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How to Find Literary Criticism on the Internet

© Gillian Davis

If you’re a librarian in a public, school, or college library, you know that one of the most frequent information requests from students is for literary criticism. And just like nearly all requests from students, they want to know if the information is available on the Web.

There are plenty of guides to help you find your way, collections of literary criticism, sites that focus on particular authors, articles in magazines and journals, and study guides on the Web.

Guides to Finding Literary Criticism

The Internet Public Library's Literary Criticism Pathfinder - This is a wonderful place to begin your search for literary criticism on the Internet. Really helps to answer the question: "how and where do I begin?". Covers terms and concepts, finding books and articles, the writing process, and citation guides.

Internet Public Library Reference Collection: Criticism - Also from the IPL, provides annotated links to criticism resources on the Web including the New York Times Book Review which archives reviews back to 1980, the Undergraduate Guide to Critical Theory from Purdue University, and some others.

Literary Resources on the Net - Maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University, this is a comprehensive and searchable guide to American and English literature and literary criticism resources on the Web.

Collections

Internet Public Library's Online Literary Criticism Collection - I know of no better literary criticism collection on the Internet than the IPL's Online Literary Criticism Collection. You can browse for criticism by author’s last name, title of the work, or by literary period. At the time of this writing, this resource indexes "4,346 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works". Sites are chosen for their overall usefulness and quality. For more about the collection, read the About section.

Specific Authors

Yahoo! Authors - If you need biographical information on an author this site can be a great help. Searchable by category (such as Greek or Roman Classics, Travel, or Nonfiction) or alphabetically by author name.

Shakespeare Criticism - A handy guide to Shakespeare criticism that is very comprehensive. Whatever's available on the Bard on the Internet, you should find it here.

Some other specific author sites:

Louisa May Alcott
Digital Dante
Margaret Atwood
The Bronte Sisters
David Perdue's Charles Dickens' Page
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anniina's Toni Morrison Page
Steinbeck: The California Novels
Anniina's Amy Tan Page

For more authors try the LII's Authors area.

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