Literature

Imaginative or creative writing, prose and poetry of generally recognized artistic value.

Sub-headings:

Authors

Sites here are about the work or lives of specific authors or sites that discuss groups of authors. For sites about authors in a time period, use the Literature by Time Period section.

Book Lists & Awards

Book Recommender Systems

Criticism

Literature by Time Period

Online Texts

Writing

Works about the writing process and directed mainly toward writers.

Resources in this category:

About.com: Classic Literature
http://classiclit.about.com/

An Internet guide to classic literature, with feature articles, Website links, and discussion forums. Topics covered include banned literature, bestsellers, folklore, and regional breakdowns of authors and literature.

ArmenianHouse.org
http://armenianhouse.org/

A dynamic collection of documents relating to Armenian literature, history, religion, etc. Has documents in Armenian, English, and Russian.

Australian Literature on the Internet
http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/litsites.html

Links to Australian literature sites, including organizations, journals, and university resources. Part of the National Library of Australia Internet Subject Lists project.

Based on the Book
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/

'Based on the Book' is a compilation of over 1,000 book titles, short stories, and plays that have been made into motion pictures. Utilizing the Internet Movie Database as the authority on release dates, all movies in this collection have been released since 1980.

BookBrowse.com
http://www.bookbrowse.com/

"Some people select books based on other people's opinions; others visit the bookstore to see what's new; most of us do a combination of both." BookBrowse collects reviews, user opinions, substantial excerpts, and images of book jackets and author biographies.

The Bud Foote Science Fiction Collection
http://sf.lcc.gatech.edu/

The Bud Foote Collection includes first edition scientific romances and utopias from the late nineteenth century and most of the major novels published by science fiction authors throughout the twentieth century.

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/

"The Cambridge History of English and American Literature is considered the most important work of literary history and criticism ever published on writings in the English language. Compiled over fourteen years, from 1907 to 1921, the Cambridge History contains over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages, with essay topics ranging from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing. The set encompasses a wide selection of writing on orators, humorists, poets, newspaper columnists, religious leaders, economists, Native Americans, song writers, and even non-English writing, such as Yiddish and Creole."

The Canadian Literature Archive
http://www.umanitoba.ca/canlit/

A comprehensive collection of information about Canadian writers, novelists, poets, and playwrights, as well as books, archives, publications, and literary organizations. A good place to go for information on the Canadian literary scene.

Covering Photography
http://www.coveringphotography.com/covering_photography.html

Looks at "the history of photography and book cover design" and how photos get transformed when they are used on book covers. Offers a book cover image database searchable "by Photographer, Author, Publisher, Publication Date and Designer."

Dictionary of Symbolism
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.ht...

Explanations for commonly used symbolism in literature. Searchable.

Electronic Archives for Teaching the American Literatures
http://www.georgetown.edu/tamlit/tamlit-home.html

"The Electronic Archives contain essays, syllabi, bibliographies, and other resources for teaching the multiple literatures of the United States. The Archives are designed as a complementary resource to the electronic discussion list, T-AMLIT."

Favorite Poem Project
http://www.favoritepoem.org/

Robert Pinsky, a poet and the author of this site says, "If a poem is written well, it was written with the poet's voice and for a voice. The purpose of this site is to share the Favorite Poem Project with the widest possible audience." The Favorite Poem Project shows audio and video of people reading their poems. Students of all ages are invited to participate.

Futurism and the Futurists
http://www.futurism.org.uk/futurism.htm

This site contains manifestos, poetry, and other primary texts by Futurist authors. It also offers a timeline of the Futurist movement, a photo album, and a bibliography.

Gale's Literary Index
http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex;jsessionid=B2481DE0D...

A free index of the Gale Literature Criticism Series searchable by author, title, or by author's nationality or date of birth. Full text of Gale sources are not available online, but searches provide comprehensive listings of volumes containing relevant information. You will need to visit your local public or college library to view the actual volumes, but Gale's Literary Index is a great way to begin your research.

A Glossary of Literary Terms
http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm

Definitions and examples of literary terms. Compiled by an English professor.

Glossary of Literary Theory
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/glossary/Index.html

Glossary of common terminology used in literary theory, browsable alphabetically by main entry.

Glossary of Poetic Terms from BOB'S BYWAY
http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html

An extensive collection of poetic terms and their definitions, with numerous cross-references and examples. Browsable by letter of the alphabet.

The Harvard Classics & Shelf of Fiction
http://www.bartleby.com/hc/

"The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume '5-foot shelf of books' and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century."

Index Translationum: International bibliography of translations
http://www.unesco.org/culture/xtrans/

A free database for researching whether a book has been translated into another language. Use the search form to locate "bibliographical information on books translated and published in about a hundred of UNESCO's Member States since 1979 and totalizing some 1,300,000 notices in all disciplines: literature, social and human sciences, natural and exact sciences, art, history and so forth." In English, French, and Spanish.

Links: Anglistik, Romanistik, Klassische Philologie
http://www.fingerhut.de/geisteswissenschaften/diverseliterat...

A link-list page in German, for English, Romance-language, and classical language and literary studies.

The Literary Encyclopedia
http://www.litencyc.com/

A source for descriptive profiles on thousands of English Language writers, works, and topics. These profiles are reviewed and edited by an editorial board.

Literary Resources on the Net
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/

"An incredibly comprehensive collection of Web sites related to literature & the humanities. Includes Syllabi and Other Course Materials for Literature Courses." Searchable.

Literary Timeline
http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/timeline/Calendar_Janu...

With this handy search tool, users can look up "significant literary events" for each day of the year. For example, on January 1st, 1811, James Fenimore Cooper married Susan Augusta De Lancy. On the same day 139 years later, Eudora Welty's Short Stories was first published.

The Middle English Compendium
http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/m/mec/

"The Middle English Compendium has been designed to offer easy access to and interconnectivity between three major Middle English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse based on the MED bibliographies, and an associated network of electronic resources." This resource is sold on a subscription basis to institutions, but a free trial month-to-month use is available by entering the Middle English Dictionary. Then, click on the link "trial access for individuals". Click on "our terms and conditions and the latest username and password". You will be provided with a username and password good for that particular month.

Modern American Poetry
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets.htm

Modern American Poetry is a collaborative effort that aims to provide "a single clearinghouse for some of the best criticism on the best poets of our time." One can find biographical information, bibliographies, criticism, commentary, and links to online copies of works on major modern American poets.

Native Literature Directory
http://www.indians.org/Resource/natlit/natlit.html

A directory of Native American stories from the American Indian Heritage Foundation.

The New York Times Book Review
http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com...

Over 50,000 book reviews back to 1980 from the famed New York Times Book Review are archived and searchable, plus special Web-only features. Registration required.

The Page
http://thepage.name/

Offers a digest of the web's best "poetry, essays, language, ideas", updated daily. Also included are extensive links to literary resources at the site, article, and item level.

Perseus Digital Library
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

An evolving humanities digital library. Presently collects materials on classics/antiquity, Victorian London, natural philosopher Robert Boyle, the history of Tufts University, and part of the Library of Congress-sponsored American Memory collections.

Pilot-Search.com
http://www.pilot-search.com/

"Pilot-Search.com is a free online search engine - comprised strictly of literary links. Pilot includes over 10,000 searchable links. With over 250 categories Pilot covers Book Reviews, Interviews, individual writers like Tennessee Williams, Ghost Writing Services, e-Text, MFA Programs, Short Story Contests, and much more."

PoemHunter.com
http://www.poemhunter.com/

A database of nearly 36,000 poems, modern and classic, that allows searching by poet name, poem title, and poem text. More than 5000 poets are included and the site allows poets to submit poems as well. This site does have a large number of pop-up ads.

Poetry Archive
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do

Listen to this online poetry archive of historic and contemporary English Language poets reading their own works. UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion provides a guided tour introduction to the collection. Explore the tips to using the collection for teachers, students, librarians. Use the Children's Poetry Archive. Browse by poet, title, form, and theme.

Poetry Foundation
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

Contains a vast amount of information on poetry and poets including search tool for poetry, reading guide and online journal, and provides many resources for events related to poetry.

Pulp Fiction Central
http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulp/index.htm

This site is an excellent introduction to pulp fiction. It includes an in depth definition of pulp fiction, information on the popular serialized characters, in addition to a few electronic versions of literature which is deemed to be "pulp fiction."

The Purple Crayon: A Children's Book Editor's Site
http://www.underdown.org/

For children's books, this is a great site. It was created by an editor for kid's books. It provides advice for writers, links to literature for kids on the net, on-line books and reviews, book awards, educational resources, and various visual reference materials.

The Real Mother Goose
http://www.fidella.com/trmg/

This popular collection of Mother Goose stories was penned in 1916 by Blanche Fisher Wright. Now it’s available online with complete illustrations. Includes a text-only version.

Renaissance Liturgical Imprints: A Census
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/r/relics/

"This is a database of information about worship books printed before 1601... RELICS now includes information on over 8,890 titles. This information is based upon personal inspections of books in most of the major research libraries of the United States and also libraries in a few selected European cities. Some additional information derives from published bibliographies and library catalogs."

The Tale of Kieu
http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/kieu.html

The Tale of Kieu, written by Nguyen Du,(1766 - 1820), is Vietnam's epic national poem. This site offers two lectures about the poem, one by Mr. Tien, Dong Khahn Hotel manager,(formerly a Vietnamese high school teacher), and one by John Swennson, DeAnza College faculty and organizer of this site. This resource provides, among other things, biographical information about Nguyen Du, the historical context of the poem, the concept of the tale, and various commentaries on different sections of the tale.

Vintage Reading Group Guides
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/categories.html

This site offers online reading guides for various books. Designed especially for book groups, the guides include a description of each book, questions, discussion topics, and author biographies. Titles are arranged alphabetically, but they are also grouped according to category such as mystery.