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Subject Guide for English and American Literature
Contents
IntroductionResearch materials in English and American literature are available in a variety of formats on a seemingly infinite number of literary topics. The materials included on this list are some of the most basic and heavily used. The reference books are divided into defining categories; students interested in additional literary research resources may want to consult the reference books under the subheading "Research Guides". In addition to providing information on tools for locating traditional library materials (e.g. books and periodical articles), this page also provides links to some of the more popular and heavily visited Web sites for English and American literature. From these sites, students will find links to a large amount of Web-based literary information.Top of page Contact InformationPlease direct questions about this page and/or about conducting SDSU research on topics in English and American literature to:
Markel Tumlin Reference BooksThe purpose of reference books might best be understood by considering the first five letters of the word reference. These books are not designed to be read in a linear fashion or in their entirety the way that one might read a novel or a history book, but are generally intended to be referred to on an as-needed basis. The SDSU Library has many different types of reference books covering topics in English and American Literature. Some of the more popular and heavily used literary reference books are listed below. However, this list is far from exhaustive of what is available in the library's collection. The library's most popular and heavily used reference books can't be checked out and are located in the General Reference Division on the first floor.Research GuidesThese sources provide excellent starting points for many literary research projects. Evaluative descriptions of major literary research tools are provided. Many different types of research tools; including bibliographies, literary handbooks, specialized literary encyclopedias, databases, etc.; are covered. Reference materials for all time periods and for world literature in English are covered.Bracken, James K. Reference Works in British and American Literature. Harner, James L. Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. Literary HandbooksThese one-volume guides contain concise, alphabetically arranged entries that identify and describe such topics as authors, significant literary works, literary and critical movements, terminology, genres, etc.Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Hart, James, ed. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Head, Dominic, ed. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English.Note: The SDSU reference collection also contains several handbooks to other national literatures that include information about their English language literary traditions, such as the handbooks for Australian, Canadian, and Irish literatures. Furthermore, a variety of other more specialized literary handbooks (such as those focused on African-American literature and literature by American women writers) is available. Literary EncyclopediasAlthough these alphabetically-arranged, multi-volume sets are heavily focused on authors, they also contain pertinent articles about literary movements and other topics of literary interest.Kastan, David Scott, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ostrom, Hans and J. David Macey, Jr., ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African-American Literature. Parini, Jay, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Dictionaries of Literary TermsThese concise guides provide definitions of such diverse items as literary devices, literary movements, the terminology of literary criticism, genres, motifs, etc.Cuddon, J.A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Frye, Northrop, et al. The Harper Handbook to Literature. Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. Dictionaries of Literary Criticism and TheoryWhile dictionaries of literary terms usually include some critical terminology, these sources are much more detailed and inclusive of the terms that comprise the specialized language of literary criticism. They include information on critical movements and scholars as well.Groden, Michael, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman, eds. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Makaryk, Irena R. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms. Murray, Chris (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism. Literary ChronologiesThese books provide year-by-year listings of events in English and American literary history. Items include the publication of major literary works, births, deaths, and other occurrences of literary significance (e.g. the founding of literary foundations or literary periodicals).Burt, Daniel S., ed. The Chronology of American Literature: Literary Achievements from the Colonial Era to Modern Times. PS 94 .C48 2004 Ref Cox, Michael, ed. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. PR 87 .O98 2002 Ref Literary BiographiesThese resources provde biographies that are concise yet longer and more detailed than those available in the aforementioned handbooks. A brief bibliography of each author's works and of selected critical works about the author is also usually provided.Scott-Kilvert, Ian., ed. British Writers. PR 85 .B688 Ref Unger, Leonard, ed. American Writers. PS 129 .A55 Ref Contemporary Authors. PN 451 .C64 Ref Dictionary of Literary Biography.Note: The SDSU reference collection also contains many books that feature biographies of English and American writers belonging to a specific ethnic group or region, e.g. African-American women writers or Western writers. Literary CharactersThese books identify and discuss the characters in major literary works.Salzman, Jack and Wilkinson, Pamela (eds.). Major Characters in American Fiction Sobczak, A.J. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Explication IndexesThese sources (and several others like them located in the reference division) tell you where to find explanatory treatments of specific literary works in critical articles, books, book chapters, etc.Kuntz, Joseph M., and Martinez, Nancy C. Poetry Explication: A Checklist of Interpretation Since 1925 of British and American Poems Past and Present. Otero, Rosalie. Guide to American Drama Explication. Palmer, Helen H., and Dyson, Anne Jane. English Novel Explication: Criticisms to 1972. Literary Criticism Excerption SeriesThese continuing series reprint excerpts from critical articles and books that have been previously published. The most recent volume of each series contains a cumulative author index for that series. In addition, a title index for each series is regularly published. The Literary Index also provides online indexing for all of these series.Contemporary Literary Criticism. PN 771 .C59 Ref Drama Criticism. PN 1601 .D59 Ref Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. PN 761 .N5 Ref Poetry Criticism. PN 1010 .P58 Ref Short Story Criticism. PN 3373 .S387 Ref Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. PN 771 .T85 Ref Top of page Online Catalog (the PAC)The SDSU library provides an online catalog (the PAC) for locating materials in its collection.
Materials can be accessed in a variety of ways, including by title, author, subject, or word. The PAC can also tell you whether the
library owns a periodical, but it doesn't index the individual articles in those periodicals. For information on how to access periodical articles,
please see the section on periodical indexes. Subject Headings used in the PAC are defined in the Library of Congress Subject
Headings books located near the Reference Desk on the first floor. When conducting research on a particular author, it is important
to remember to search for books about an author by searching for the author as a subject. Selecting author will allow you to locate only those
books actually written by an author.
Primary SourcesIn the study of English and American literature, one might think of any original literary work as a primary source, whereas a secondary source would be any piece of critical commentary about a primary source. Under these terms a primary source could be anything from a letter to a published novel. While many primary literary sources can be found by simply searching the PAC, the SDSU library has some tools available for locating primary sources that have been published in such places as collected works, periodicals, and anthologies. Among these finding aids are the following:Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies. Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Collected and Selected Works. Play Index. PN 1655 .P53 Ref Short Story Index. Reference PN3373 .S452 Ref Top of page Periodical IndexesThese resources provide access primarily to periodical articles published on a wide range of literary topics. Some also include indexing for books, book chapters, and articles published in books.Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature. Academic Search Premier This database provides access to indexing and some full-text articles in a variety of disciplines back to 1990. While the coverage is not anywhere near as comprehensive as in the indexes that focus exclusively on literary sources, the coverage of included titles is often more up-to-date. Searching is available to on-campus users and off-campus users with ID-based access by clicking here. MLA International Bibliography PB 41 .M43 Ref - coverage since 1921 (Please note: An online version of this index is available to on-campus users and off-campus users with ID-based access here.) World Shakespeare Bibliography This database is international in scope, and coverage goes back to 1977. It can be searched by on-campus users and off-campus users with ID-based access by clicking here.Other online options for searching literary periodicals are available here. Top of page World Wide Web ResourcesThere is a large and growing body of English and American literary resource material available on the world wide web. Some examples of available materials include web sites that make many literary texts available in their entirety (especially those for which the copyright has expired), web sites devoted to specific authors and/or literary movements, web sites that make available literary reference material (e.g. glossaries, dictionaries, quotation sources, etc.), web-based e-journals that provide full-text articles, and web sites that provide resources used by professors in their college courses. The following metasites have organized and made more easily accessible many of the English and American literary web sites.Literary Resources on the Net - This well-established site, maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University, provides access either by keyword search or by the selection of a category such as Romantic, American, or Theory. Voice of the Shuttle - This is a vast web page that provides links to sites in many different disciplines in the humanities. Of particular interest to researchers of English and American literature are the links from the main page to resources in Literature (English) and Literary Theory.
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