Pathfinder: Locating Literary Criticism

Scope|Overview Sources|Circulating Books|Periodicals, Journals & Trade Publications |Article Databases|Web Sites 

Also see these pathfinders on: 

Scope:  Reading a novel, short story, play, or poem is often an enjoyable task, but the thought of finding a critical appraisal of that particular work may seem daunting. A critical review of a work of literature gives an in-depth analysis of plot, character, theme, as well as other literary devices. In short, literary criticism helps to find the how and why a particular passage was written. The purpose of this pathfinder is to serve as a guideline in locating library resources that will provide an in-depth analysis of this topic.

There are sources located in the Reference Section of the Baddour Library that give a general overview or summary of the topic you are researching. The following is a list of some of the sources available in the library.

OVERVIEW SOURCES (located in the Reference Collection)

REF PS 374.S5C57 2000 The Columbia Companion to the TwentiethCentury American Short Story

REF PS 303.C64 1993 The Columbia History of American Poetry

REF PR502.C85 1992 Critical Survey of Poetry

REF PS 2630.S68 2001 Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work

REF PS 374.S5 F33 2000 The Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story

REF PN 56.H57 G365 1995 The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage: A Reader's Companion to the Writers and Their Works, from Antiquity to the Present

REF PS 2386.G3 1995 A Herman Melville Encyclopedia

REF PS 3230.W35 1998 Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia

Some representative books from the Circulating Collection are:

CIRCULATING BOOKS  (located in the upstairs section of the library) sample titles

Adamson, Joseph. Melville, Shame, and the Evil Eye: A Psychoanalytic Reading. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997.

Brain, Tracy. The Other Sylvia Plath. New York: Longman, 2001.

Dace, Tish. Langston Hughes: The Contemporary Reviews. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Erkkila, Betsy. Breaking Bounds: Whitman and American Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Goldman, Dorothy. Women Writers and the Great War. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995.

Newhouse, Thomas. The Beat Generation and the Popular Novel in the United States, 1945-1970. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 2000.

Roe, Sue and Susan Sellers. The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Some of the specific periodicals that the library subscribes to that focuses on the topic of literary criticism are:

PERIODICALS, JOURNALS & TRADE PUBLICATIONS

American Literature
College Literature
Melus
PMLA

ARTICLE DATABASES

• Academic Search Premier
• Lexis-Nexis Reference
• First Search (Password required; please contact the library at x6559)

WEB SITES

English Language and Literature Resources 
http://www.library.sjsu.edu/leapengl.htm
Site with links to electronic journals, dictionaries, and Contemporary Authors. Offers broad coverage for the study of literature.  Maintained by Judy Reynolds from the College of Humanities and the Arts at San Jose State University.

Literary Resources on the Net
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
Covers the major internet resources in the field, including authors, movements, and collections of electronic literary texts. Essential to researchers in English or American literature.

Literature Resources on the Web 
http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/abuell/litpage.html 
Links to World Literatures, Criticism and Theory, Author websites, English and American Literature. The latter includes information on the Beat writers such as Kerouac and Ginsberg. References to multicultural literary sites. Maintained by Arthur Buell, California State University Stanislaus.

Poetry Portal
http://www.poetry-portal.com/styles.html

Storytellers: Native American authors online
http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/
Contemporary Native American authors. Biographies also available.

Top Humanities Websites 
http://edsitement.neh.gov
A extensive site selected by a review process developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Covers material on American poetry before 1920, medieval studies, Romantic poetry, including texts of the works of the great Romantic poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Also links to Native Web (includes Native American literature).

Voice of the Shuttle
http://vos.ucsb.edu
Authored by Alan Liu from the University of California, this is an excellent and very comprehensive literature site with links to thousands of web sites in all areas of the humanities. Easily accessed and easy to navigate. The homepage links to menus from 25 areas, from anthropology to women's studies.

Web English Teacher

http://www.webenglishteacher.com

The Yahoo Guide to Literature 
http://www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature 
A comprehensive site for the study of Literature. Links to bestseller lists, poetry, book reviews, literary criticism, and magazines.