Literary Criticism   Tags: literary criticism  

Use the following databases to find literary criticism for your piece of literature. Try using the title of your literature combined with the word "criticism."

Literature Criticism Online. The Literature Criticism Online Digital Archive includes ten core literature reference series (see listed below). Search them individually, or simultaneously.

* Children's Literature Review (covers v.1 1976 - v.135 2008)  From Louisa May Alcott to Judy Blume, this 1167 item illustrated series critically assesses the major works of more than 600 the most popular and influential writers and illustrators of children’s and young adult literature. Typical entries consist of a listing of their major works and awards and criticism from significant reviews and commentaries.

  * Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (covers v.1 1988 - v.101 2008)  A source of wide-ranging critical opinion on early literature, this series contains excerpts from criticism through the ages on the works of philosophers, poets and playwrights, political leaders, scientists, mathematicians and writers. Approximately  90-95% of the 405 critical essays are full text. Entries feature: a biography and textual history, criticism, suggested sources for further reading, and author, topic, nationality and title indexes.

* Contemporary Literary Criticism (covers v.1 1973 - current volume) This series profiles  novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative fiction and nonfiction writers by providing full-text or excerpted criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals. It encompasses more than 600 significant authors and includes more than 266 major retrospective authors re-crafted from the series' earlier volumes. It is searchable by author name, title, subject/genre, critic name or keyword full-text.       

* Drama Criticism (covers v.1 - v.31 2008) For each play or playwright featured, a full range of critical opinion is presented, along with a biographical sketch, a chronological list of the writer's major works and more. Approximately 90-95% of the 181 critical essays are full text.   

* Literature Criticism from 1400-1800 An authoritative resource on the greatest writers of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Restoration eras that fulfills a need for information on historical periods, literary trends and topics, and the achievements of noteworthy individuals.

* Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (covers v.1 1981 - vol. 196 2008) Commentary on the careers and works of acclaimed poets, novelists, short story writers, dramatists and philosophers who died between 1800 and 1899. Entries typically include an author portrait, an introduction to the author, a primary bibliography, annotated criticism and an annotated list of further reading sources. Approximately 90-95% of the 1,035 critical essays are full text.

* Poety Criticism (covers v.1 1991 - vol.88 2008) Provides an introductory biographical sketch, an author portrait, a primary bibliography, annotated full text and excerpted criticism of the poets' works and sources for additional reading,  when available, comments from the poets themselves are included. Approximately 90-95% of the 505 critical essays are full text.

* Shakespeare Criticism

* Short Story Criticism (covers v.1 1988 - vol. 111 2008) This series presents critical views on the most widely studied writers of short fiction. Each volume includes overviews of three to six short story writers, works, or topics and a historical survey of the critical response.

* Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (covers v.1 1978 - current volume) This series presents substantial excerpts from the best criticsm on the works of novelists, poets playwrights, short story writers & other creative writers who died between 1900-1999. Each volume presents overviews of four to eight authors with chronologically arranged criticism representing the entire range of response to each author. Every fourth volume is a topics volume covering major literary movements, trends, and other topics. Approximately 90-95% of critical essays are full text.

MLA Bibliography
Provides citations from articles, books and dissertations dealing with literature, language and folklore.  Coverage begins in 1926.

Humanities Full Text
Indexes and abstracts 350 journals covering, among other topics, literary criticism, language and literature, folklore and classical studies.  Full-text is offered from 95 of the journals beginning in 1995.

Academic Search Complete
A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format.

Project Muse
Provides full-text coverage from over 40 humanities and social science journals.

JSTOR
Provides full-text coverage of scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences disciplines, some going back into the nineteenth century.

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