The Library Catalog
Use the library catalog to locate books and journals. Note that the catalog does not contain records for individual periodical articles, but only for the journals themselves. Use the Articles & Full Text option to search for journal articles across many different databases. Search author names as SUBJECT (last name, first name) for collections of literary criticism on individual authors.
Online Reference Sources in Literature
Oxford English DictionaryCall Number: Print: Olin Reference PE1625 M98The OED presents 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, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of LiteraturePublication Date: Oxford UP, 2015-presentupdated regularly with individually commissioned articles, and in addition includes articles from related stand-alone printed volumes, such as the Oxford Encyclopedias of American Literature, Literary Theory, Latina and Latino Literature, and others.
Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural TheoryCall Number: Print copy: Olin Reference PN 81 E435 2011Publication Date: Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011Arranged in three volumes covering Literary Theory from 1900 to 1966, Literary Theory from 1966 to the present, and Cultural Theory, this encyclopedia provides accessible entries on the important concepts, theorists and trends in post-1900 literary and cultural theory.
Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and CriticismCall Number: Olin Reference PN81 J554 2005+Publication Date: Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005A 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
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineDeveloped cooperatively with scholars and librarians worldwide, Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource guides researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
Call Number: Print: Olin Reference PS21 E537 2004 +Publication Date: Oxford UP, 20044 vols. Contains essays on US poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists. Figures such as Whitman, Melville, and Morrison are discussed in detail and examined in the context of their times, with an assessment of the writer's current reputation, a bibliography of major works, and a list of major critical and biographical works about the writer.
Oxford Encyclopedia of British LiteratureCall Number: Print copy: Olin Reference PR19 O95 2006Publication Date: Oxford UP, 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 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." Table of contents.
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and PoeticsPublication Date: 4th ed. Princeton University Press, 2012An updated version of the major reference work for poetry, reflecting recent changes in literary and cultural studies and giving greater attention to the international aspects of poetry, all while preserving the best of the previous volumes. [publisher] 1993 edition also available online.
Adonis to Zorro: Oxford Dictionary of Reference and AllusionCall Number: Print copy: Olin Reference PN 43 D43 2010Publication Date: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 3rd ed.Based on an extensive reading program that has identified the most commonly-used allusions. All entries have at least one illustrative citation from a range of source materials.Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literatures in English
Call Number: Olin Reference PR9080 A52 E53 2005Publication Date: Routledge, 2005This three-volume set covers the history and development of the literatures of the colonies of the former British Commonwealth, and includes original research relating to the literatures of some fifty countries and mandated territories. In addition to entries by genre, subject, and biography, there are also important "overviews" for selected major subjects and genres in the form of comparative essays which explore the issues over a variety of countries. Includes a comprehensive index to authors, subjects, and works.
- Cambridge Histories OnlineProvides full text online access to the complete 300-plus volumes of Cambridge Histories reference series. Provides political, economic and social history, philosophy and literature of selected countries and subjects.
Land Acknowledgment
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
The Print Collection
Many excellent reference sources in literature are only available in print. While these are currently in storage during Olin construction, they can be found in the library catalog and requested through the circulation desk. Also be sure to browse the Olin stacks under these Library of Congress classifications: PN (general literary criticism and theory, 6th floor), PR (English literature, 7th floor) and PS (American Literature, 7th floor). See the full Library of Congress Classification Outline by subject at https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/.
Periodical Databases
Given the multidisciplinary perspectives from which literature can be approached, the following list represents only those resources centered for the most part on literary study. Others, such as Philosophers Index, Historical Abstracts, Women's Studies International or PsycINFO may be just as relevant depending on the specific subject. Searching the Library Catalog and Databases will identify or provide access to far more of these resources than can be listed here.
- MLA International BibliographyThe premier scholarly bibliography covering languages, literatures, folklore, film and linguistics from all over the world. Online coverage back to 1926. Includes books, articles in books, and journal articles. Does not index book reviews.
- ProQuest One LiteratureFormer name: Literature Online. Offers a full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary references sources as well as articles, monographs and dissertations from the Annual bibliography of English language and literature (ABELL); full-text articles from literary journals; and biographical information on widely studied authors.
- Gale LiteratureA literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual
information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Includes both textual and visual material from the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Authors, and Contemporary Literary Criticism. - Humanities International IndexIndexes articles and books across the arts and humanities disciplines from a multitude of U.S. and international publications. HII also provides citations for original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations. Many links to full text.
- International Medieval Bibliography Online (IMB)The world's leading interdisciplinary bibliography of the European Middle Ages, covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the period 400-1500.
- Iter : gateway to the Middle Ages and RenaissanceA bibliographic database of interdisciplinary journal literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 400-1700. Includes articles, reviews, bibliographies, catalogs, editions, abstracts, discographies, and notes.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
- Project MUSESearchable database that provides access to the full text of journals and ebooks published by university presses in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Covers such fields as literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others.
- Black Studies CenterBlack Studies Center combines invaluable resources for research and teaching in Black studies: Schomburg studies on the Black experience, International index of Black periodicals (IIBP), The Chicago defender, ProQuest dissertations for Black studies, and Black literature index. This fully cross-searchable gateway to Black studies includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and much more.
- GenderWatchA full text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas, including family, childbirth, birth control, daycare, domestic abuse, work and the workplace, sexual harassment, aging, aging parents, body image, eating disorders and social and societal roles.
- Historical AbstractsPublished since 1954, Historical Abstracts currently covers history journals published worldwide.
Primary Sources
- Early English Books Online: EEBOFrom the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War, EEBO contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475 - 1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)Includes the full texts of significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800. Consists of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera.
- Early American Imprints. Series I, Evans (1639-1800)Provides full-text and full-page-image access to books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in America from 1639-1800. Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans (14 vols., 1903-34, 1955-59); and subsequent bibliographic works by Roger Bristol, James Mooney and Clifford Shipton.
- American PeriodicalsContains digitized images of American special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals, as well as other historically significant titles, from the 19th century through the dawn of the 20th century.
- British PeriodicalsA fully searchable database that provides the full text of periodical articles published in Britain from the 1680s to the 1930s. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences, literature, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
- Eight CenturiesFormerly known as 19th Century Masterfile. Searchable index to a variety of 19th century Anglo-American periodical articles, documents and other primary and secondary sources published before 1930. Many links to full text. Aggregates indexes to books, periodicals, newspapers, government documents and patents into a single resource.