Literature Research Guide: Literary Criticism

Literary criticism can be no more than a reasoned account of the feeling produced upon the critic by the book he is criticizing. Criticism can never be a science: it is, in the first place, much too personal, and in the second, it is concerned with values that science ignores. The touchstone is emotion, not reason. We judge a work of art by its effect on our sincere and vital emotion, and nothing else.

D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic

LITERATURE CRITICISM ONLINE provides access to a wide range of modern and historical views on authors and their works and includes both scholarly analysis as well as popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals. The series included in this database are: CONTEMPORARY LITERARY CRITICISM (v. 255-399), SHORT STORY CRITICISM (v.112-230) AND POETRY CRITICISM (v. 89-130). 

An archival collection of several series of literary criticism that are published by the Gale Cengage Learning Company is available for student and faculty use.  Most entries in a volume are listed under the name of a particular author (ex., Doris Lessing) although some entries may be about a specific work of literature (ex., Love in the Time of Cholera) or a genre (ex., Vietnam War Literature). 

• Author entries include a brief introductory background and biographical information, an overview of the author's major works, comments on the critical reception of the work and a listing of principal works - all followed by literary criticism.  Whenever possible, a recent Author interview accompanies each entry.
• Title entries for a specific work present a brief introduction and an overview of the plot, major characters and major themes as well as comments of the critical reception of the work and a listing of the author's principal works - followed by literary criticism.
• Genre entries provide a brief introduction to the topic, a list of representative works, lengthy overview critical essays about the genre and particular representative authors.

Criticism in the Gale Cengage Learning series is reprinted from books as well as from periodicals - both scholarly journals and more popular publications.  Earlier volumes present excerpts from longer works.  Beginning the the mid-1990s, all critical works included are reprinted in their entirety.  Guidance is provided in the front of each volume on how to cite criticism reprinted in the Literary Criticism Series.

All entries include a briefly annotated bibliography of Further Reading for additional study.

All of these features make these series of literary criticism a rich source to be mined for a deeper understanding of works of literature.  They are an excellent place to begin your research if you want to locate information quickly or if you want to get an idea of the type of material that is available that reviews and/or analyzes the work you are researching.

Check out the information on the Books & Videos, Journal Articles, and Website tabs as all of these resources can lead to works of literary criticism as well.