ENGL 2700.105: The Reading of Fiction (Spring 2009)  Tags: fiction english_literature american_literature short_stories literature  

Reference sources -- both in print and online -- can provide information and overviews of a subject, providing historical context, identifying key events and people, and describing important concepts. A good reference source might also contain a core bibliography of books and journal articles worth looking for. This list highlights some reference material of particular relevance for this class.

Language & Literary Terms

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 9th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2009. Olin Ref PN41 A184 2009

"For clarity, concision and elegance Abrams has few peers and no superiors; plain spoken but not simplistic, his essays on critical methods are the best short treatments in the business." (Choice)

 

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism c1997- .

A full-text searchable database of articles on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats related persons and fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography. Paper edition (2005) in Olin Reference: Olin Ref PN81 J554 2005 +.

 

Oxford English Dictionary Online

The greatest dictionary of the English language, its aim is to present in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of the earliest records down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning their form, meaning, pronunciation, and etymology. Over 400,000 entries. The most important use of this dictionary is for historical information about a word. This online edition is more up-to-date than the printed Second Edition, and represents the latest progress towards the Third Edition. Second ed. in Olin Ref PE 1625 M98 1989, and Uris Ref PE1625 M978 1989

Literature Reference Sources

Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985. Uris Ref DA 34 C17+; also Olin Ref

An illustrated overview of British history. Provides chapters of about forty pages each dealing with the major periods in British history, for example, "Reformation and Inflation, 1450-1625."

A Literary History of England. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton, 1967. Uris Ref PR 83 B34 1967; also Olin Ref

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.

Literature Resource Center [Farmington Hills, MI] : Gale Group, c1999-.

"The Literature Resource Center (LRC) is a complete literature reference database designed for the undergraduate student. LRC combines biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to deliver a complete reference/resource package on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Centering on respected Gale sources, including Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary Literary Criticism, this data set is augmented with full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material illuminating an oeuvre or era... LRC [also] offers the Encyclopedia of Literature,... The Scribner Writer Series, and The Twayne Authors Series: Twayne's US Authors, Twayne's English Authors and Twayne's World Authors, providing literary criticism, history and influence of literary movements, and the development of literary genres for approximately 200 authors.

Oxford Companion to American Literature, by James D. Hart. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. 6th ed.

There are over 2,000 biographical profiles of important American authors (with information regarding their style, subjects, and major works) and influential foreign writers as well as other figures who have been important in the nation's social and cultural history. There are more than 1,100 full summaries of important American novels, stories, essays, poems (with verse form noted), plays, biographies and autobiographies, tracts, narratives, and histories.

Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford: OUP, 2000. Also in print: Olin Ref PR19 O94 2000

Brief articles on authors and literary works from all periods of English literature are arranged alphabetically in this comprehensive single volume handbook. Contains extensive cross-references and appendices include essays on "Censorship and the Law of the Press" and "Notes on the History of English Copy Right."

Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. David Scott Kastan, editor in chief. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2006. 5 vols. Olin Ref PR19 O95 2006

"Covers the entire history of British literature from the seventh century to the present, focusing on the writers and the major texts of what are now the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. In five hundred substantial essays written by major scholars, the Encyclopedia of British Literature includes biographies of nearly four hundred individual authors and a hundred topical essays with detailed analyses of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant." (publisher) Table of contents

Walker, Warren S. Twentieth-century Short Story Explication: New Series. 5 vols. Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String Press, 1993- . Uris Ref Z5917.S5 W182 1993

Continues Walker's Twentieth-century Short Story Explication: Interpretations, 1900-1975, (Uris Ref Z5917.S5 W18 1977; also Olin Ref) of short fiction since 1800. Includes indexes. Contents: v. 1. 1989-1990 -- v. 2. 1991-1992 -- v. 3. 1993-1994 -- v. 4. 1995-1996 -- v. 5. 1997-1998.