Subject Guides: American Literature: Reference

Literary Reference

Literature Resource Center (LRC)(Gale) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, critical analysis, and Web resources of authors from every age and literary discipline. 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.
Literary Reference Source (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Content includes thousands of plot summaries, essays of literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems, classic and contemporary short stories, and author interviews.
Magill on Literature Plus (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Magill On Literature Plus combines the databases Magill On Literature and Magill On Authors, and so includes all the literary works, reviewed critical analyses and brief plot summaries that are included in Magill On Literature, as well as all the biographies and author essays included in Magill On Authors, such as all of "Masterplots and Masterplots II", "Cyclopedia of World Authors", "Cyclopedia of Literary Characters", and "Magill's Literary Annual".
Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new window Indexes the full-text of nine literary databases dealing with English poetry and drama, 18th century fiction, American and African poetry and Shakespeare. Also contains selected reference works and provides access to related literary websites.
Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
Provides complete biographical and bibliographical information and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.
Short Story Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Index to short stories written in or translated into English that have appeared in collections and selected periodicals. It contains over 76,500 entries including 1,350 full-text stories. The periodicals are those indexed in Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and Humanities Index. Search using WilsonWeb commands.
Poetry and Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window The most comprehensive collection of full-text poetry, short stories, and supplemental content available, offering users a historically rich collection of hundreds of thousands of poems, as well as biographies and authoritative essays on such topics as poetic forms, movements and techniques. This multifaceted database incorporates information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as proprietary content from EBSCO Publishing, and includes hundreds of thousands of full-text poems and tens of thousands of short stories ranging in period from antiquity to the present. The most studied poems are supplemented with indexing covering subject, poetic forms, poetic themes, techniques, and literary periods, schools, and movements.

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Contact the Humanities Reference Help Desk for assistance in finding more resources.

Annals of American Literature, 1602-1983 - Humanities Reference PS 94 .L83 1986
Edited by Richard M. Ludwig and Clifford A. Nault, Jr. New York : Oxford University Press, 1986. A year-by-year chronology of publications, author births and deaths, relevant contemporary artistic and historical events, etc.
Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature - Humanities Reference PS 21 .E53 2003
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Steven R. Serafin, general editor ; Alfred Bendixen, associate editor. New York : Continuum, c2003.
Encyclopeida of Frontier Literature - Humanities Reference PS 169 .F7 S65 1997
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Mary Ellen Snodgrass.
Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 1997.
Harper Handbook to Literature - Humanities Reference PN 41 .F75 1997
Northrop Frye ... [et al.]. 2nd [rev.] ed. New York : Longman, c1997.
Oxford Companion to American Literature
James D. Hart ; with revisions and additions by Phillip W. Leininger. 6th ed. New York : Oxford University Press, 1995. Print version at Humanities Reference PS 21 .H3 1995
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
Jay Parini, Editor in Chief
Available in print at Humanities Reference PS 21 .E537 2003, Level 5.
Timelines of the Arts and Literature - Humanities Reference NX 447.5 .B76 1994
by David Brownstone and Irene Franck.
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This chronology includes areas such as painting, fiction, classical and popular music, film, theater, television, sculpture, belles lettres, photography, dance, and architecture. It ranges from prehistory (100,000-5000 B.C.) through 1992. From 1500 A.D. on, information is presented year by year. Coverage is international, with good coverage of Asia and the Middle East.
Undergraduate's Companion to American Writers and Their Websites - Humanities Reference PS 88 .X1 B73 2001
James K. Bracken, Larry G. Hinman. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 2001

Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new window
Database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary reserach.

Bibliographies

Selective Bibliography of American Literature, 1775-1900 : a Brief Estimate of the More Important American Authors and a Description of Their Representative Works By B.M. Fullerton ; with an introduction by Carl Van Doren. Woodbridge, Conn. : Ox Bow Press, 1989. Humanities Reference PS 201 .X1 F85 1989

Epitome of Bibliography of American Literature Compiled by Michael Winship, with Philip B. Eppard and Rachel J. Howarth. Golden, Colo. : North American Press, 1995. Humanities Reference PS 88 .X1 W55 1995

A Critical Bibliography of American Literature Studies. Oxford, UK; Malden, Mass.: Published for the English Association by Blackwell, 1998. 4 volumes covering scholarship from 1954-1994. Humanities Reference PS 62 .X1 C7 1998

Specialized Reference Sources

Sources dealing with literary periods, genre, gender, regional and ethnic literatures

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Biographical Dictionaries

Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Print version at Humanities Reference PN 451 .A6

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides more than 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. DLB Complete Online includes the DLB main series, the DLB Documentary Series, and the DLB Yearbook Series.
Literature Resource Center (LRC)(Gale) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, critical analysis, and Web resources of authors from every age and literary discipline. 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.

Encyclopedia of World Biography
American Writers Before 1800 : a Biographical and Critical Dictionary - Humanities Reference PS 185 .A4 1983
Edited by James A. Levernier and Douglas R. Wilmes. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1983.