English Multicultural Research Project: Literary analysis
This guide provides a collection of possible resources to help you conduct your research on a book from a non-American author
Literature Criticism
We have a variety of databases that allow you to search for journal articles across many scholarly publications at once.
- Bloom's Literary Reference Online This link opens in a new windowA resource for the study of literature. Edited and curated by Yale University professor Harold Bloom. Includes thousands of critical essays and discussion questions, author biographies, character analyses, full-length poems, and the full text of hundreds of reference books. Also contains full-length videos of classic plays and films, and more.
- Literature: Gale This link opens in a new windowOffers broad and representative range of authors and their works, including full-text critical and literary analysis for literary studies. Researchers can find up-to-date analysis, biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism, and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods, and from around the world.
- Literature Criticism: Gale This link opens in a new windowDatabase of literary criticism covering the works of authors now living or who died after 1900. Covers a broad range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres.
- Ebooks from Infobase This link opens in a new windowThis collection features thousands of reference works from imprints such as Facts On File, Ferguson's, and Bloom's on a wide range of subjects areas, from history, science, literature, etc.
- Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new windowFull-text literary database covering all genres and time-frames. It includes thousands of synopses, critical essays, book reviews, literary journals and author biographies, plus full-text classic novels, short stories and poems. Also includes the Masterplots series and "Critical Insights" volumes.
- Ebook Collection from Salem Press This link opens in a new windowIncludes easy-to-understand information about literature, history, science, and health.
Some specific titles to get you started
If you're struggling to find a way in to the analysis, here are some books that provide clear examples of analysis
- Introduction to Literary Context: World LiteratureDesigned to introduce great works of literature placing them in historical, societal, scientific and religious contexts.
- Novels for StudentsProvides critical overviews of novels from various cultures and time periods. Includes discussions of plot, characters, themes and structure as well as the work's cultural and historical significance.
- Drama for StudentsProvides critical overviews of the most-studied plays of all time periods, nations, and cultures. Includes discussions of themes, characters, critical reception, dramatic devices and traditions as well as cultural and historical context.
- Poetry for StudentsFeatures discussion and analysis of poems of all time periods, nations, and cultures. Provides an overview of the poem and discussion of its principal themes, images, form and construction.
- Short Stories for StudentsProvides critical overviews of short stories from all cultures and time periods. Includes discussions of plot, characters, themes and structure as well as the story's cultural and historical significance.
- Twenty-First Century NovelsBrings the most important fictional works of the last 10 years into view, discussing plot, characters, critical reception and more. Features broad coverage of multiethnic/multicultural communities and curricula, bringing an insight to readers of contemporary global literature in English translation.