Slavic Literature Guide  Tags: slavic research_methods russian east_european literature  

This feed is the result of a search in the ABSEES database for works on Polish women writers. It will be updated daily for six months, or until deleted.

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Below is an example of the kind of information you can have sent to your email or, as here, available as an RSS feed.  This search was performed using MLA and limiting the results to Russian language publications on women authors in Russia.  The search will be updated daily for six months.

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Traditionally scholarly materials for literary studies are divided into primary and secondary sources.

As you know, primary sources include the literary work(s) being studied and other contemporaneous materials:
An author's entire literary corpus such as novels, short stories, poems, plays, etc.
Contemporaneous literary works
An author's correspondence, autobiographical writing, or private papers.
Contemporaneous nonliterary works, such as histories, chronicles, newspaper accounts, etc.

Thus, this category will include archival and published resources

Secondary Sources postdate the literary work, movement or author (s) being studied and include a variety of materials such as literary criticism, biographies, and literary histories. 

→Tip: When looking for secondary sources, remember that the author is now the subject!

Literary Criticism --Books
Much literary criticism is still published in book form, either by a single author or a group of authors (collection of essays). To find books of literary criticism, search the Catalog Quick Search using the author's name and the subject as the search by option. For an extensive listing of books of criticism, go to WorldCat, a catalog of books in US libraries.  There are also numerous avenues to searching the collections of European, East European and Russian libraries in preparation for a research trip or to get a more complete picture of the published monographs on a topic.  These include such sources as The European Library gateway, UB Karlsruhe interface, and COBISS.Net.

Literary Criticism --articles
A great deal of literary criticism is published in article form, which more and more is available full-text online. Keep in mind that at present, however, only a fraction of literary criticism is available electronically. Most online databases list only citations for critical works. The best for Slavic literature are:

• MLA Bibliography
• ABSEES
• Arts and Humanities Citation Index
• Index to Film Periodicals
• INION
• Film Literature Index
• More through the Library's Online Research Resources

→Tip: You can search for databases for Slavic by selecting the subject Russia, Poland, etc. in the Library's Online Research Resources.

→Tip: Make sure to access the Library's online databases through the Library Gateway. Off-campus users will must provide a bluestem password.

Full-text online Library databases for literary criticism:

• JSTOR
• Periodicals Archive Online
• Project Muse

→Tip: The articles in the databases above are available and easier to find in MLA.

Literary Criticism: online
Many online sites offer literary criticism. See the side bar for a list.

?Did you know that for older criticism print bibliographies are excellent sources? These works are arranged variously, such as by country, author, genre. To find print bibliographies, visit Slavic and East European Library's reference section in the call number range 016.8 or seach the Catalog Quick Search using the subject heading Serbian literature--History and criticism--Bibliography, for example, and using subject as the search by option.