Finding Literary Criticism in Books

This Web page discusses in detail how to find literary criticism books located in Morgan Library (and storage). Books are used extensively by English majors. Books with literary criticism tend to have bibliographies that include citiations for journal articles and other books. These bibliographies can be very useful.

The general principles outlined here apply to any library catalog that uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). After researchers have examined locally available books, they may also want to look in Prospector (a union catalog that has items from over 20 Colorado Libraries) for easily accessible books not owned by Colorado State University.

What is literary criticism? It is a close reading, interpretation, evaluation, and discussion of a piece of literature, usually a novel, play, poem, or essay. It can be positive, negative, or a complex combination of plaudit and critique. Perspectives of literature can differ a great deal, depending upon the critic, and upon the time period and country in which the critic lives.

Another definition can be found in The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms PN 41 .M874 1997 REF; look up "criticism" (64-5). Another useful guide to different kinds of literary criticism is the A-Z Guide to Modern Literary and Cultural Theorists PN 74 .A2 1995 REF

This page covers how to find books of literary criticism:

• on an author and his/her works--Finding Literary Criticism on an Author--Collective Biography/Criticism
• for a specific novel, play, poem or other type of literature--Books on a Specific Work
• of a particular type (feminist, etc.)--Types of Literary Criticism--Perspectives, Literary Movements, Places in Literature, Dictionary of Literary Biography

  See also

  • Locating Literary Criticism in Journal Articles
  • Web Sources for Literary Criticism (forthcoming)
  • Book Reviews

Finding Literary Criticism on an Author

To find out if Morgan Library (or storage) has books with criticism on a particular author, do a Subject search by the author's last name (on the initial SAGE screen it is called a LC Subject). Select the Subject search and type in the author's last name, a comma, and the author's first name or initial(s). The criticism subject heading used for an author will have the author's name, sometimes date of birth and/or death, and "Criticism and Interpretation."

For example: Borges, Jorge

Line number 8 lists "Borges Jorge Luis 1899 Criticism And Interpretation." Click on the highlighted term and you see a display of titles on that topic (the actual Web page will have up to twelve records):

Select titles of interest, for example line number 3:

The subject for this book is "Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899- --Criticism and interpretation." This is a LCSH term.

Note: you will not find individual authors (with the one exception of Shakespeare, William--who serves as the model LCSH entry for all authors) listed in the printed LCSH volumes. A comprehensive listing would take up too much space.

It is also worthwhile to look at the records under the author's name. In the above example, the items under "Borges Jorge Luis 1899" are also useful for research on Borges and his works.

Another example: you want criticism about Toni Morrison's novels. Again, do a Subject search:

In this example, line 11 lists criticism of Morrison's works.

Collective Biography, Collective Criticism

There are useful lists of reference sources with criticism found on World Authors/Writers. The Web page includes books in the literary criticism series published by Gale. These titles include excerpts from criticism over the years. All titles provide biographical information about authors. See also British Writers and American Writers for books with biographical information about authors.

Books on a Specific Work

If a novel is in itself major enough to have criticism about it, you can find LCSH entries for it. For example, there are books about Morrison's Beloved.

To do a direct search for criticism of a specific novel, do a Subject search for that title:

Line 3 selected from above has books on Morrison's Beloved:

Note: the records for "Beloved Morrison Toni" match the records found by a subject search for "Morrison, Toni Beloved." Entry 1 has essays from many critics. The bibliography will have additional sources that may be useful for the student doing research on Beloved:

Keep in mind that only major works will have entire books written about them! Do not assume that there will be entire books written about what you are researching.

See also specific recommendations for criticism of Shakespeare's works.

Types of Literary Criticism

Types of literary criticism vary widely. This section provides the names of perspectives, movements, and places that are treated critically. If a researcher cannot think of a type of criticism, this section will be especially useful. To be listed here, Colorado State University has to own at least seven books on the type. Use this section for suggestions and to find books available in Morgan Library (and storage).

Perspectives

The following list is of specific perspectives of literary criticism. This list has perspectives that are available in books owned by Colorado State University. Do a Word search in SAGE for these and add "and criticism" to find literary criticism books on these topics.

Cultural Criticism Cultural Materialism Deconstruction Feminist French Feminism Gender

Modernism New Historicism Phenomenology Postcolonialism Postmodernism Poststructuralism

Psychoanalytic Reader-response Reception Semiotics Structuralism

For example:

Finding Literary Movements in SAGE (or other library catalogs):

The literary movements listed below are described in the Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary: A Compendium to More Than 500 Literary, Critical, and Theatrical Movements, Schools, and Groups from More Than 80 Nations, Covering the Novelists, Poets, Short-Story Writers, Dramatists, Essayists, Theorists, and Works, Genres, Techniques, and Terms Associated with Each Movement PN 597 .T94 2000 REF. The index of this book lists groups by country; contents are listed alphabetically. In addition, the index gives the time period for each movement (for example: Modernism (1910s-30s)).

The selected terms identify items from literary movements from England and the United States that are found in Morgan Library (or storage). Each term has a minimal number of items available (usually at least seven). Do a Subject search in SAGE to identify these materials quickly. Keep in mind that in some cases the term used in SAGE is not an exact match for the term used in the Reference book. These give resources (i.e. primary sources) from the movement.

LCSH terms:

Aestheticism literature Agrarians (group of writers) Beat generation Bloomsbury group Concrete poetry Decadence literary movement Deconstruction Feminist criticism Fugitives group Futurism literary movement Little theater movement Living theatre (New York, N.Y.) Marxist criticism Modernism (literature) Modernism (literature) England

Modernism (literature) United States Naturalism Negritude literary movement Neoclassicism (literature) New criticism Reader-response criticism Realism Romanticism Semiotics Socialist realism in literature Structuralism Surrealism Symbolism literary movement Theater of the absurd

The terms listed below identify additional literary movements, groups in literature, etc. There are at least seven sources in SAGE, located in Morgan Library or storage, on these LCSH topics. Do a Subject search to find these materials. Note: these books discuss literature that fits the named "type" of literature; most, but not all, of these find books that are not the types themselves (X in literature), but refer to those that are.

African Americans in literature American Fiction 19th century history and criticism Canon literature Colonies in literature Communism and literature Criticism Criticism and interpretation Decolonization in literature Ethnic groups in literature. Experimental theater Expressionism in literature Feminism and literature Feminism and literature England Feminism and literature United States Fiction 15th and 16th centuries history and criticism Fiction 18th century history and criticism Fiction 19th century history and criticism Fiction 20th century history and criticism Gender identity in literature Gothic revival literature Historicism History and criticism Humanism in literature Literature ancient history and criticism

Literature history and criticism Literature and history Local color in literature Masculinity in literature Materialism in literature Minorities in literature Nonfiction novel Nostalgia in literature Postcolonialism Postmodernism (literature) Postmodernism (literature) Great Britain Postmodernism (literature) United States Poststructuralism Proletariat in Literature Psychoanalysis and literature Psychoanalysis in literature Realism in literature Semiotics and literature Social change in literature Symbolism in literature Totalitarianism and Literature Women and literature Women in literature

Places in Literature

The following LCSH terms identify items in SAGE about places or entities found in literature. This list is not comprehensive, but selects topics for which a minimal number of items (usually at least eleven) are available in Morgan Library (or storage). It does not include individual states or people. Do a Subject search to identify these materials quickly. Note: these books discuss literature that takes place in the named places; they are not primary sources, but describe the literature that is.

Africa in literature Asia in literature Australia in literature Bible in literature Canada in literature Caribbean area in literature Catholic church in literature China in literature Developing countries in literature Dublin Ireland in literature Egypt in literature England in literature Europe in literature France in literature Germany in literature Great Britain in literature Greece in literature India in literature Ireland in literature Italy in literature

Latin America in literature London England in literature Mexico in literature Middle West in literature New England in literature New York N.Y. in literature Nigeria in literature Northern Ireland in literature Orient in literature Paris France in literature Rome in literature Rome Italy in literature Scotland in literature South Africa in literature Southern states in literature Southwestern states in literature United States in literature Wales in literature West Indies in literature West U.S. in literature

Some other comments and suggestions:

One respectable series of criticism is Twaynes. To find books from this series, do a title search in SAGE for "Twaynes":

Dictionary of Literary Biography

An excellent resource for criticism that includes biographical information (and bibliographies) is the Dictionary of Literary Biography PS 221 .D5 REF. Look in the index of the newest (highest number) volume for individual authors or works. Each volume (there are over 230) has a theme, individually searchable in SAGE by title or word. For example: British poets, 1880-1914; Modern Latin-American fiction writers; American travel writers, etc. Read through the notes in the SAGE record for ideas or just to see the vast scope of this valuable resource.

See also

• Locating Literary Criticism in Journal Articles
• Web Sources for Literary Criticism (forthcoming)
• Book Reviews

English Language & Literature

How to do Library Research

Content: Naomi Lederer

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URL: http://lib.colostate.edu/research/english/litcritbooks.html • Modified: 2009-08-06

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