Research Resources:
Subject Research Guides:
Literatures in English:
Retrospective Secondary Bibliographies
Use to locate criticism and scholarship. Here the coverage is cumulative, over a specified period of time,
not annual.
Many additional bibliographies can be found by checking IRIS or by browsing in the appropriate sections of
the reference collection. Primary and secondary bibliographies for most major and many minor authors are also
available. Check under IRIS, using the author as subject, and the subdivision "bibliography." For example:
AUSTEN, JANE, 1775-1817--BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENGLISH POETRY--18TH CENTURY--BIBLIOGRAPHY
HARLEM RENAISSANCE--BIBLIOGRAPHY
**New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature.
Perhaps the single most comprehensive source for English literature. Unlike MLA it includes both primary and
secondary works. Thorough in its coverage through 1970, though not often reflecting newer views of the canon.
Volume 4 (covering 1800-1900 of the revised edition was published in 1999 (Ref. Z 2011.N45-also Dana & Robeson),
but subsequent volumes of this edition have not yet appeared and the revision might not be completed.
ALEXANDER REF Z 2011.C351 1971.
African American Autobiographers: A Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS366.A35A36 2002.
(Also Kilmer).
American Women Writers, 1900-1945: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 151.A45 2000.
Annotated Bibliographies of Old and Middle English Literature.
Eight volumes to date of this series:
The Language of Middle English (ALEXANDER REF Z 2012.B925 1994),
Ancrene Wisse, the
Katherine Group, and the Wooing Group (ALEXANDER REF Z 2014.P79M55 1996),
Visions of the Other World in Middle English (ALEXANDER REF Z 2012.E25 1998),
Old English Prose of Secular Learning (ALEXANDER REF Z 2012.H7 1992),
Old English Wisdom Poetry (ALEXANDER REF Z 2014P7P66 1998),
Old English Prose Translations of King Alfred's Reign (ALEXANDER REF Z 2012.W35 2000), and
The Middle English Lyric and
Short Poem (ALEXANDER REF Z2012.G835 2001), and
Middle English Saints' Legends (ALEXANDER REF Z 2012.S28 2005).
Asian American Autobiographers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS366.A74A85 2001.
(Also Dana).
Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 153.A84A825 2000.
(Also Dana & Robeson).
Contemporary Critical Theory: A Selected Bibliography.
ALEXANDER REF PN 81.M37 1993.
(Also Dana, Douglass, Robeson).
Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 374.N4C658 1999.
(Also Kilmer & Dana).
Contemporary Gay American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 374.N63C66 1993.
(Also Dana & Kilmer)
Contemporary Lesbian Writers of the United States: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 153.L46C65 1993.
(Also Douglass & Kilmer)
Jewish American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical and Critical Sourcebook.
PS 153.J4J48 1994.
(Also Douglass & Robeson).
Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1400. 11 volumes +.
Like the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, the Manual includes
both primary and secondary bibliographies. "Each chapter (and sometimes sections
thereof) has two parts: (1) the commentary, which for each work discusses content,
manuscripts, date, dialect, source, and form, and summarizes scholarship and critical
trends; (2) a classified bibliography (with sections for manuscripts, editions, textual matters, language, versification, date, authorship, sources, literary criticism and bibliography)" [Harner]. Of course the bibliographies of the earlier volumes are now
quite dated, but this series is still essential for serious medievalists.
ALEXANDER REF PR255.S4 [1967+].
(Incomplete sets at Dana & Robeson).
Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PS 217.W64N56 1997.
(Also Douglass & Robeson)
Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.
ALEXANDER REF PL8010.P585 1998.
(Also Dana)
Twentieth Century Bibliography and Textual Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography.
ALEXANDER REF Z1002.B28 2000.
