A criticism is the analysis and evaluation of individual works of writing.  It may be applied to scholarly works, non-fictional books, novels, poems, plays, short stories, or any other written works.  More specifically, literary criticisms are critical analyses of works of literature (fiction).  Many sources of criticisms are available at the Hartfield Library. 

Patrons can locate longer criticisms, i.e., book length criticisms, by checking Voyager under the author's name with the subheading "Criticism and interpretation."  (For example, try a subject search of:  Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849--Criticism and interpretation.)

Three Helpful Sources

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism (REF PN 761 .N56)

Contemporary Literary Criticism (REF PN 771. C59)

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (REF PN 771 .G27)

These three series of criticisms offer the library’s most comprehensive collection of criticisms.  Each of these is a series of volumes that analyze and critique the writings of important authors of fiction.  Every volume provides information on these significant authors including: some biographical information, a list of his/her principal works, a list of excerpted criticisms, and a list of sources for "further reading."  The editors of these series select the excerpted criticisms from a variety of sources, which you should verify for credibility.  If you have questions abut the content of a criticism, look for the "explanatory notes" section located prior to the criticism.  These notes comment on the critic's reputation, the purpose of the criticism, and the "importance of the work of criticism."  Note that some authors may be profiled in a number of volumes within a series.

To find a literary criticism, first choose which series would most probably critique the works of an author.  Generally the century of an author’s life determines which series to use, so for example, books written by James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) would be critiqued in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism.  Then turn to the index of that series which is titled Annual Cumulative Title Index.  This is shelved after the last volume in each series.  All the works critiqued are listed alphabetically by title in this index.  If you have an author's name, but not a title, got to either a general encyclopedia or to the Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature (REF PN 41 .M 42 1995) to find a list of works written by this author.  Then select the title of one of the author’s works and check the index to see which in which volume it is critiqued.  Titles in the index are followed by a series of numbers--numbers in bold type indicate volume numbers, numbers in regular type indicate pages.  Many times a section on one author will feature several criticisms of works by this author.  Each criticism will feature a citation at the beginning or end of that criticism which identifies the source from which the criticism was taken.  Some criticisms come from journals; some come from encyclopedias or chapters in books.  Almost all criticisms in the series are short excerpts from longer criticisms.  To read the entire criticism, use the citation to find where and when the criticism was printed.

Note that if a title is not in the expected index, then it might be in one of the other series, especially in Contemporary Literary Criticism.

Other titles similar to Contemporary Literary Criticism that contain criticisms include:

Harris, L. L. & Fitzgerald, S. (Eds.), (1988).  Short Story Criticism.  Detroit: Gale Research.

Curley, Dorothy Nyren.  (1965).  A Library of Literary Criticism  (3^rd Ed).  Chicago:  American Library Association.