BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES

Literature Resource Center. An online database that includes biographical information on thousands of authors world-wide and the full-text of numerous journal articles about them. Based on the Gale print series including “Dictionary of Literary Biography,” “Contemporary Literary Criticism,” and
Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields. 1962- . Ref PN 771 .C761.

Dictionnaire de Biographie Française. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1933- . 19+ v. [In progress.] Ref CT 143 .D561.

Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les Temps les Plus Reculés jusqu’á nos Jours... Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Fils et Cie, 1862-1877. 46 v. in 23v. Ref CT 143 .N855.

Critical Survey of Literary Theory. Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, c1987. 4v.
Ref PN 45 .C74 1987.
Includes a wide geographical representation of critics. Excludes theorists identified primarily with the theater unless their influence was so pervasive as to affect literature as a whole. Each article includes date and place of birth and death, principal critical works, and other literary forms in which the theorist wrote. A summary of Influence on literary trends and a brief biography are followed by Theory and Criticism, which discusses the subject's theoretical concerns and their impact on other writers, theories, and schools, A listing of their major works by genre and a bibliography of sources for further study close each article. Example: 1. Index - Barthes, Roland, vol. 1, p. 102. 2. Index - semiotics. [L. Sill]

Guide to Modern Literary and Cultural Theorists. London; New York : Prentice Hall, 1995. Ref PN 74 .A2 1995.

An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. NY: Garland, 1991. 2v. Ref PN 481 .E5 1991.

European Writers. NY: Scribner, 1983-1991. 14v. Ref PN 501 .E9 1983.
Each article is approximately 15,000 words in length and devoted to a single writer; includes long bibliographies of works plus translations. A few articles treat a genre, movement, or convention. See v. 14 for the index, a list of volume contents, and a list of writers by language.

Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2000. Ref PN 597 .T94 2000.
Articles on over fifty literary, critical, and theatrical movements or schools in over eighty nations. Includes reading lists and a chronology. E.g., Concrete Poetry, Cyberpunk, Magic Realism, Socialist Realism, Theater of the Absurd.