Literary Criticism for Students (and anyone else)
A guide to researching literary criticism online and at the library
Finding BPL e-Books
- Fewer steps
- Search both physical and digital titles
- Manage paper and electronic holds in one place
- Complete catalog of titles
- Limit searches by format or availability
- Download necessary software
Interlibrary Loan Requests
- Make an Interlibrary Loan RequestSubmit an interlibrary loan request through the Commonwealth Catalog (ComCat) or ILLiad for a book, book chapter, article, CD, videorecording, or microfilm that the BPL doesn't already own.
- Borrowing from Other LibrariesInformation about borrowing from other libraries.
WorldCat
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat is the world's largest network of library-based content and services.
Search many libraries at once for an item and then locate it in a library nearby
Create a personal profile that tells others about your interests
Build lists of library materials you can share with others
Post your review of an item, or contribute factual information about it such as historical context
Featured Titles
Online Literary Collections
- Asian American Drama This link opens in a new windowAsian American Drama contains 252 plays by 42 playwrights (50% unpublished), together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
- Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection This link opens in a new windowContains more than 300 dramatic works in streaming audio from the curated archive of the nation’s premiere radio theatre company. Plays are performed by leading actors from around the world and recorded specifically for online listening.
- Black Drama, Second Edition This link opens in a new windowBlack Drama, Second Edition contains approximately 1,462 plays by 233 playwrights (600 published here for the first time), with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
- North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new windowNorth American Indian Drama contains 244 plays by 48 playwrights. More than half of the works are previously unpublished, and hard to find, representing groups such as Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan, and others.
- North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new windowNorth American Women's Drama contains 1,517 plays by 330 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. More than 30% of the plays in the collection have never been published before. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
- Twentieth Century North American Drama This link opens in a new windowTwentieth Century North American Drama contains 1,905 plays by 419 playwrights (more than 150 published for the first time), together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
- Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction This link opens in a new windowLatino Literature brings together more than 100,000 pages pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Among the gems of the collection are nearly 800 items (poems, novels, and plays) that have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays. It contains over 133,465 pages.
- Theatre in Video This link opens in a new windowTheatre in Video contains more than 250 definitive performances of the world's leading plays, together with more than 100 film documentaries, online in streaming video - more than 500 hours in all. This release contains 279 titles, representing hundreds of leading playwrights, actors and directors.
- British Literary Manuscripts Online 1660-1900 This link opens in a new windowBritish Literary Manuscripts Online presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Searching is based on tags and descriptive text associated with each manuscript; the text of the manuscripts themselves is not searchable.
- 18th Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window* Over 180,000 titles (200,000 volumes)
* Includes books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides and more
* Based on the English Short Title Catalogue
* Works published in the UK during the 18th century plus thousands from elsewhere
* Primarily in English - also includes other languages - 19th Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowNineteenth Century Collections Online is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century. Currently, these archives are available: British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
BPL Catalogs & More
Boston Public Library Catalogs:
The Boston Public Library has an extensive collection of books and media, both circulating and non-circulating, that can help you write your paper. Use our catalogs to:
- Find material by your author, about your author and his work, or on your topic.
- Determine location and availability of the material.
- Request material and have it delivered to a branch near you (5-7 days).
Not in our catalogs?:
- Check our online literary collections to see if they have the material you need.
- Access WorldCat, the world's largest library network, to locate items, and check for their location in libraries close to you.
- Submit an Interlibrary Loan request for material not in the Boston Public Library's collection.
Using the BPL Online Catalog
- Type the title of your book, the author, or keywords into the search box.
- The catalog default is keyword, but you can restrict your results by clicking on the dropdown menu next to the search box and choosing to search by title, author, subject, etc. Choose subject when searching for books about an author.
- When searching by author as subject, combining the title of the book or subdivision headings such Criticism and interpretation, Knowledge, Political and social views, or Psychology can further narrow the search.
You can limit your search results by Location, Format, Titles You Can Borrow and Take Home, Language, Topic, etc. by using the clickable headings and dropdown menus on the left side of the screen.
Your search has turned up the perfect title. What now?
- Take down the call number of the book.
- If additional resources are required, click on the subect headings attached to the record to locate additional titles.
- Use the call numbers of the books found to locate the items on shelf.
- Browse the area for other relevant titles.
If our main catalog is experiencing problems, we also have our alternate catalog available to aid you in your searching.
Using Library of Congress Subject Headings In Your Search
When books are cataloged, Library of Congress subject headings are assigned to facilitate subject searching. You can search the catalog by subject to find criticism about: an author's work, literary forms such as poetry, literary movements, the literature of a country, a category of author, or on a particular topic as portrayed in literature. Below are some examples of subject headings and subject heading subdivisions:
- American literature -- African American Authors -- History and criticism
- American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
- Beat generation
- Dystopias in literature
- English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- History and criticism
- English poetry -- 18th century -- History and criticism
- Literature and society -- United States -- History - 20th century
- Morrison, Toni
- Morrison, Toni. Beloved
- Morrison, Toni -- Criticism and interpretation
- Morrison, Toni -- Political and social views
- Postmodernism (Literature)
- Science fiction, English -- History and criticism
- Short stories, American -- History and criticism
Browse by Library of Congress Classification Number
Library of Congress classification numbers for the literatures of different countries:
- Classical Literature - PA3000-3049
- Greek Literature - PA3050-4505
- Roman Literature - PA6000-6971
- Chinese Literature - PL2250-3208
- African Literature - PL8009.5 - 8014
- French Literature - PQ1 - 3999
- Italian Literature - PQ4001-5999
- Spanish Literature - PQ6001-8929
- English Literature - PR1-9680
- American Literature - PS1-3576
- German Literature - PT1 - 4897
- Literature (General) - PN1 - 6790
- Library of Congress Class P - Language and LiteratureAll entries in Library of Congress cataloging, Class P.