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FYWB 1106: Seeing, Surveilling, and Performing (Condillac)

This is the library guide companion for the class session on April 11, 2022.

Literature Online (LiON)

Literary Criticism Reference Resources

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory by Ellen Rooney (Editor)

Call Number: Butler Stacks PN98.W64 C35 2006 & ebook

ISBN: 0521807069

Publication Date: 2006-07-06

Feminism has dramatically influenced the way literary texts are read, taught and evaluated. Feminist literary theory has deliberately transgressed traditional boundaries between literature, philosophy and the social sciences in order to understand how gender has been constructed and represented through language. This lively and thought-provoking Companion presents a range of approaches to the field. Some of the essays demonstrate feminist critical principles at work in analysing texts, while others take a step back to trace the development of a particular feminist literary method. The essays draw on a range of primary material from the medieval period to postmodernism and from several countries, disciplines and genres. Each essay suggests further reading to explore this field further. This is the most accessible guide available both for students of literature new to this developing field, and for students of gender studies and readers interested in the interactions of feminism, literary criticism and literature.

A Dictionary of Philosophy by Antony Flew (Editor); Stephen Priest (Editor)

Call Number: Offsite B41 .D52 2002g & ebook

ISBN: 0330487302

Publication Date: 2002-08-01

Comprehensive and up-to-date, this new edition of A Dictionary of Philosophy spans 2500 years of philosophical thought and offers a reference to the student of philosophy and the general reader alike. It has extensive coverage of modern and historical fields, encompassing personalities, terminology, and vocabulary; it extends from the classical thinkers through Aquinas, Escartes, Spinoza, and Kant to Russell, Wittgenstein, Husserl, Baudrillard, and Derrida; and particular attention is given to continental philosophy. There are over 2000 entries, with full cross-references.

Literature Criticism Online

Literature Criticism Online brings together up to 10 acclaimed multidisciplinary series representing a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres. Multiple search options are combined with an engaging format that matches the look and feel of the print originals.

Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs by Jean-Charles Seigneuret (Editor); A. Owen Aldridge; Armin Arnold; Peter H. Lee

Call Number: Butler Reference R803 D559

ISBN: 0313229430

Publication Date: 1988-11-21

More Info...

Consists of 143 essays contributed by 98 specialists in world literature. Topics covered include themes relating to adventure, family life, the supernatural, eroticism, status, humor, idealism, terror, and many other categories of human experience. Each entry begins with a definition and a sketch on the origin and historical background of the literary theme. The topical essay discusses the significance and occurrence of the theme in world literature and supplies information on geographical area, genre, style, and chronology. Entries conclude with a selected bibliography of scholarship in the area. A cross-index to themes and motifs will enable the reader to find information on secondary or related topics.

Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory by Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace (Editor)

Call Number: Butler Reference R802 En19

ISBN: 0815308248

Publication Date: 1996-11-01

An essential resource for scholars and students of feminist literary studies. The book offers a new, extended introduction outlining recent developments in the field such as ecofeminism, globalism and diaspora, defining emerging terms such as cisgendered and documenting the evolution of queer theory.

Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism by Chris Murray (Editor)

Call Number: Butler Reference R803 En191

ISBN: 1579581447

Publication Date: 1999-12-01

The two-volume set includes 375 entries on both Western and non-Western literary traditions, from the start of criticism with the Greeks through postmodernism. Varying in length from a couple of long paragraphs to several pages, the entries are of four different types: on individuals, surveys of literary periods, essays on critical theories, and definitions of key concepts. The entries on individuals, such as Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, investigate in detail the critic's thinking and influence. The surveys of literary periods cover different schools or time periods, including 20th-century French, British, and American theory. The criticism essays explain 28 different schools such as reader-response and semiotics, while terms covered in the short-definitions sections range from the surreal to the pastoral. More extensive in scope (both in geographical range and time periods) than other like references.

Questions for Starting Research

Research should involve searching for concepts and ideas and responding to what you find. Using BEAM, you can analyze different information to compose your own response and ideas. 

Some questions you can ask of each article:

  • What is the main point of this article/book?
  • What does it add to my ideas?
  • How does it differ from other articles I have read?
  • Who has this author cited?
  • Who has cited this work?
  • How would I respond to this main point/argument in a conversation?