Literary Criticism
There are many print resources for literary criticism in the library reference areas. Ask reference librarians for assistance in locating specific titles or criticism of individual writers. We have a guide to ACC library literary criticism resources. You can also phone, e-mail or chat with a librarian to get assistance.
Recommended starting points: These first three suggestions are online databases the ACC Library subscribes to. If you are not on campus, ACC students must use their name and ID number to access these. These databases are almost always more useful and have higher quality information than that found on the public part of the web.
Three databases cover literary criticism and author biographies. The criticism is from sources that were originally published elsewhere and is gathered together here. Often several critics' views on a literary work are available.
A mix of articles and reference sources
Click on Magill on Literature from list. Plot summaries, overviews of styles and themes in particular literary works, and short author biographies.
Sources from the public World Wide Web
All Info-About Poetry http://www.allinfoaboutpoetry.com/
Has information about poetry, in "In The Spotlight" section, and also texts of contemporary poetry.
American Literature on the Web http://www.nagasaki-gaigo.ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/index.htm
Links to many web resources. In addition to biographical and critical information on American writers, there are categories for the "social context" of time periods. Interestingly, this is from a Japanese university. Moving around on this site can be confusing, but there is a lot of useful information.
Critical Reading: An Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism http://mesastate.edu/~blaga/theoryindex/theoryhomex.html
Different approaches to criticism (for example, form or cultural context) are explained and examples of how they are used are given. From a professor at Mesa State College.
IPL Online Literary Criticism Collection http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/
Contains almost 4000 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by literary period.
Literary Criticism as a Tool for Interpreting Literature http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/crit.html
An essay by Steven Hale, Humanities Division, DeKalb College on why criticism is useful. Last updated 3-4-97
LiteraryHistory.com http://www.literaryhistory.com/
Links to web pages on several hundred 19th and 20th Century American and British writers. Pages selected for the quality of the content.
Literary Resources on the Net http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
Huge collection to criticism, background, and actual texts of literature from Classical to current. From a professor at Rutgers University.
LitLinks http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/
Lists of web sites with literary criticism for fiction, poetry, drama, essays. There is also a section on critcal therory. From a commercial publisher, Bedford/St. Martin's.
Nobel Prizes in Literature http://www.almaz.com/nobel/literature/literature.html
Nobel Prize Internet Archives. Lists links to winners from the present back to 1901. The list is also available alphabetically by author's last name. The page listing the individual will have links to biographical and critical information.
Non-Western World Literature and Literary Criticism http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/literature/world_literature/nonwestern.html
Links to texts and criticism of Egyptian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian and Mayan literatures, compiled by Steven Hale. Focuses on specific works in each category.
Online Literary Criticism Guide http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/guide.html
Recommended starting places to search on the web.
PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Resource and Reference Guide http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/home.htm
Large collection of information on specific authors, time periods, types of literature, and big ideas that have affected literature. Much of it is bibliographies, but there are also outlines of topics that are sort of like class notes. From a professor at California State University, Stanislaus.
Poetry Portal http://www.poetry-portal.com/
The "Styles and Themes" section within this web site has information on particular types of poems, such as epics, realistic, etc. There are other valuable sections on specific poets and collections of online poetry.
Voice of the Shuttle: Literatures Other than English http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
Links to over 20 non-English literary sites. From Rutgers University.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color http://voices.cla.umn.edu/
Criticism and biographies of women writers who are/were African American, Asian American, Chicana/Latina, Arab American, Indigenous/Native American. Good source for nonmainstream writers who may not get coverage elsewhere. From the University of Minnesota.