ENGL 1190.103: Great Books? Exploring the Literary Tradition (Spring 2009)  Tags: course_guide english_literature literature linguistics_language_literature writing first_year_writing_seminars  

Subject encyclopedias offer a very quick way to get yourself started on research topics. They are compiled by experts in the field.

To find subject encyclopedias in the library catalog do a guided keyword search for your topic. Enter one or two keyword terms in the first search row, then in the second, enter encyclop? dictionar? handbook? guide? and select any of these from the pull-down menu as additional keyword search terms.

*Question marks function as wildcard characters.

Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature. edited by Marion Wynne-Davies. Bloomsbury, 1997. Rev. ed. Contains over 800 entries on writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Martin Amis and Caryl Churchill, over 1000 entries on individual works, over 300 Biblical and mythological characters and events, over 600 literary and critical terms and movements, and over 1000 entries describing historical, cultural and social events. [publisher]

Cambridge Guide to English Literature. Stapleton, Michael. New York: Cambridge UP, 1983. Uris Ref PR l9 C17+; Olin Ref PR l9 C17+ A single volume guide to the literature of the English-speaking world. Covering more than a thousand years, it includes the literature of Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It also includes the English writing from Ireland and South Africa and contributions from the West Indies and Nigeria since World War II. Entries are for authors, individual works of litera ture, main characters in novels and plays, relevant historical events and technical literary terms. Illustrated.

The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Head, Dominic, ed. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. [1993 edition online; 2006 ed. in print at Olin Ref PR 85 C29 2006+Not to be confused with the Cambridge Guide listed above, this alphabetically-arranged compendium covers some of the same material, but expands its coverage to Africa, India, and other areas, and aims to include more material on contemporary literary figures. Illustrated.

Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature, edited by Robert T. Lambdin and Laura C. Lambdin. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. Olin Ref PN669 E53x 1998"A comprehensive guide to medieval literature. While the volume is devoted primarily to the literature of medieval England, its multicultural scope also encompasses Islamic, Mongolian, Celtic, Hispanic, Italian, Russian, and Germanic works. Longer entries treat major authors, entire genres, and important texts, while shorter entries provide valuable contextual information through their coverage of significant kings, religious leaders, artists, historical events, and other topics. Each of the more than 420 entries includes a brief bibliography, and the volume closes with a list of general works for further reading." (publisher)

Literary History of England. Baugh, Albert C., ed., 2nd ed. New York: Appleton, 1967. Uris Ref PR 83 B34 1967; Olin Ref PR 83 B34 1967 A comprehensive and scholarly history of the literature of England. Arranged by period and genre, with numerous footnotes indicating standard editions and an extensive bibliographical supplement listing, by chapter and page, the most important books and articles in which the reader may pursue further the writings of authors discussed.

English Literature

Research Guide for Medieval Studies

Other Subject Research Guides in the Humanities

Sense and Sensibility: A Novel. By a Lady. London: Printed for the author, by C. Roworth, and published by T. Egerton, 1811.

Source: Cornell University Library