Literature and Its Times
World Literature and Its Times by The Literature and Its Times series differs from other works in the Gale series in that it focuses on the context in which a literary work is placed. That is, it will provide historical and cultural information to help the reader better understand the context of a literary work.
Contemporary Authors by Contemporary Authors provides biographical summaries of various authors' lives. It is helpful if you are looking to find out basic information about authors--about their dates, the works they wrote, and the major events in their lives. It does not, however, provide criticism on literary works.
Something About the Author, unlike the resources on this page, focuses specifically on authors of children's literature. Biographies of the authors are given along with a list of books by the author. Each entry ends with a list of other works that provide further biographical information or critical commentary on the works. Note you will need to look up the works in the list to see if they are available at the library.
Contemporary Literary Criticism by Contemporary Literary Criticism focuses only on providing extracts of literary criticism different works. Though each volume is organized by author, the Gale Literary Index is indispensable to finding your work in this series. Contemporary Literary Criticism, because of its size, provides extracts from criticism that may otherwise be difficult to locate.
Short Story CriticismLike Contemporary Literary Criticism, Short Story Criticism provides extracts of criticism on a given work. Unlike Contemporary Literary Criticism, Short Story Criticism focuses just on short stories. Because of this narrow focus, Short Story Criticism covers some fairly obscure short stories and may be the only source you may find criticism on some short stories.
Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism by Similar to Contemporary Literary Criticism, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism provides extracts of literary criticism for works that were written in the ancient era up until the end of the middle ages. As such, it does a good job of covering works like Homer's Odyssey or Roman de las Rose. Because of its narrower focuses, it covers some more obscure works that Contemporary Literary Criticism doesn't.
Similar to Contemporary Literary Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 provides extracts of literary criticism for works that were written in the Renaissance up until the end of the 1700s. As such, it does a good job of covering works like More's Utopia or Boswell's Life of Johnson. Because of its narrower focuses, it covers some more obscure works that Contemporary Literary Criticism doesn't.
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism by Similar to Contemporary Literary Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism provides extracts of literary criticism from works published in the twentieth century. Because of its narrower focuses, it covers some more obscure works that Contemporary Literary Criticism doesn't.
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism by Similar to Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism provides extracts of literary criticism from works published in the twentieth century. Because of its narrower focuses, it covers some more obscure works that Contemporary Literary Criticism doesn't.
Drama for Students, like the works in the For Students series, provides useful introductions to dramas. Each entry provides the following:
Novels for Students by Novels for Students is a good introduction to research on a novel. It provides some of the following:
Short Stories for Students by Short Stories for Students provides good introductions to short stories. Considering that it is harder to find information on short stories than novels, this is a good resource to use when writing about short stories. Each entry provides the following:
Shakespearean Criticism by Because of the vast amounts of work on Shakespeare, Gale is able to dedicate a whole series on just Shakespeare's writings. Though we already have quite a bit on Shakespeare, Shakespearean Criticism makes a broad array of critical works on Shakespeare that are otherwise difficult to find easy to find. Like the other works in Gale's Criticism series, this series provide extracts from various works of literary criticism.
