Find Books
- Advanced NUSearchAlthough you can keyword search from the library's home page, advanced search allows you to combine different words or phrases to get the most comprehensive search results.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowClick into a record, click on ILL@NU link in the record to request. The world's most comprehensive catalog of library holdings, containing over 2,000,000,000 records from over 10,000 libraries.
Other Reference Tools
- Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new windowIncludes more than 240 entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
- Dictionary of Literary Symbols byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2007Explains and illustrates the literary symbols that we all frequently encounter (such as swan, rose, moon, gold), and gives hundreds of cross-references and quotations.
Subject Headings for Literary Criticism
Keywords are the words you can use to search that can be phrases or words that are, for the most part, in natural language. Subject headings are different. Subject headings function like tags to link together books, articles, or items that are similar in their content. These often do NOT reflect natural language.
For a topic on indigeneity and literature, you could do a quick keyword search for Indians and literature, indigenous peoples and literature, or name a specific indigenous group (i.e., the Navajo) and literature.
It can be more effective to browse the assigned subject headings for related works to see what other ways books that are relevant to your area of study might be categorized. For example, this book:
Trans-Indigenous : methodologies for global native literary studies by Call Number: Main Library Stacks 810.9897 A425tISBN: 9780816678181Publication Date: 2012-10-03
Has the following subject headings:
- American literature -- Indian authors -- History and criticism
- Indians in literature
- Indian aesthetics
- Indians, Treatment of -- United States -- History
- New Zealand literature -- Maori authors -- History and criticism
- Maori (New Zealand people) in literature
- Indigenous peoples
- Group identity in literature
Some of these will be more effective than others in leading you to similar books in the library. Note that references to groups, like "Indians," does not reflect the current preferred nomenclature for groups of people - and that will be true across ethnic groups and peoples.
Literary Reference
- Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new windowAn extensive compilation of literary commentary available representing a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras, and genre.
- Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowProvides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analayses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers more than 120,000 novelists, essayist, poets, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors. Includes links to: Dictionary of literary biography, Contemporary authors, Contemporary literary criticism, and more.
- Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2011A comprehensive encyclopedia of literary and cultural theory. Covers Literary Theory from 1900 to 1966, Literary Theory from 1966 to the present, and Cultural Theory. This encyclopedia provides accessible entries on the important concepts, theorists and trends in post-1900 literary and cultural theory. With explanations of complex terms and important theoretical concepts, and summaries of the work and ideas of key figures, it is a highly informative reference work for a multi-disciplinary readership.
- Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature: the Novel byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2010An advanced reference resource featuring nearly 150 contributors and over 500,000 words, The Encyclopedia of the Novel provides authoritative accounts of the history, terminology, genre, and theory of the novel. Arranged in A-Z format the entries explore the history and tradition of the novel in different areas of the world; formal elements of the novel (such as narrative structure, plot, character, and narrative perspective); technical aspects of the genre (such as realism, dialogue, and style); subgenres, including the bildungsroman and the graphic novel; theoretical problems; book history; and the relationship of the novel to other arts and disciplines.
- Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature: 20th Century Fiction byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2010Featuring over 500 entries written by an international team of scholars, The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction is an authoritative reference resource of up to date scholarship. Arranged in three volumes covering British and Irish fiction, American fiction, and World fiction, the entries cover major writers and their works; the genres and sub-genres of fiction (including crime fiction, sci fi, chick lit, the noir novel, and the avant garde novel); and the major movements, debates, and rubrics within the field.
Key Concepts in Postcolonial Literature by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 1280861800Publication Date: 2007-01-01"Key Concepts in Postcolonial Literature" provides an overview of the main themes, issues and critical perspectives that have had the greatest effect on postcolonial literatures.
