Reference: Z7006 .M64 Author entries are contained within the Classified Listings section. This section is currently divided into five volumes: vol. one – British and Irish, Commonwealth, English Caribbean, and American Literatures; vol. two – European, Asian, African, and Latin American Literatures; vol. three – Linguistics; vol. four – General Literature and Related Topics; vol. 5 – Folklore. The entries are numbered according to volume. The work contains a documents author index and a subject index.
MLA International Bibliography
MLA International Bibliography is an index of journal articles, books and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to 1926. Coverage is international and subjects include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. In addition, the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the association's proprietary thesaurus used to assign descriptors to each record in the Bibliography are also included. Examples of titles offered in MLA International Bibliography include: Journal of International Folklore, Journal of English and German Philology, Journal of Linguistics, Journal of Popular Film and Television, Language and Communication, Language Teaching Research, Modern Language Journal, etc.
Nineteenth-century literature criticism
Holdings: v.1(1981)-v.86(2000) Middleton Reference: PN761 .N5 Scope: Includes excerpts from criticism of the work of 300 novelists, philosophers, and other creative writers who died between 1800 and 1899. Organization: Each volume is arranged by author, beginning with author information, such as his or her name and pseudonyms, dates, major works, a brief biography, and, when available, a picture. This section is followed by excerpts from criticism, arranged chronologically, and fully cited. This is followed by suggested further readings in other Gale publications. Indexing: At the end of each volume, there are cumulative author, topic, and nationality indexes. There is a title index specific to each volume.
Palmer's Full Text Online 1785 - 1870
A combination electronic index and full-text database, in PDF form, of The Times of London. Coverage spans the years 1790 to 1905. Searching is by keyword. Available off campus. To find book reviews, include the word "reviews" in your search string along with either the book's title or author. For example: reviews and on the origin of species or reviews and charles darwin. (The search engine is not very discriminating and will produce a large amount of irrelevant results. Therefore, you should limit your date range as much as possible and leave the sorting option set to "relevance".)
Palmer's Index to the London Times
Spans 1790-1905. Request this item at the Reference Desk.
Middleton Reference: PN1010 .P54 This is a three-volume work. Each volume focuses on 10-13 major poets. The poets are from all times and nationalities. Poets are arranged alphabetically in each individual volume. Each author entry contains poetry criticism, and is supplemented by biographical and bibliographical material.
Project Muse provides online, world wide, institutional subscription access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences and mathematics.
Call Number: PN 3448 S45 S34 (Stacks) V. 1 (1973)- V.28 (2001) Note: Current Issues in Current Periodicals/Newspapers Room. Available online in JSTOR and Literary Resource Center.
Scope: In Vols. 1-10, each of Shakespeare's works is discussed. Vols. 11-26 discuss the performance history (stage and screen) of each play. Vols. 27-present provide post-1960 criticism. Organization: A thematic introductory section is followed by excerpts of criticism of particular plays arranged thematically, then chronologically. Indexing: At the end of each volume there are three indexes—a cumulative character index, a cumulative topic index, and a cumulative topic index by play. Features: Full bibliographic citations are included with each critical excerpt. Also, there are some illustrations.
Middleton Reference: AI3 .A278 Scope: This index to creative, critical, and scholarly writing indexes over 500 English language literary journals and magazines spanning the years 1975 to 1999. Indexing: Each year is indexed separately. Each volume consists of one alphabetical author-subject index.
The continuity of American poetry
Middleton Main Stacks: PS303 .P4 This work originated from Pearce's 1954 lectures on the history of American poetry at the Sulzburg Seminar in American Studies. Its ten chapters cover American poetry roughly from the seventeenth century to the 1950's. The work has an index, which is the best way to find criticism on individual authors.
The drama scholars' index to plays and filmscripts
Middleton Reference: PN 1655 S33 Scope: Indexes collections and periodicals as an aid to finding plays and film scripts. Coverage extends from 1700 to 1983. Indexing: Authors and titles are indexed together in one continuous alphabet.
The English romantic poets : a review of research and criticism
Middleton Main Stacks: PR590 .E5 1985 This collection focuses on Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth. The book is divided into chapters, and does include an examination of the Romantic Movement. The work includes an index.
The New Cambridge bibliography of English literature
Middleton Reference: Z2011 .N45 Each volume in this work is divided into chapters and sections with some sections focusing on poetry and poets. Entries are alphabetical by author for each section. Each page has two numbered columns. Volumes 1-4 each have an index, with entries referring to column numbers. Volume 5 is a cumulative index for the work. Volumes are basically chronological in scope: volume one – 600-1600; volume two – 1660-1800; volume three – 1800-1900; volume four – 1900-1950.
The New Moulton's library of literary criticism
Middleton Reference: PR85 .N39 1985 This work is similar in arrangement and scope to Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the 20th Century. It is comprised of ten volumes instead of four, so each volume deals with smaller periods of time. Authors are arranged basically by date of death. The eleventh volume is a cumulative index that contains an index to bibliographies, series contents, an index to authors, and an index to critics.
The Shorter New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature
Middleton Stacks: Z2011 .S417 1981 Update of The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature
The World Shakespeare bibliography (CD-ROM)
Request this item at the Reference Desk.
TLS Centenary Archive (Times Literary Supplement)
An electronic, full-text database in PDF format, covering the years 1902 to 1990. It is accessible off campus. To find book reviews, in the article search screen, type the name of the book in the "Book or Article Title" blank; in the "Item description" blank, select "Book review" from the drop-down menu and click "Search." You can view a facsimile of the Times Literary Supplement page where your review was printed.
Twentieth-century literary criticism
Middleton Reference: PN771 .T85 Holdings: v.1(1978)-v.49(1993),v.51(1994)-v.96(2000) Scope: Presents criticism of the works of more than 500 novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers and other creative writers who lived between 1900 and 1999. Every fourth volume in the series is devoted to topics rather than individual authors. Organization: Each entry begins with author information, such as his or her name and pseudonyms, dates, major works, a brief biography, and, when available, a picture. This section is followed by excerpts from criticism, arranged chronologically, and fully cited. This is followed by cross-references to other Gale publications. Indexing: At the end of each volume, there are cumulative author, topic, and nationality indexes. There is a title index specific to each volume. There is also a separate cumulative title index for the entire series. Cross-indexing to other Gale publications is built into these indexes.
Twentieth-century short story explication; interpretations, 1900-1966, of short fiction since 1800
Middleton Reference: Z5917 S5 W33 Scope: Includes interpretations of short stories published from 1900 to 1994. Indexing: Each volume is indexed separately, alphabetically by author, then by short story beneath each author.
The complete works of Virginia Woolf including variant and hard-to-find editions. Over 12,000 manuscript images from the Henry W and Albert A. Berg Collection at the New York Public Library and the Monks House Papers at the University of Sussex. Ask for this item at the Reference Desk.
