CCAC: Library: Resources by Subject: Literature

Books & Audio-Visual

AlleyCat: Use AlleyCat, the CCAC online catalog, to find materials at any of the CCAC libraries

Reference & Overview Sources

Full Text?	Database Name	Vendor	Help
yes	Columbia-Granger World of Poetry	Columbia	info
yes	Credo Reference - Literature	Credo	info
yes	Literature Resource Center	Gale	info
yes	MagillOnLiterature	EBSCOhost	info

Magazine & Journal Articles

Full Text?	Database Name	Vendor	Help
yes	Academic Search Premier	EBSCOhost	info
yes	MasterFILE Premier	EBSCOhost	info
no	Arts & Humanities Search	FirstSearch	info

Web Sites

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century: The Nineteenth Century in the United States was an era of slavery, though many African Americans broke both the physical and mental chains to express their experiences in writing. This website, produced by the New York Public Library, celebrates the literary achievements of African American Females during this time. Several full text documents, previously available only to scholars, can be viewed online. Users can browse by author or title, fiction or poetry, and biography or autobiography. There are also biographies of thirty eight African American women writers included on the site.
American Authors on the Web: Comprehensive list of links to sites on American authors, arranged according to the year of their birth from the 1500s through the early '60s.
Author Guides: Maintained by the LSU library system, this website serves as an "index of indexes." There are close to one hundred classic authors on this page, listed in alphabetical order by last name. For each author, there are links to quality websites for information on the particular author selected by the user.
Author Sheets: CLP AuthorSheets are bibliographies produced by the Reference Services Staff at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Library. AuthorSheets is the link to literary criticism research. Using AuthorSheets will help locate information on the works of selected authors in books, magazines, and journals which may not be easily found on the CLP online catalog. This page is constantly updated, with new authors and materials being added on a regular basis. To find the sources here, please check all results in CCAC's online catalog, AlleyCat, and in the online databases listed above.
Award Winning Children's Literature: This online database, maintained by Lisa Bartle (Librarian; Cal State), is one of the premier resources available for locating award winning children's literature. The database contains "almost 6,000 records from 72 awards across six English-speaking countries (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Ireland)." There are numerous search options that enable users to locate these award winning titles. The Explanation of Awards link gives brief information on each award.
Bartleby.com: Bartleby.com is a good website to consult for both general reference and full text literary works. Included on the website are the "Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition)," the "American Heritage Dictionary (Fourth Edition)," "Roget's Thesaurus," three editions of famous quotations, the "American Heritage Book of Usage," "Strunk's Elements of Style," and "Gray's Anatomy." Also included on the website are full text works of dozens of authors spanning multiple disciplines.
Celebration of Women Writers: One of the most comprehensive sites dedicated to women authors on the Web. Maintained by the University of Pennsylvania Library System, students can access a wealth of critical and biographical information (as well as photographs, portraits, and online texts) on countless women authors and can browse by Author Name, Time Period, Country, and Ethnicity. A major focus of the Celebration is the development of on-line editions of older, often rare, out-of-copyright works. They choose works from a range of areas to indicate the variety of interests of women writers. The Celebration of Women Writers is developed in collaboration with the On-Line Books Page.
Children's Literature Web Guide: Authors and Illustrators on the Web: This is a useful tool for basic research on the authors and illustrators of children's books. The Children's Literature Web Guide serves as an online directory of websites containing information on authors and illustrators- the websites are the personal websites of the authors, as well as sites "maintained by fans, scholars, and readers." Users can Browse the collection by the last name of the author. For authors and illustrators not indexed, there are links to other children's literature websites.
Classicnote.com: Classicnote.com is the online equivalent of Cliff's Notes (or the popular, but partially fee-based, Sparknotes.com) and is ideal for students looking for plot summaries, discussions of theme, research suggestions, author biographies, character lists, and practice quizzes. There are overview and analysis for hundreds of works of modern and classical literature, as well as links to online articles and relevant websites.
Collect Britain: Literary Landscapes: The sense of land as more than just the space we inhabit, but as an integral part of our being, is a theme that can be traced in most great literature. This theme is explored in Literary Landscapes, a section of the British Library's massive digital project, Collecting Britain. Literary Landscapes offers a fascinating look at the topography in the novels of England's most celebrated authors. The current links include Jane Austen's Bath, Thomas Hardy's Dorset, Geoffrey Chaucer's Kent, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, William Wordsworth's Lake District, and Sir Walter Scott's Highlands. The website includes old maps, artist's renderings of streets and countrysides, and narrative descriptions of various places of importance. By understanding where these authors lived, we can better understand their works.
Crossroads: American Literature: This is an excellent hypertext collection of American Literature that is maintained by the University of Virginia. There are full text works available for more than seventy American authors, many of which are unavailable in other online library collections. In addition to the full text, many authors have links for further information (other websites, print bibliographies, historical photographs, reviews, and more).
Eighteenth Century Studies: This is a large electronic text archive maintained by the 18th Century Studies group at CMU. The content is focused on the "literary and cultural" aspects of the Eighteenth Century. The website includes "novels, plays, memoirs, treatises and poems of the period (in some cases, influential texts from before 1700 or after 1800 as well), along with modern criticism."
Gale’s Literary Index: "Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references over 165,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for over 215,000 titles into one source. Gale's Literary Index provides quick and easy access to author and title listings from over 130 literature products from Gale and the imprints Charles Scribner's Sons, St. James Press, and Twayne Publishers." (from site description)
Globebooks.com: Features news, forums, reviews, interviews, and articles for book lovers as well as databases of literary awards, authors, and Canadian Booksellers Association members.
Glossary of Literary Terms: This glossary is part of the Bedford / St. Martin's publishing house, one of the most popular publishers of college English textbooks.
Glossary of Poetic Terms: Although this is a personal website, "The Glossary of Poetic Terms" has received very favorable reviews for both comprehensiveness and ease of use. There are hundreds of poetic terms that are covered quite extensively- definition, pronunciation, examples of use, and "hyper-linked keywords & cross references."
Introduction to Literary Theory: This website, constructed by Dr. Kristi Siegel, is ideal for students with limited background in literary theory. Siegel succinctly explores and outlines the dominant modes of modern literary theory, including Marxism, Feminism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Deconstruction, Postmodernism, and several more. The website also includes links to other quality literary theory sites.
Lit Crit Online: This website, maintained by the Internet Public Library (IPL), is an invaluable resource for students conducting literature research. Users have the option of searching for information by Author, Title, and Literary Period and are immediately linked to critical and biographical sources for hundreds of books and authors.
Literary Movements: Literary Movements is an extremely informative and easy to use website that provides information on twenty five different movements in American literature and culture (Realism, Transcendentalism, Local Color, Slave Narratives are just a few of the searchable headings). Users simply click on the appropriate heading for in depth information on these movements that include definition, discussion, popular works of the specific genre, and examples from texts.
Literary Resources on the Net: Maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University, this website provides dozens of Internet links for several areas of Literature. The site is divided into sixteen broad, "clickable" headings (Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian, Women's Literature, World Literature, etc.). Upon clicking the desired heading, users can browse several original annotations and link directly to worthwhile websites on the particular subject selected.
The Literary Encyclopedia: With more content than many pay- per- view electronic databases, the Literary Encyclopedia is a powerful literature research tool. Updated weekly, there are nearly 3000 entries on writers, works, and topics (as well as "further indexed entries on 4000 writers and 17000 works") written "by over 1000 named scholars, most of whom are current university teachers." Users can access a wealth of author biographical information using the Search and Browse functions. Users can also link to summaries and criticisms for an extensive list of works. In addition, many entries have links for further information.
The Literature Network: A great "online library" collection that offers full text for more than "300 full books and over 1000 short stories and poems by over 90 authors." Users link to the full text by clicking the author name. A brief biography of each author is also included, and the "Quotation Database" contains more than 8,500 entries.
Luminarium: Winner of dozens of online awards for excellence, the Luminarium is an enormous website that covers the Medieval Period, the Renaissance, and the 17th century. There is information about each time period, as well as the notable authors. In addition, there are links to full text works and critical essays about the authors and their writings. Users may browse the collection by time period or use the "Search" option at the bottom of the screen.
The Modern English Collection: This extensive digital library collection, maintained by the University of Virginia, "contains fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, letters, newspapers, manuscripts and illustrations from 1500 to the present." Users may browse the collection by last name of the author or by area of interest (Women writers, African American writers, others). Each work is accompanied by a bibliographic header that provides information on the electronic text as well as the original print version.
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet: This website is an absolutely essential stop for any person conducting research on the Bard. Among the many valuable tools on this website are a Shakespeare Timeline, Genealogy, and Quiz, as well as information on the Renaissance, Shakespeare's theatre, current Shakespeare festivals, and links to full text editions of all of his works, critical analyses of his works, and other useful Internet sites.
Native American Authors Online: Maintained by the Internet Public Library, the website reads, "This website provides information on Native North American authors with bibliographies of their published works, biographical information, and links to online resources including interviews, online texts and tribal websites. Currently the website primarily contains information on contemporary Native American authors, although some historical authors are represented. The website will continue to expand, adding additional authors, books and web resources." Users may browse the collection by Author, Title, or Tribe.
Norton Anthology of World Literature: This site is most helpful when used in conjunction with the book, The Norton Anthology of World Literature, but alone is still as very useful research tool. Included on the site is a detailed audio glossary, several literary timelines and world maps, study and exam questions, links for further research, as well as resources for educators of world literature.
The Online Medieval and Classical Library: This site, made available through the Berkeley Digital Library, is an excellent resource for locating full text works "of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization." Users may use a basic search box to locate resources, or browse by Author, Title, Genre, and Language. There are also several links to further classical e-texts and guides to Medieval studies.
Other Women's Voices: Translations of Women's Writing Before 1700: While this website is not very visually appealing, it includes a wealth of information suitable for researchers and enthusiasts of ancient women's writing. There are over 125 women writers presented (all but three who wrote in English). By clicking on the author's name, users are linked to a biography, as well as links to online readings/ translations, author pages, print versions of the texts, and secondary sources on the major works.
Outlines of American Literature: This is an online book by Kathryn VanSpanckeren (made freely available by the U.S. Dept. of State) that provides an in depth look at the key periods in American literary history from 1776 to the present. Each epoch is covered in great detail, with information about the key authors and movements. There is also a glossary of literary terms and movements included on the website.
The Oxford Text Archive: Though somewhat awkward to use initially, the Oxford Text Archive is one of the largest digital library collections on the Web. "The Oxford Text Archive holds several thousand electronic texts and linguistic corpora, in a variety of languages. Its holdings include electronic editions of works by individual authors, standard reference works such as the Bible and mono-/bilingual dictionaries, and a range of language corpora." Users may "Search" the collection by Author or Title, or may "Browse" the holdings by Author, Language, or Title. (Note: Before accessing texts from the OTA, users are asked to enter an email address, though this is not necessary.)
Perspectives in American Literature: This is an excellent website to consult for students conducting research in American Literature. The site can be searched by time period/literary movement, with each epoch containing vast author lists that include biographies and extensive records of articles and books about the authors and their works. Also included on the site is a useful appendix with multiple links including: Minorities and Women Studies, Elements of Poetry, Elements of Fiction, Research Topics, Film Criticism, Useful Resources for Research, Various Comments on the American Novel, and many more
The Poetry Archives: Archive of classical poetry.
Representative Poetry Online: Representative Poetry Online, maintained by the English Department at the University of Toronto, is the online version of the scholarly text, Representative Poetry. On this site, users can access more than 3,100 poems by 500 poets, both classical and current. Users may search for poems by last name of the author, chronologically by time period, title of the poem, first or last line queries, as well as a keyword search function. In addition to the full text, there is also biographical and bibliographical information available for many of the poets. Also included on the website is a glossary of "poetic terms and forms" and several writings on poetry by "great poets and readers.
Victorian Database Online: This website is an essential stop for those conducting research in all areas of Victorian England. The site reads, "Search over 100,000 records listing books, articles, and dissertation abstracts published from 1945 to 2002 on every field of nineteenth-century British studies." Users can search by Author, Title, or Keyword to link directly to book and article citations.
The Victorian Women Writers Project: This website is an online library devoted entirely to British women writers of the Nineteenth Century. The writers included on this site are not the most famous women authors of this period (i.e. Jane Austen, George Eliot), but rather the lesser known writers whose works are more difficult to locate. The Victorian Women Writers Project includes "anthologies, novels, political pamphlets, religious tracts, children's books, and volumes of poetry and verse drama."
Voice of the Shuttle: Literature (in English): Very extensive list of links organized by period, genre and other topics.
Wired for Books: Although not very useful as a research tool, Wired for Books is a fascinating stop for all enthusiasts of literature. Wired for Books seeks to draw attention to the beauty of the written word through spoken word. Users can listen to readings of many genres of literature from classical to present, many of which are read by the actual authors. Currently there are readings of Poe, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Shakespeare, The Iliad, and dozens of others. In addition to these readings, Wired for Books has an extensive collection of Don Swain's radio interviews with famous authors (from his CBS radio show, Book Beat). Users can listen to some of the twentieth century's greatest writers speak about their lives and their art (interviews are 45 minutes; notable authors include Morrison, Ginsberg, Asimov, Burroughs, Bradbury, many others).