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Introduction to Literary Criticism

"A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture."

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University provides a brief overview of major schools of criticism.*

"Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism," OWL, Purdue University

Practicing Theory and Reading Literature by Raman Selden
Call Number: PN 81 .S365 1989 (1st floor)
Available at Booth Library, this book is " a clear and accessible demonstration of how contemporary literary theories can be applied to a wide range of texts, from Shakespeare, Bunyan, Sterne, Keats, to James, Stevens, Joyce, Pinter, Updike, and Arthur Miller."

Reference

Reference books are good places to start your research when you know little about a topic, need an overview of a subject, or want a quick summary of basic ideas. They are also useful for discovering the names of important people and can familiarize you with the vocabulary of the field.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick
Call Number: eBook Collection by EBSCO
Containing over 1,000 of the most troublesome literary terms encountered by students and general readers, this gem of a book gives clear and often witty explanations to terms such as hypertext, multi-accentuality, and postmodernism.

Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. For literature there are hundreds of titles including the series Critical Review; or books on a specific author e.g. Emily Bronte; Daphne du Maurier; etc.

Etymology traces "the roots of our language and shows its many points of contact with the other cultures...Explanations about the development of particular words in a language are probably as ancient as language itself." (Preface, Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology)

The etymology of words are contained in dictionaries. Booth Library owns several excellent etymology dictionaries and can also recommend an open access option.

For a complete list of etymological resources, check the Library Catalog, below is a short list of available resources:

The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology by Robert K. Barnhart (Editor); Sol Steinmetz (Editor)
Call Number: Ref PE 1580 .B35 1988 (Entrance Level)
In addition to the dictionary this one volume reference book includes a concise history of the English language.
Online Etymology Dictionary by Douglas Harper
Call Number: Open Access
"This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago." (Harper)
The Oxford English Dictionary by Edmund S. Weiner (Editor); John Simpson (Editor)
Call Number: Ref PE 1625 .O87 1989 (Entrance Level)
The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language. It traces the usage of words through 2.4 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources. Booth Library owns the most recent complete edition, the 2nd edition.