English Language and Literature

Drexel Library PS21.H3 and England Library Reference
This volume collects the most important titles, names, genres and conventions in American literary history. Entries are brief, but offer a good place to start.

Drexel Library PS129 .A55 and England Library Reference; vol.1 - 4 and supplements
Provides lengthy entries on the lives and works of major American literary figures, focusing on biography and criticism of their major works. Volumes are divided by time period.

Also in print at Drexel Library PS92 .C34 1993
An eight-volume series of in-depth critical essays covering American literature from 1590 to 1995, and including discussions of poetry, prose and criticism.

Drexel Library PS92 .N39 2009

Drexel Library PS92.C64 and England Library PS92.C726.
A collection of essays on American literature and its place in the formation of a national identity, covering the history of the nation, from the earliest days of exploration and colonialism to avant-garde literature. While not comprehensive in scope, the work touches on many important literary figures, and has a section devoted to minority and regional literature.

This book takes the reader through a history of American literature and discusses many major writers who fit snuggly into certain genres, and others who pushed forward into new ground. Discussion centers on how American culture and history, from Puritanical ideals to technological revolutions, shaped writers and their works.

Covering discussions of mostly 19th and 20th century American writing, this volume offers a rich discussion of ideological frameworks, such as politics, culture, class, and economics, as both reflected, built and challenged within American literature.