Subject Guides: English

Composition & Literature - Literary Criticism Sources

This page lists resources for general criticism, including prose, for American, British and World literatures. For specific genre criticism, please see:

Drama Criticism Resources Poetry Criticism Resources

• Articles on American Literature (Leary)
  • 1900-1950
    Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 1225 .L49
  • 1950-1967
    Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 1225 .L492
  • 1968-1975
    Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 1225 .L493

• Contemporary Literary Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN 771 .C59

  This source provides selected excerpts from criticism of the work of about twenty-five authors per volume (now over 70 volumes), and is limited to those who are still living or who died after December 31, 1959. Heavy emphasis on English-language writers, although others are included if their work is fairly well known in the US.

  Each volume contains a cumulative author index covering all CLC volumes . There is a nationality index which is cumulative to the CLC series and a title index limited to the volume itself.

• Hispanic Literature Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PQ 7081 .A1 H573 1994

• Literature Criticism from 1400-1800: Excerpts from criticism of the works of Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Novelists, Poets, Playwrights ...
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN 86 .L53

  This series serves as a complement to Contemporary Literary Criticism(PN 771 .C59), Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (PN 761 .N5) and, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism(PN 94 .T84). Each volume covers between seven and nine individuals from nations all over the world, along with one topical entry on a major theme or issue. Entries are arranged alphabetically within each volume and critical comments are furnished, beginning with the views of the authors' contemporary critics and proceeding to modern-day reviews. A cumulative index includes all entries from any of the titles in this series.

• Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 6511 .M25

  Covers world literature from the beginning to 1978. It includes articles in periodicals, articles and chapters in books and books giving citations to criticism published from 1960-1970. Magill's is arranged alphabetically by author, then by work. The 4th volume contains a title index.

• Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN 761 .N5

  This work treats authors who died during the 19th century. All types of creative writers from Europe, Great Britian, and the US are inluded. Each volume covers the works of from 8-14 different writers, with every fourth volume devoted to topics rather than individual authors. Entries furnish a brief biographical introduction, bibliography of works published, excerpts from critics and a suggested reading list for further inquiry.

• Online Literary Criticism Collection

  The Internet Public Library's (IPL) Online Literary Criticism Collection contains 1043 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by literary period. The collection is not inclusive of all the work on the web, nor does it plan to be. The sites are selected with some thought to their overall usefulness.

• Short Story Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN 3373 .S386

• Twentieth Century Literary Criticism
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN 94 .T84

  Authors included in this series had lived and died between 1900 and 1960. Portaits, in-depth biography, a bibliography of principle works and most importantly, a selection of excerpts of literary criticism arranged chronologically from the time of publication of the work to the most recent efforts. Compliments other "Gale" (publisher) literary criticism titles. The last volume of each year contains annual topic, nationality, and author indexes; the first volume of the year has a cumulative title index to the whole series.

Explicators

• American Fiction, 1901-1925
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PS 369 .S65 1997

• Articles on American and British Literature: An Index to selected periodicals, 1950-1977
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 1225 .C67

  This bibliography is organized by nationality, period, subject (author or topic) and author of article. It indexes fourty-eight journals over the twenty-eight year period, and includes criticism on all forms of literature.

• Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction 16 volumes
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 6514 .P7 B43 1966

• The Contemporary Novel: a checklist of critical literature ...since 1945
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference Z 1231 .F4 A34 1996

• Critical Temper: A Survey of modern criticism on English and American literature from the beginnings to the twentieth century
  Hale Library Stacks - PR 85 .C77

• English Literature 1600-1800
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 2011 .E6

• English Novel Explication
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 2014 .F5 P26; supplements 1-5, Z 2014 .F5 P262

• Literary Criticism Index
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 654 .W44 1994 (2nd ed.)

  This source indexes multiple-author bibliographies in which criticism of individual works is separately listed or in which annotations make it possible to determine exactly which work or works are being discussed. Citations contain an abbreviation for the source and page numbers. Source abbreviations are listed on pp. xi-xix. Check the libraries' online catalog for call numbers for the sources.

• Literary Index
  World Wide Web; Open Access

  A combination and cross-referencing source to the Gale literary series. You can search for references on more than 11,000 author names (including pseudonyms) and nearly 150,000 titles with a simple search. Results will list the Gale title and volume number for each inquiry. Check KSUL's Catalog for specific holdings.

• Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication
  Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z 5917 .S5 W33