| Return to the Main Page | Exploring the Critical Context | Finding Primary Sources | Further Information |
Subject Portal » General » Research Guides »
Need Help?
- Michelle Oswell, Humanities Librarian for Music and Literature (HC)
Sections:
Databases A-Z:
Other:
Understanding the Historical Context of a Work
Biography:
You can readily locate book-length critical/biographical work about a given author in Tripod under the subject heading for the author's name, especially when it is followed by the subheading "criticism and interpretation." To find more concise biographical/critical information or to find information on an author who has not yet been the subject of a full-length biographical or critical study, biographical dictionaries like those listed below are helpful. In addition to the information they give about authors, the articles in these works also include, in most cases, bibliographies of works by and about the author whose citations can carry you into the next stage of your research by listing specific books and articles you might want to locate and read. If your topic takes you out of literary texts and into such fields as history, the history of ideas, philosophy, religious studies, the social sciences, etc., encyclopedic works like those listed below are available.
American national biography.
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 2002-
Biographical articles with bibliographies for US citizens deceased before 1996.
American writers
Publisher: New York : Scribner, 1974-
This set, like its cousins listed below, consists of relatively lengthy scholarly studies of major authors. Selective bibliographies list both the works of the author and critical analyses. See also American Writers Before 1800: A Biographical and Critical Dictionary for treatment of less well-known authors from the early period of U.S. history. For lengthy bio-bibliographic treatment of some 19th-century authors, see Floyd Stovall's Eight American Authors: A Review of Research and Criticism and for 20th-century authors see Sixteen Modern American Authors: A Survey of Research and Criticism. For similar treatment of some groups within US literature see African American Writers and American Women Writers for writers from all periods of U.S. history; Modern American Women Writers for 41 lengthy biographical/critical articles on the most prominent U. S. women writers.
British writers
Publisher: New York : Scribner, c1979-c1984.
This British counterpart to American Writers, described above, is good for background reading because of the generous scope and scholarly authority of the articles. See also British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide and The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English.
Chicano literature
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1984.
This work includes biographical/critical articles on individual writers as well as topical articles, e.g., "Chicano Theatre," "Contemporary Chicano Novel, 1959-1979," "Hispanic-Mexican Literature in the Southwest," etc., many of the latter with lengthy bibliographies. A chronology, glossary, and general bibliography conclude the volume.
Contemporary Authors
CA offers short biographies of current authors worldwide in all fields. Entries generally include biographical information; lists of published titles, work in progress, and criticism and reviews; and "sidelights" (quotations from the author or critics). It is useful for relatively new or lesser known authors because of its currency and comprehensive scope. Use the cumulative index, which is shelved at the end of the set, being aware that it also refers to publications that Haverford does not own. For similar short bio-bibliographic treatments accompanied by an account of the work of selected authors writing in English, see also Contemporary Dramatists, Contemporary Novelists, and Contemporary Poets.
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Offering relatively lengthy, biographical/critical essays on U.S. and British authors, the set also includes some volumes on writers in languages other than English. The set organizes itself into volumes by chronological, geographical, ethnic, and generic parameters. Use the cumulative index in the highest numbered volume to find relevant articles. DLB is especially useful for information on authors not covered by American Writers or British Writers (above). For similar treatment of authors in other languages, see Ancient Writers for Greek and Roman writers; European Writers for writers in the modern European languages; Latin American Writers; and the H. W. Wilson Co.’s chronological series World Authors.
Dictionary of Native American literature
Publisher: New York : Garland, 1994.
Includes essays on the history and traditions of oral and written literature as well as bio-critical articles on prominent recent writers.
The gay and lesbian literary heritage
Publisher: New York : Routledge, 2002.
Entries for national literatures, movements and periods, topics, and individual writers.
International literature in English
Publisher: New York : Garland Pub., 1991.
This work offers biographical/critical essays on English-language writers other than those from Britain or the U.S. It is the first to treat as a group writers who, for the most part, come from countries once included in the British empire and whose work reflects the traditions of the peoples native to those areas and their own responses to the colonial and post-colonial experience. See also Writers of the Indian Diaspora: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook or Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English.
New immigrant literatures in the United States
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996.
Chapters surveying the literatures of 23 ethnic groups in the US.
Notable American women, 1607-1950
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
On the model of the DAB, this set gives short entries for women deceased between 1607-1950. Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary supplements the set for women deceased after 1950.
Oxford dictionary of national biography
Provider: Oxford
Monumental new edition of a standard work, now completely revised and amended. Since the early 20th Century the DNB has been the most important source for biographical information about deceased citizens of the British Isles and Great Britain's former colonies
Postmodern fiction
Publisher: New York : Greenwood Press, 1986.
McCaffery includes essays on various aspects of postmodern fiction and criticism as well as short biographical/critical articles about individual authors and their work. Each essay and article has a bibliography, and the volume concludes with a general bibliography of works on postmodernist literature.
A resource guide to Asian American literature
Publisher: New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2001.
Unlike the other sources listed in this section, proceeds work-by-work for some dozens of prominent fictions by Asian Americans with discussions written to the study and teaching of those work.
The Columbia guide to Asian American literature since 1945
Publisher: New York : Columbia University Press, c2006.
"Guiyou Huang traces the history of Asian American literature from the end of World War II to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Huang covers six genres: anthology, autobiography/memoir, drama, fiction, poetry, and short fiction; reviews major historical developments and social movements; explains key literary terms; and offers a narrative, A-to-Z guide of major Asian American writers and their works, plus their critical reception."
William Shakespeare
Publisher: New York : Scribner, c1985.
This encyclopedia offers thematic essays, accompanied by bibliographies, on the historical, cultural, and social contexts in which Shakespeare worked and on various aspects of his work and place in world drama. See also The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare for short A-Z treatment of all aspects of Shakespeare studies. For lexical information, see C. T. Onions A Shakespeare Glossary, Dale F.Coye Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds, and David Crystal and Ben Crystal's Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion.
Literary History:
History changes over time, of course, and one generation's history is the next generation's prevarication. In spite of its slipperiness, we all look to history to marshal events into a coherent, intelligible past, in which, though it may lack purpose, we can at least identify patterns, trends, and common elements. Any research project, especially in its early stages and no matter how narrow its focus, will be enriched by consideration of the historical, cultural, and social circumstances of the topic at hand. Nothing and no one exists alone or outside of time, and the general histories listed here will help you begin to develop a historical context for your topic.
A literary history of England.
Publisher: New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [c1948]
Baugh's one-volume historical survey of British literature is a standard. See also The Oxford Chronology of English Literature for annual lists of what happened in English literature and environs, Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, Peter Conrad's Everyman History of English Literature, The Columbia History of British Poetry, The Columbia History of the British Novel, and Oxford History of English Literature (in several volumes), which offers detailed narrative histories by period experts.
The Cambridge history of literary criticism.
Publisher: Cambridge [England] ; Cambridge University Press, 1989-
This multivolume set will likely become the standard history of Western literary criticism from the classical period through the present. René Welleck's History of Modern Criticism, 1750-1950 and two anthologies of critical essays edited with commentary by Hazard Adams, Critical Theory Since Plato and Critical Theory Since 1965, are worth consulting for both substantive and bibliographic purposes. For the history of literary criticism/theory in the post-60s era Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory: An Introduction and Frank Lentricchia's After the New Criticism will get you started. Try also the more comprehensive Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes. An Introductory History. See also Redrawing the Boundaries: The Transformation of English and American Literary Studies, an anthology to which a stellar cast have contributed essays on developments during the last couple of decades in period studies and critical/theoretical methods.
Columbia literary history of the United States
Publisher: New York : Columbia University Press, 1988.
This one-volume history consists of topical chapters written by various scholars. The editors acknowledge the effects of recent social, political, and intellectual forces that have required a revaluation of U.S. literary history and of its canon in the light of new sensibilities about gender, race, and ethnic or cultural backgrounds. See also The Columbia History of American Poetry and The Columbia History of the American Novel for treatments of major writers, periods, and movements.
The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language
Publisher: Cambridge, U.K. ; Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Chapters on history, grammar, vocabulary, spoken and written modes, and usage.