LibGuides: American Literature Studies Resources: Reference Works

Encyclopedias

Below is a selection of encyclopedias and dictionaries to which Kent State has access. You can search for other resources on the Library Search.

The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature by Steven Serafin (Editor); Alfred Bendixen (Editor)
ISBN: 1849721327

Publication Date: 2006

A comprehensive single-volume literary survey representing a collaborative effort involving 300 contributors from across the U.S. and Canada. The Continuum Encyclopedia is a great tool in the study of American Literature from a wide variety of authors both past and present.
Asian American Literature by Keith Lawrence (Editor)
ISBN: 9781440872891

Publication Date: 2021

An encyclopedia containing knowledge of Asian North-American writers. Introduced by 12 essays and containing more than 120 entries the encyclopedia explores a variety of topics surround the Asian-American identity.
Modern American Literature by Catherine Morley
ISBN: 9781280874796

Publication Date: 2012

A study of Modern American Literature that explores the themes of modernity. Contains exerts and analysis of both well known and more obscure American authors and how modern regionality has affected the literary landscape.
American Literature Before 1880 by Robert Lawson-Peebles
ISBN: 1315836270

Publication Date: 2003

This book explains the establishment of American Literature and connects the subject with its international past, including pre revolutionary America to the Civil War
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature by William L. Andrews (Editor); Frances Smith Foster (Editor); Trudier Harris (Editor)
ISBN: 0198031750

Publication Date: 2001

A concise version of the Oxford companion which includes 400 biographies of African American authors within American Literature.
Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context by Linda De Roche (Editor)
ISBN: 9781440853593

Publication Date: 2021

From the twentieth century to the present day this four volume collection of modern American Literature authors offers a wide selection of expansive works and primary sources.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature by Nicol Kanellos (Editor)
ISBN: 9781282723511

Publication Date: 2008

An Encyclopedia that surveys the wide selection of Latino Literature in the United States from the colonial era to the present day.
American Poets and Poetry by Jeffrey Gray; Mary McAleer Balkun; James McCorkle
ISBN: 9781610698313

Publication Date: 2015

Covers hundreds of American poets from the colonial era to the present day. This Encyclopedia aims to cover a diverse mix of biographical, critical, historical, political, and cultural entries. There is also a focus on the many ethnic groups and women poets of the United States.
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick
ISBN: 9780198715443

Publication Date: 2015

Now in its fourth edition, this dictionary offers clear and consie definitions on American literary terms from abjection to zeugma. The dictionary has also been expanded to new theoretical literary topics such as feminism, American poetry, Spanish verseforms, life writing, and crime fiction.