User Guides Subject Guides > Arts & Humanities American Literature

This is a guide to selected sources of information related to American literature available at URI. To find additional information, conduct a Subject search in the HELIN Catalog using subject headings such as AMERICAN LITERATURE. Subheadings such as 19th CENTURY or DICTIONARIES will narrow the search. (Example: AMERICAN LITERATURE 19th CENTURY HISTORY and CRITICISM; or AFRICAN AMERICAN AUTHORS 20th CENTURY.)  A Subject search on individual authors will bring up material on that author. (Example: HEMINGWAY, ERNEST.)

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Getting started | General works | Dictionaries & encyclopedias | Indexes | Bibliographies, biographies and bio-bibliographies | Literary histories

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CCE PS3 .A47  (Annual 1965-1995)

URI Ref  PS3 .A47  (Annual 1963-1996)

American Literary Scholarship.

Annual review of literary criticism presented in scholarly essays. Organized by major authors and genres/time periods. Includes author and subject indexes. Additional years available online; see title entry in HELIN catalog.

CCE Ref  Z6265 .B53 1994

URI Ref  Z6265 .B53 1994

Blazek, Ron and Elizabeth Aversa. The Humanities: A Selective Guide to Information Sources. 4th ed.1994.

Lists reference works in the humanities including American literature.

URI Z2011 .H34 2002

Harner, James L. Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies.  4th ed. 2002.

“Selective, annotated guide to reference sources essential to the study of British literature, literature of the United States, other literatures in English, and related topics.” Contains descriptions of other reference works.

URI Ref  PR56 .M54 1995

Miller, R. H. Handbook of Literary Research. 2nd ed. 1995.

Explores strategies and resources to be used in researching English and American literature.

URI Ref  PN44 .M3 1998

Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Rev. ed. 1998. 5 vols.

Descriptions of over twenty thousand characters from 3,300 novels, plays, epics and other classic literature. Arranged alphabetically by title of the work. Includes author, title and character indexes.

URI PN451 .M36 1997

Cyclopedia of World Authors. 3rd Rev. ed. 1997. 5 vols.

Biographical sketches of over 2,000 authors worldwide from earliest times to the present. Each entry includes a list of the author's works and a bibliography of sources for further study.

URI Ref  PN771 .E5 1999

Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. 3rd ed. 1999. 4 vols.

This multi-volume encyclopedia provides international coverage including articles on national literatures, and biographical/critical articles. Includes bibliographies for authors and an index to the entire set.

Magill's Critical Surveys.

English Language Series: Each multi-volume series provides critical studies of authors who have influenced English language literature. Several volumes of each set include signed articles covering major authors and provide biographies, criticism, and bibliographies. At least one volume of each series includes scholarly essays on the topic in general and an index to the series.

UR Ref PR625 .C74 1985

Critical Survey of Drama.  1985. 6 vols.

URI Ref PN45 .C74 1987

Critical Survey of Literary Theory. 1987. 4 vols.

URI Ref PR821 .C7 1991

Critical Survey of Long Fiction.  Rev. ed. 1991.  8 vols.

URI Ref PR502 .C85 1992

Critical Survey of Poetry.  Rev. ed. 1992.  8 vols.

URI Ref PN3321 .C7

Critical Survey of Short Fiction.  2nd rev. ed. 2001.  7 vols.

URI Ref PN1625 .M3 1984

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. 2nd ed.  1984.  5 vols.

Includes scholarly articles on dramatists (entries include biographies, criticism and bibliographies) and on regional, national and ethnic-linguistic drama.

URI Ref  PN451 .W674 1996

World Authors 1900-1950.  1996 -.  4 vols.

Biographical sketches of writers who came into prominence in the first half of the 20th century. Entries include lists of works by and about each author.

URI Ref  PS374 .C43 D5 2002

Dictionary of American Literary Characters, edited by Benjamin Franklin V.  2nd ed.  2002. 2 vols.

Entries on characters from selected novels published between 1789 and 2000.

URI Ref  PN41 .E487 1998

Encyclopedia of the Novel.  1998. 2 vols.

International exploration of the novel from its origins to the present day. Entries cover novelists and their works, types of novels, technical and formal aspects, critical approaches, and the development of the novel in different countries and regions. Bibliographic references are included.

URI Ref  PS21 .E537 2004

Hart, James David. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature.  2004. 4 vols.

Comprehensive encyclopedia of American literature from colonial times to present.  Entries include bibliographies.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Academic Search Premier.

Provides full text for nearly 3,180 scholarly publications covering a full range of academic disciplines. Coverage varies by publication, but generally covers the early-to-mid 1990s to present.

URI Index Area

American Humanities Index. v.1(1975) -

Index to scholarly English language literary journals, mostly American and Canadian. Most of the journals are not indexed elsewhere.

URI Ref  Z1215 .A76222

Arts and Humanities Citation Index. 1977-1995.

Comprehensive general index covering over 6,000 international journals as well as monographs. Includes bibliographies of each indexed article, access to articles by author (Source Index), subject (Permuterm Index) and cited work (Citation Index). Continued in next title.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Web of Science (ISI).

Web access to ISI citation databases (Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Social Sciences Citation Index). This database, updated weekly, contains citations to articles from nearly 8,500 journals (1998 to the present). Searching by cited reference allows the user to tap into the research that influenced an author’s work or to determine a paper’s impact on current research. Earlier years in title above.

URI Ref  Z1231 .P7 I47

Index of American Periodical Verse. 1971-1994, 1998.

Indexes "poems published in a broad cross-section of poetry, literary, scholarly, popular, general, and 'little' magazines, journals, and reviews published in the United States. Canada, and the Caribbean."

URI Ref  Z1225 .L49 (1900 - 1950)

URI Ref  Z1225 .L492 (1950 - 1967)

URI Ref  Z1225 .L493 (1968 - 1975)

Leary, Lewis Gaston. Articles on American Literature.  1954, 1970, & 1979.

Three volumes, covering time periods 1900-1950, 1950-1967, and 1968-1975, compile citations to articles on American literature and related areas published during those periods.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Modern Language Association (MLA) International Bibliography (CSA). 1926 -.

Covers scholarship in literature, folklore and linguistics and includes citations to articles, books and some dissertations.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Project Muse.

An online collection of over 220 scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. The full text of all articles is available online.

URI Ref  PS147 .A4

American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present, edited by Lina Mainicee. 1979-1994. 5 vols.

Provides biographical and bibliographical information on women writers of all genres.

URI Ref  Z2011 .M69

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL). (Annual) v.34(1959)-v.76(2001).

Classified, international bibliography of scholarship for literature in English. Includes books, articles, dissertations and some book reviews. Includes subject/author index. Lag time for publication is approximately three years.

URI Ref  PS201 .E4 1971

Eight American Authors: a review of Research and Criticism, edited by James Woodress. Rev. ed. 1971.

Selectively covers the scholarship through 1969 on Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman, Twain and James.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Literature Resource Center.

Includes author biographies, bibliographies, and full-text criticism. Searchable by author, title, genre, literary movement/time period, or theme.

URI Ref  PS21 .K8

Kunitz, Stanley and Howard Haycraft, eds. American Authors 1600-1900, A Biographical dictionary of American Literature. 1938.

Includes biographies of nearly 1300  major and minor authors along with lists of works and citations to selected critical sources.

URI Ref  Z1225 .L58

Literary Writings in America:  A Bibliography.  1977. 8 vols.

Photoreproduction of a card file from the University of Pennsylvania that attempts to "reconstruct a complete listing of creative American literature written between 1859 and 1949." A good complement to Poole's Index to Periodical Literature and early volumes of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.

URI Ref  PS221 .F45 1974

Sixteen Modern American Authors: A Survey of Research and Criticism, edited by Jackson R. Bryce. Rev. ed. 1974.

URI Ref  PS221 .S625 1990

Sixteen Modern American Authors: Volume 2, a Survey of Research and Criticism Since 1972, edited by Jackson R. Bryce, 1990.

The two volumes selectively and evaluatively cover scholarship on Anderson, Cather, Crane, Dreiser, Eliot, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Frost, Hemingway, O'Neill, Pound, Robinson, Steinbeck, Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Wolfe.

URI Ref  PS92 .A38 1988

American Literary Almanac: From 1608 to the Present: An Original Compilation Compendium of Facts and Anecedotes About Literary Life in the United States of America, edited by Karen L. Rood. 1988.

From the subtitle: "An original compendium of facts and anecdotes about literary life in the United States of America." Organized by topics rather than by chronology. Includes a bibliography and an index.

URI Ref  PS88 .C3

Cambridge History of American Literature.  1917-1921. 4 vols.

Old but valuable history of American literature through the beginning of the 20th century.

CCE Ref  PS92 .C64 1988

URI Ref  PS92 .C64 1988

Columbia Literary History of the United States.  1988.

Signed, scholarly essays explore American literature in the context of United States history.

For assistance
If you need further assistance, stop by the Reference Desk or contact the Humanities Reference Librarian, Jim Kinnie at (401) 874-9240 or jkinnie@uri.edu.

K.S. Nilsen 1972; rev. S.C. Krausse/T. Wilmes 6/87; rev. J.M. Williamson 5/98, 11/99; rev. J.F. Kinnie 8/01, 4/04, 6/04, 12/04, 7/06