Literary Analysis: When Worlds Collide

“In short, as, though it may not be realized, it is strictly true, that a few first-class poets, philosophs, and authors, have substantially settled and given status to the entire religion, education, law, sociology, &c., of the hitherto civilized world, by tinging and often creating the atmospheres out of which

they have arisen…” Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas

Using what you know to find what you need to research and analyze literature

@Your Library

Consider each book is it’s own WORLD…

• People….are characters• Places, history and even weather…are settings• Goals, plans, dreams, fate…are plot• Stories, anecdotes…are narrative

When you’re holding a book in your hand preparing to critically analyze it, you have a world in your hands. A world that other’s have discussed, explored, considered and wrote about.

A good literary analysis is a well documented collision of the actual book, other’s views and your own educated & well researched opinion.

CONSIDER:

Literature is not a closed world, but

a whole rich

complicated quilt

of landscapes.

Landscapes like…• History

• Folklore

• Psychology

• Love

• Science

• Ethics

• Sociology

• Health

• Weather

• Memory

• Hope

• Friendship

• Family

• Experience

• Honor• Ambition• Culture• Belief• Work• Faith• Politics

Reference Books that Cover These Literary Landscapes

• By Title:• The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism • Literature and its times : profiles of 300 notable literary works and the historical

events that influenced them • New dictionary of the history of ideas • Novels for students• Gale literary criticism series• Encyclopedia of science, technology, and ethics • Encyclopedia of ethics• The concise encyclopedia of the ethics of new technologies • The Greenwood encyclopedia of world popular culture • Encyclopedia of social psychology • “Characters in…” the Gale Research Series

These are recommended specialized reference sources and encyclopedias. They include essays or overviews written by professionals in the field. Often they provide key bibliographies of works that can be reviewed for more information. They also provide common terms, key players, topical histories and link to other ideas that may merit more research.

ReSearchLibrary Catalogs

• When using a Library Catalog to do research on literary criticism, use some of these search terms to get the most out of the Library of Congress classification system:

•Study and teaching

•Criticism and interpretation

•Narration

•Stories, plot, etc.

•Examinations

•Literature, comparative

•Technique

•Influence

•Literature and History

•History and criticism

•Theory

•Fiction

ReSearchLibrary Catalogs

• This is a list of common key circulating series book titles that focus on authors, criticism and literary contexts. Most Library Catalogs allow a series search. Highlighted parts of the title indicate a term that can make a literature keyword search more effective.

Bloom’s Modern Critical Views, Bloom’s Notes, Bloom’s Period Studies, Bloom’s Bio Critiques, Bloom’s Major Novelists

Exploring Social Issues Through Literature

Facts on File Library of American Literature

Genres in Context

Greenwood Guides, Greenwood Introduces Literary Masterpieces, Greenwood Press "literature in context"

Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts

Literary Modernism

Social Issues in Literature

Twayne’s Masterwork Studies, Twayne’s United States Authors, Twayne’s World Author

“I really believe there are things people would not see if I didn’t photograph them.” Diane Arbus, photographer.

When researching and writing a literary analysis, do use major literary resource databases. But also, use databases that cover history, sociology, culture, psychology – all the worlds that literature overlaps into and sometimes becomes a part of, comes from or has occasionally influenced.

These are common databases that can be located at academic libraries and some public and school libraries.

Gale’s Literature Resource Center includes full text articles from reference books and scholarly journals. Another feature of this database is a link to The Gale Literary Index, which lists more references in print materials. Can limit search to primary source document.

Literary Reference Center is a full text database that includes literary criticism, biographies, plot summaries, book reviews, poems, short stories and novels.

Humanities Full Text Wilson is a wide ranging database that not only includes literary criticism, but is excellent for finding and researching historical, world view and topical issues in various contexts.

Academic Search Complete has broad topical coverage of many topics.Expanded Academic ASAP covers a variety of specific literary journals

( Explicator, Studies in Romanticism, Victorian Poetry…). A majority of journals are peer reviewed. Also covers social sciences and humanities.

These are common databases that can be located at academic libraries and some public and school libraries.

JSTOR is a digital scholarly archive built by and for scholars. It is particularly strong in primary sources and authors from previous centuries.

Essay and General Literature is not a full text database. It is a source to find essays and criticisms collected in anthologies. The title of the collection can then be searched in the book catalog.

Netlibrary while the library catalog searches the titles, subject and keywords to this eBook collection, the Netlibrary search does a full text search. This online service includes series such as Cambridge Companions to Literature, Bloom's Notes and Cliff’s Notes. While the full text search pulls up many results, this is a great way to find essays, comparisons and hard to find literary references.

OmniFile Full Text Mega is a powerful all in one search. Contains Omni Education Full Text, General Science Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Readers' Guide Full Text, Social Sciences Full Text, Wilson Business Full Text.

Great Resources

• “Writing about literature,” by the OWL At Perdue University – “Writing the Literary Analysis,” by OWL

. A PowerPoint.

• “How to Write a Literary Analysis Paper,” by Bucks County Community College.

• Writing Literary Analysis, Guidelines and Web Sites (Includes samples), Walters State College

Tips from Rhonda K. Kitchens, Librarian