Henry Buhl Library: Medieval Studies: Literature

Background Reading

The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature
Call Number: Ref PN 49 .E53 2010 v.1-2
Covering 2,000 years, The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature is the first encyclopedia devoted to Christian writers and books.
Masterplots II: Christian Literature
Call Number: Ref PN 49 .M15 2007 v.1-4
Covers over 500 classic and contemporary works of Christian fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, providing a plot summary, analysis of Christian themes, and an annotated bibliography for each title.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
The Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online from Gale Literature provides authoritative information while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history. Signed essays written by scholars provide essential context for understanding the careers and writings of more than 12,000 authors from all time periods and from all parts of the world.
Salem Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Contains "the Critical Insights" series, which focuses on an individual author’s entire body of work or on a single work of literature.
Scribner Writer Series (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
The Scribner’s Writers Series includes biographical and critical essays on the lives and works of more than 1,400 authors from around the world. Entries include concise essays, citations, and biographical information, placing the author's work in personal and historical context.
Twayne's Authors Series (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
Author-focused volumes of literary criticism offering in-depth introductions to the lives and works of writers, the history and influence of literary movements and to the development of literary genres. (Gale Literature)

The Arthurian Encyclopedia
Call Number: Ref DA 152.5 .A7 A78 1986
The entries in this encyclopedia cover characters, history, various world literatures, and important places in Arthurian legend. Bibliographies are included with each entry.

Oxford Reference Online Database -- Literature
Access to a collection of online dictionaries and encyclopedias related to literature.

Chaucer A to Z
Call Number: Oversz PR 1903 .R67 1999
An encyclopedic guide to the fourteenth-century poet's life and works examines Chaucer's language, historical events, and literary influences in his work.
Critical Survey of World Literature
Call Number: Ref PN 523 .M29 2018 v. 1-6
A unique combination of biography and critical analysis, covering major writers from around the world and their significant works in fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction.
A Concordance to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer ...
Call Number: Ref PR 1941 .T3 1963
Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion, 1357-1900
Call Number: Ref PR 1924 .A2 1960 v.1-3

World Literature in Spanish
Provides an introduction to the literature composed in Spanish. This linguistically based (rather than nationally defined) understanding of Spanish literature transcends genres, time periods, and political boundaries. Entries include biographies, literary movements and time periods, topics in literature, and more.
The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature by Janet Perez; Maureen Ihrie
Call Number: Ref PQ 6055 .F46 2002 v. 1-2
Critical Survey of Drama
Call Number: Ref PN 1625 .C68 2018 v. 1-8
The new fourth edition of The Critical Survey of Drama contains over 650 new and updated essays--over 550 discuss individual dramatists and nearly 100 cover important overview topics that are critical to the study of drama as a whole.
Critical Survey of Poetry
Call Number: Ref PN 1021 .C7 2011 v. 1-14
Critical Survey of World Literature
Call Number: Ref PN 523 .M29 2018 v. 1-6
A unique combination of biography and critical analysis, covering major writers from around the world and their significant works in fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction.
Encyclopedia of the Novel
Call Number: Ref PN 41 .E487 1998 v. 1-2
Articles in this encyclopedia cover authors, novels, and literatures of countries around the world.

Find Books & eBooks

Highlighted eBook Collections

Bloom's Literary Criticism e-books (Infobase) This link opens in a new window Collection of e-books from Professor Harold Bloom. Series includes Modern Critical Interpretations, Bloom's Guides, Bloom's Major Poets, Bloom's Modern Critical Views, and Bloom's Major Dramatists and more!
Cambridge Companions to Literature and Classics This link opens in a new window This "collection offers over 2000 comprehensive and accessible essays on major authors, periods and genres, written by experts and designed for student readers."
Salem Literature Online This link opens in a new window Contains "the Critical Insights" series, which focuses on an individual author’s entire body of work or on a single work of literature.

Find free online books

eBooks & Online Books page
Provides access to thousands of eBooks and online books. Use the tabs at the top to locate eBooks by discipline.

TIPS:

Browse HENRY by subject
Use subjects to locate more books on your topic.
Use bibliographies to expand your search (tips for determining if a citation is for a book, a journal article, or a chapter in an edited book).

Screengrab of Henry search demonstrating Advanced Search of Rome in the Note and Subject fields, with the Any of These bullet selected.

Search synonyms (ex: Genghis Khan and Chinggis Khan).
Search the notes field, as well as the title and subject fields (see screenshot above).
Try our list of E-Books & Online Books.

Need a book the library does not own?

You can request the book through Interlibrary Loan. Info and a downloadable form are available here!

To search for books available in other libraries, try using

WorldCat -- Search the holdings of more than 10,000 libraries to locate books and identify citation information.

Library of Congress -- Access to the Library of Congress catalog and other online collections.

NOTE: Users do not need to identify a library that owns the book. Simply provide the appropriate information on the form and library staff will do the rest!

Journal Article Databases

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The MLA International Bibliography with Full Text combines the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film with full text for more than 1,000 journals, including many of the leading publications in these fields.
Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
Access to reference works, books and literary journals.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archival Database of full text scholarly journal articles. Journal issues are typically added to JSTOR 3 to 5 years after publication.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Access to scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences.
Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials This link opens in a new window
Combines the classic index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with Atla's online collection of major religion and theology journals.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Covers a wide range of subject matter in both popular and scholarly periodicals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study and offers information dating as far back as 1975.
Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 4,600 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,500 journals and nearly 10,000 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers unmatched full text coverage of information in many areas of academic study including: animal science, anthropology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology, and many other fields. Academic Search Complete offers critical information from many sources unique to this massive collection. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Journal articles are very specific.

Finding articles is easier after you have read up on your topic.

Use more than one article database.

No database searches everything.
For thorough research, use more than one database and try different search terms.

A to Z List of Journals
Always check the A to Z list to see if we have access to the journal title and date of publication you need!

Need an article that isn't full text? Access the request form below.

Document Delivery Forms

Remember, scholarship is international.

You may come across some great articles in which the titles (and thus the articles) are not in English.

So, when you can, it is a good idea to limit your searches to articles in English.