How to Research Short Story Criticism

Short story criticism includes explanations and evaluations of the works of individual authors as well as discussions of the short story as a form of literature.

Introductions to your author can be found in:

• Oxford Companion to American Literature [Ref PS21.H3]
• Oxford Companion to English Literature [Ref PR19.H3]
• Cyclopedia of World Authors [Ref PN451.W3]
• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia [Ref PN41.B4]
• Twentieth Century Authors [Ref PN771.K86]

Biographical and Literary Information can be found in:

• Contemporary Authors [Ref PN700.C59
• Dictionary of Literary Biography [Ref PN701.D5]
• European Writers [Ref PN501.ET]
• American Writers [Ref PS129.A55]
• British Writers [Ref PR85.B688 ]
• Hispanic Writers [Ref PQ7081.3.H58]
• Latin American Writers [Ref PQ7081.A1L37]
• Short Stories for Students [Ref PN771.S57]

Criticism can be found in:

• Contemporary Literary Criticism [Ref PN771.C59]
• Critical Survey of Short Fiction [Ref PN771.S56]
• Twentieth Century Literary Criticism [Ref PN771.G27]
• Twentieth Century American Literature [Ref PS221.7834]
• Short Story Criticism [REF PN771 .S56]
• Short Stories for Students [Ref PN771.S57]

Explanatory material and plot outlines can be found in:

• Masterplots II: Short Story Series [Ref PN3326.M27]
• Masterplots II: World Fiction Series [Ref PN3326.M26]
• Short Stories for Students [Ref PN771.S57]

Information on the short story genre can be found in:

• Reference Guide to Short Fiction [Ref PN3373.R36]
• Plot [Ref PN3378.D5]
• Characters & Viewpoint [Ref PN3383.C4C37]

Use the On-Line Catalog to look for short stories BY a specific author.

Search by AUTHOR. (Type:Author's last name, First name). Short stories are published within a collection or anthology. Look for titles that contain: Complete Works, Readers, Anthologies, Collections, Other Stories.

For example: The Awakening and Selected Stories, Edgar Allan Poe Reader, Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Books ABOUT individual authors are found in the On-Line Catalog.

Search by SUBJECT (Type Author's last name, first name). Author's last name, First name--Criticism and Interpretation

For books containing anthologies of short stories search by SUBJECT.

For example: SHORT STORIES--AMERICAN Anthologies of Short Stories

• Afrikaans Short Stories [PT6555.L343 1966 ]
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories Not for the Nervous.[PS648.D4H63 1965 ]
• American Short Stories of the Nineteenth Century [PS653.A5]
• The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers [PS3515.U274B464]
• Birch Lane Press Presents American Fiction [PS648.S5B56]
• Black Short Story Anthology [PS647.kN35B561]
• Contemporary American Short Stories [PS648.S5A5]
• Eco-Fiction [PS648.E3T12]
• Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural [PN6071.H6 W5 1994]
• The Music School: Short Stories [PS3541.P41.P47M8]
• The Progress of Love [PR9199.3.M8 P7 2000]

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