The following is a list of general works and compilations of scholarly essays on American literature from our collection. It does not represent the extent of our collection on any given subject. For books on more specific titles, subjects, writers, or genres, please search our Library Catalog or the databases suggested at: English Language & Literature: Searchable Databases and Online Tools.
American Literature - General
Quick Guides:
The Oxford Companion to American Literature 6th ed.
The newest edition to this important reference work, this volume collects the most important titles, names, genres and conventions in American literary history. Entries are brief, but offer a good place to start for any researcher in the early stages of investigation. Entries are in alphabetical order.
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies 3 vols, 2 supplements
This reference work has lengthy entries on the lives and works of major American literary figures. Entries are quite lengthy, focusing on biography and basic interpretation and criticism of their major works, and will be most helpful for the beginner student. Volumes are divided by time period, and entries are alphabetical.
In-depth Works:
The Cambridge History of American Literature 8 vols.
The newest edition of this seminal work, the volumes in this set cover American literature from 1590 to 1995, and include discussions of poetry, prose and criticism. The volumes are made up of essays from some of the most important voices in American literary criticism today, and they attempt to situate discussions of American literature, both the traditional Canon, and with the more rigorous consideration for discussions of diversity, in terms of race, culture, sex, and background, that currently penetrate the field.
Columbia Literary History of the United States
This work is a collection of essays centered on American literature as it was developed alongside the gradual formation of a national identity. The work covers the history of the nation, from the earliest days of exploration and colonialism to Avant-garde literature. While not comprehensive in scope, the work touches on many important literary figures, and has a section devoted to minority and regional literature.
This collection of essays situates the themes and styles of American Modernism in terms of the literary traditions and broader culture of the time. Chapters are organized by topic (Genre, Culture, and Society, for example) and the volume includes a bibliography.
From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature
This book takes the reader through a history of American literature and discusses many major writers who fit snuggly into certain genres, and others who pushed forward into new ground. Discussion centers on how American culture and history, from Puritanical ideals to technological revolutions, shaped writers and their works. Discussions are ordered chronologically, and a thorough index in the back will help direct the reader looking for a specific name or genre.
Ideology and Classic American Literature
Covering discussions of mostly 19th and 20th century American writing, this volume offers a rich discussion of ideological frameworks, such as politics, culture, class, and economics, as both reflected, built and challenged within American literature.
American Literature - 19th Century
Quick Guides:
Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
This volume offers lengthy discussions of important figures and genres in 19th century American poetry.
Entries tend to include biographical information, supplemented by discussions of the style of their poetry – researchers looking for information on critical reception should look elsewhere. Few, but some, entries on genres are included.
Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook
This volume is alphabetized by author’s name, and each entry contains a brief section of biographical information, as well as the sections Major Works and Themes and Critical Reception, which covers their treatment in critical circles during the authors life and through to the mid- to late-20th century. A bibliography of the writer’s publications, as well as a listing of mostly scholarly books and book chapters written about the author at the end of each entry will prove very helpful for those looking to do thorough research.
In-depth Works:
The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War
This book collects essays that examine Civil War writing by contemporaries who fought, observed, or discussed the war in some way. The volume has twenty chapters that focus on particular writers and their concept of the war. It will be useful for all researchers, beginners to scholars.
Transient and Permanent: The Transcendentalist Movement and Its Contexts
This large volume includes essays that span discussion of the 19th century transcendentalist movement, and its relation to American cultural changes, in the United States. Poets, essayists and artists are all included within the discussions, and Thoreau and Emerson get especially thorough treatment.
This volume explores the genres of Realism and Naturalism through discussions of specific works of fiction and their place within American literary history while also challenging and defining the literary terms that make up such genres. Chapters on Historical Contexts and Contemporary Critical Issues are followed by particular case studies.
American Literature - 20th Century
From Modern to Contemporary: American Poetry, 1945-1965
In this collection of essays, Breslin discusses the transition into contemporary poetry in the mid-twentieth century as a rejection of past norms and traditions, as opposed to a continuation and re-situation of them. His historical treatment of the period is in-depth and thorough, and he discusses poetry through close-readings, but also as a reflection of American culture and political climate at the time.
The Modern Voice in American Poetry
In this book, the author focuses his chapters on seven major twentieth century poets: Frost, Stevens, Williams and Moore, Eliot and Pound, and Lowell, and discusses their voice in terms of history, culture, politics, and the personal experiences of each writer.
Critical Essays on American Modernism
This collection of essays discusses the development and flourishing of Modernism in America, and includes not only writing by important academic critics, but also responses to Modernism by poets and novelists themselves. Essay subjects range from the very general ("Modern Poetry") to the specific ("Pound/Stevens: Whose Era?").
American Fiction in the Cold War
This book takes the stance that different forms of writing in the 1940s and 1950s were in part the result of the political climate of the time, and it discusses the work of important literary figures, such as Flannery O'Connor, Norman Mailer and Ralf Ellison, against the backdrop of the Cold War.
Critical Essays on American Postmodernism
This volume comprises essays by some of the most important literary critics of the Postmodern era. It attempts to trace the theoretical development of Postmodernism as a genre and how specific works effected postmodern practices and writing, covering a broad range of topics, from the first instances of the terms' usage through to its widespread popularity.
American Literature - Southern
Quick Guides:
Fifty Southern Writers Before 1900. Fifty Southern Writers After 1900. A Biblio-biographical Source
These volumes offer lengthy entries on selected Southern writers. Each entry includes a Biography, major themes the author explored, a survey of criticism and an extensive bibliography including works by and about the writer. Entries are in alphabetical order.
Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary
For those researchers looking for a quick introduction to a particular writer's life and works, this resource will be helpful. Entries are on particular writers, and average about a page in length.
In-depth Works:
The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs
This book covers the people, subjects and works of the South from a variety of different angles. Using the Table of Contents arranged by Subject will be helpful to those looking for a particular idea- the subjects are divided into a broad range of categories, including Authors; Cities and Towns; Customs, Rituals, and Icons; Historical Entities, Events, and Movements; Periodicals, Magazines, Newspapers, Presses; and Types and Stereotypes.
The History of Southern Literature
This book offers an extensive and thorough introduction to Southern literature, including discussions of particular writers, themes, specific geographical areas and literary movements. The book is divided into sections on particular time periods, with specific chapters within those sections written by important scholars within the field.
American Literature - Minority
Quick Guides:
The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States
This volume offers an introduction to the contributions of women to United States' literature. No genres are ignored, from advice books to major novels. Entries range from key writers to important publishing venues, and cover the entire nation's history.
African American Writers, 2nd ed. 2 vols.
This work offers extremely in-depth entries on select African American Writers. While the volumes attempt to be in-depth rather than comprehensive, the entries treat biography and literary analysis of their writings very carefully. An extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works at the end of every entry might prove helpful to the more thorough researcher.
In-depth Works:
The Oxford Companion to African American Literature
This Companion volume is meant to cover most topics and names important in the history of African American literature, and authors, genres and important social and critical influences are included as entries. Entries cover the expanse of U.S. history, from slave narratives to modern-day novels and essays.
This collection of essays explores the role of African American slave narratives as both influenced by and an influence on other forms of literature, both Anglo-American, and within African American writing. Major figures, such as Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, are discussed both in relation to their historical context and as an influence on other writers.
Chapters in this volume examine works by important African American novelists, both historical and contemporary, in the wake of changes to African American cultures, communities, and civil rights, and with an eye to changes in literary genres, forms and communities. It is full-text and searchable.
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