LibGuides: Library Resources for L299: English Literature 1800 to the Present: Research Literary Periods

Reference Section

The Reference Section of the Library is on on the Main (Second Floor) behind the Reference Desk (and Reference Librarian on duty to answer your questions.)

The Reference Section is arranged by the Library of Congress Classification system, the same as the Stacks upstairs on the Third Floor. The call numbers start with letters, and you will be able to browse the shelves to find similar books on any given subject. If you find a call number area that is useful in the Reference section, you can go upstairs and check the Stacks to see if there are additional books that you can check out.

(Note: The Reference books normally do not circulate, but the Reference Librarian may occasionally make an exception and allow you to take a book home overnight. There are photocopiers and scanners nearby to get the information you need from the Reference books.)

Use IUCAT to find specific books in the reference collection.

Reference Resources about English Literature

The following resources provide general overviews and historical context on some of the major periods in English literature.

ArtSTOR Curriculum Guide to Gothic Literature
ArtSTOR's curriculum guides provide access to artwork of the era that can provide context to the events that shaped the literature. In this guide, the images focus on four main works of the Gothic era - Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (explores the Gothic treatment of gender and social class); Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (explores contemporary fears about the corruption of the female reader); Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (examines the relationship between science and religion in Frankenstein); and John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (traces the use of vampire imagery in nineteenth-century political propaganda).
A Dictionary of Critical Theory
A dictionary of critical theory, including the Frankfurt school, cultural materialism, gender studies, literary theory, hermeneutics, historical materialism, and sociopolitical critical theory. There are also biographies of important figures in the field, with feature entries for those who have heavily influenced areas of the discipline.

Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive, scholarly, authoritative, and critical overview of Victorian literature and theory. It includes in-depth essays exploring major topics, including the novel, plays, poetry, and global Victorian studies, as well as succinct articles on themes such as cosmopolitanism, journalism, race, sexuality, and reading.

Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion
Spans all facets of gothic literature, including visual and performing arts, society and culture, themes, and settings. Includes primary source documents and critical material to provide a contextual perspective, a related chronology of key events, full-text commentaries, and lists of further readings.
The Oxford Companion to English Literature (7th Edition)
This guide provides the reader with coverage of all aspects of English literature.
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
The book's multi-disciplinary approach treats Romanticism both in aesthetic terms-its meaning for painting, music, design, architecture, and above all literature-and as a historical epoch of 'revolutionary' transformations which ushered in modern democratic and industrialized society
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (4 Edition)
Provides clear and concise definitions of the most troublesome literary terms, from abjection to zeugma. Now expanded and in its fourth edition, it includes increased coverage of new terms from modern critical and theoretical movements, such as feminism, schools of American poetry, Spanish verse forms, life writing, and crime fiction.
The Victorian Web
Includes primary and secondary texts (including scholarly book reviews) in British Victorian economics, literature, philosophy, political and social history, science, technology, and visual arts.

Associate Librarian

Kate Ziady

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Subjects: business, economics, finance