LibGuides: English 3 Term Paper: Literary Criticism

Using the Library Print Books

If you're looking for Literary Criticism about your author, call numbers 809 to 813 are where to go.

809 have literary criticism encyclopedias, 810 has biographical encyclopedias, and 813 has books about individual authors' works. For example, you might find an entire book of literary criticism on the works of your author (Ernest Hemingway), or you might find a book on a single work (For Whom the Bell Tolls). The Twayne's Authors Series is also available as eBooks through Gale.

Twayne Series eBooks

You can find Twayne's Authors Series eBooks through Gale Virtual Reference Library

IMPORTANT: Many of these authors are not American, so wouldn't work for your projects.

Albert Moravia, 1996
Alison Lurie, 1992
American Feminist Playwrights, 1996
Anaïs Nin, 1984
Andrew Marvell Revisited, 1996
Angela Carter, 1997
Anne Rice, 1994
August Wilson, 1999
Bessie Head, 1999
Betsy Byars, 1995
Black Writers and the Hispanic Canon, 1997
Bram Stoker, 1982
Brian W. Aldiss, 1999
Bruce Chatwin, 1997
Camilo José Cela Revisited, 2000
Carolyn G. Heilbrun, 1996
Charles Bukowski, 1997
Charles Dickens Revisited, 2000
Charles Olson, 1992
Charlotte Brontë, 1997
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1985
Chester Himes, 1989
Christa Wolf, 1999
Countee Cullen, 1984
Cynthia Ozick, 1988
Dante Alighieri, Updated ed., 1998
Dick Francis, 1989
Donald Barthelme, 1981
Dorothy Parker, Revised, 1998
DuBose Heyward, 1981
E.E. Cummings Revisited, 1994
E.T.A. Hoffmann, 1997
Edgar Allan Poe Revisited, 1998
Edith Wharton, Rev. ed., 1991
Edmund Wilson Revisited, 1998
Elizabeth George Speare, 1991
Ellen Gilchrist, 1997
Ellen Raskin, 1991
Elmore Leonard, 1999
Emily Brontë, 1998
Ernest Gaines, 1991
Fanny Fern, 1993
Fay Weldon, 1998
First Thoughts, 1998
Florence Nightingale, 1997
Francis Bacon Revisited, 1996
French Theater Since 1968, 1995
Gail Godwin, 1992
George Bataille, 1998
Georges Simenon Revisited, 1999
Goethe, 1999
Guillermo Cabrera Infante, 1999
Günter Grass Revisited, 1999
H.L. Mencken Revisited, 1998
H.P. Lovecraft, 1989
Henry James, 1965
Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1996
Isabel Allende, 2002
J.D. Beresford, 1998
Jack London, Rev. ed., 1994
James Salter, 1998
John Fante, 2000
John Milton, 1998
John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited, 1994
John Steinbeck's Nonfiction Revisited, 1996
John Updike Revisited, 1998
Jules Verne, 1992
Katherine Paterson, 1994
Laurence Sterne Revisited, 1996
Leslie Marmon Silko, 1997
Ludwig Bemelmans, 1996
Margaret Atwood Revisited, 1999
Marguerite Duras Revisited, 1993
Marietta Holley, 1996
Mary Gordon, 1996
Mary Mapes Dodge, 1992
Mavis Gallant, 1998
Maxine Hong Kingston, 1999
The Modern Latin-American Novel, 1998
Nadine Gordimer Revisited, 1999
The New Novel in France, 1997
Ngugi wa Thiongo, 2000
Nuruddin Farah, 1999
Patricia Highsmith, 1997
Patricia MacLachlan, 1997
Paul Bowles, 1998
Paul Valéry Revisited, 1995
Philip K. Dick, 1988
Rachel Carson, 1993
Reinaldo Arenas, 1998
Richard Ford, 2000
Richard Stern, 1993
Robert Browning Revisited, 1996
Russell Banks, 1997
Science Fiction After 1900, 1997
Science Fiction Before 1900, 1994
Stephen King, 1992
Stephen King, 1988
Susan Cooper, 1998
Sylvia Plath, Revised, 1998
Theodore Dreiser Revisited, 1992
Thomas Berger, 1989
Thomas Hobbes, 2000
Thomas McGuane, 1991
Tim O'Brien, 1997
Timothy Findley, 1998
Ursula K. Le Guin, 1984
Virginia Hamilton, 1994
Voltaire Revisited, 2000
Willa Cather, Rev. ed., 1995
William S. Burroughs, 1985
William Shakespeare: His Life and Times, 1995
William Shakespeare: Sonnets and Poems, 1998
Wright Morris Revisited, 1998

Databases and Online Resources

Proquest Research Library (see School Loop for password)
Put your author or a work name into the search box and put checks in the boxes next to "Full text" "Peer reviewed" and "Scholarly journals" boxes.
GALE: Scribner Writers Series
Use this to find biographical information and literary criticism on American authors
EBSCO Databases
You can use the EBSCO Databases through the Contra Costa Library. You can get an "e-Card" online and start using them right away.
Once you're in there, choose "Literary Reference Center" and use "Advanced Search." Scroll down and check the "Full Text" and "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" boxes.
DIRECT LINK TO GALE: Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream
Hacht, Anne Marie, ed. Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream. 2 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literary Themes for Students. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.

"Provides readers with an overview of literary works that explore the theme of the American dream. Analyzes poetry, plays, short stories, novels, and works of nonfiction that address this theme in some capacity, and how that theme has been treated in literature at different times in history and across diverse cultures."
DIRECT LINK TO GALE: Literature and Its Times
Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson. Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. 5 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.

"Provides in-depth commentary on characters, themes, and the historical and social context of 300 most-studied literary works, including novels, plays, poems, speeches, and short stories, both international and American."
DIRECT LINK TO GALE: Literature and Its Times Supplement 1
Moss, Joyce. Literature and Its Times Supplement 1: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. 2 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.