Campus Library Gale Literature Series

Gale Literature Series

Campus Library Home. Sketch courtesy NBBJ.

The Gale Literature Series provides biographical information on authors, critical essays of their writings and bibliographies of additional resources for further research. The series is roughly divided between titles which primarily provide biographical information and others which provide collections of excerpted criticism from various sources. You can use this series as a starting point for researching authors, literary works and literary movements. The information provided can help you identify and focus research topics and provides references to more in-depth resources.

Since many of the volumes in the Gale Series are published annually they are useful tools for providing insight into how an author's body of work has been viewed over time. For example entries for the author John Updike are included in 13 volumes of Contemporary Literature Criticism. The first entry, in volume 1, contains excerpted criticism covering the period 1963 to 1971. The most recent entry for Updike is in volume 139 and covers the period 1983 to 1998.

The easiest way to locate information on an author or work in this series is by using the Literary Index database. This is not a full text database but will direct you to the title and volume containing information on the author or work you are researching.

The Literary Index uses three search tools: Author Search, Title Search, and Custom Search which allows you to search by name, birth date, death date, or nationality.

Please note: The Bothell/CCC Campus Library does not own all of the titles indexed by the Literary Index. A listing of titles held by the Campus Library can be found below.

Searching the Literary Index

Author Search

To locate information on an author choose Author Search and enter the author's name in the search box. You can search any combination of the author's first, last and/or middle name or you can search by the start of the author's last name only. A search for the poet Tess Gallagher provides the following information:

Tess Gallagher

1943-

Nationality: American

Gale series that include an entry on this author:
Works by the author:

"Amplitude"
Contemporary Literary Criticism, volume(s) 63:123, 125

Amplitude: New and Selected Poems
Contemporary Literary Criticism, volume(s) 63:122-26
Poetry Criticism, volume(s) 9:57-62
"Bad Company"
Contemporary Literary Criticism, volume(s) 63:121

(This example is an excerpt, the entry for Gallagher lists many additional works)
The record includes the author's birth and death date, nationality and the Gale titles containing an entry on the author. The record then lists works by the author for which critical commentary is provided.

Title Search

If you are looking for a critical review of an author's work search by the title of the work. For example a title search for the novel The Dharma Bums would provide the following information:

The Dharma Bums
Author: Jack Kerouac

Gale series that include a discussion of this work:

Contemporary Literary Criticism, volume(s) 1:166; 2:226-27, 229; 3:263-65; 14:303-07; 61:286, 293, 296, 306-09
World Literature Criticism, volume(s) 3:1976-77, 1983

The entry tells you the series, volume and page number that includes information on the work. In this example you can find information in Contemporary Literary Criticism volume 1, page 166, volume 2 pages 226-227 and so on.

Clicking on the author's name from a title citation will take you to the author entry in Literary Index.

Once you have the title in the series you can locate the volume using the library catalog or the chart below. Note that the Bothell/CCC Campus Library does not own all of the series listed in the Literary Index.

Library Holdings

The Bothell/CCC Campus Library has the following titles in the Gale Literature series.
These titles are located in the Reference Stacks on the north end of the Library's first floor.

Black Literature Criticism
PS153.N5 B556 1992

Black Literature Criticism-Supplement
PS153.N5 B556 1992 Suppl
This three volume set contains information on black authors from the past 200 years. Biographical information, list of principle works and excerpts of criticism are included. Indexed by author, title and nationality. Author index includes references to other titles in the Gale Literature series.
The one volume supplement provides information on an additional 26 writers of the twentieth century.

Contemporary Authors
Z1224 .C622 Biographical information on modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Essays include personal information, addresses, career history, writings, work in progress, biographical/critical sources and authors' comments and/or essays about their lives and work.   A cumulative index is published twice annually.

Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series
Z1224 .C623

Each volume contains about 20 autobiographical essays. Each essay is illustrated with photographs supplied by the author and includes a complete bibliographic listing of works. A cumulative author and subject index are included in each volume.

Contemporary Authors New Revisions Series
Z1224 .C622
Updated information on authors listed in earlier volumes of Contemporary Authors. Cumulative index is published twice annually.

Contemporary Literary Criticism
PN771 .C59 Each volume profiles approximately 6-8 novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative writers by providing full-text or excerpted criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals. Each entry also includes a list of principle works, an author interview when available and an annotated bibliography of additional reading.   Indexed by author, title and nationality. A cumulative title index is published annually.

Contemporary Novelists
PR881 .C69 1996 Contemporary Novelists is a single volume work containing biographies, bibliographies and brief critical essays on approximately 650 contemporary writers. Includes nationality and title indexes.

Contemporary Poets
PR603 .C6 1996 Contemporary Poets provides biographical and bibliographical information on English-language poets. Entries include personal and career information, addresses, a detailed bibliography and a list of further reading sources. Each entry also includes a critical essay covering the poet's career and works. Indexed by title and nationality.

Contemporary Women Poets
PS151 .C67 1998 Single volume work containing information on 250 leading women poets whose works are available in English. Each entry provides biographical data, a bibliography of the poet's works, a critical essay by an academic authority and when available a personal statement by the poet. Nationality and title indexes.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
PN41 .D484 1978
Biographies of writers from all eras and all genres. Each volume is dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods, for example American Novelists Since World War II. Entries include a bibliography of the authors works, a biographical essay and references for additional sources. A cumulative index is included in each volume.

Drama Criticism
PN1601 .D59
Essays on playwrights of all time periods and nationalities. Each author entry includes a biographical sketch, a chronological list of the writer's major works, critical excerpts and a bibliography of additional readings. Cumulative indexes by author, title and nationality appear in each volume.

Feminist Writers
Z5304.A8 F46 1996 Feminist Writers provides biographical, bibliographical and critical information on 300 authors whose works represent a feminist viewpoint. Featured are novelists, poets, dramatists, journalists, short story and nonfiction. Focus is primarily on English-language, 20th-century writers. Individual entries provide personal information, bibliography of works by the author, a list of biographical and critical works, and a critical essay. Author, title, nationality, genre/subject indexes.

Hispanic Literature Criticism
PQ6039 .H57 1994 Criticism of major Hispanic authors of the past one hundred years. Biographical information and critical introduction, list of principal works, excerpted criticism arranged chronologically, and an annotated listing of additional sources.

Native North American Literature
PS508.I5 N38 1994 Biography and criticism of Native North American authors from both the written and oral traditions. The first section focuses on oral traditions and includes essays on speeches, oral autobiographies, and myths, legends and songs. It also includes individual author entries on such orators as Black Hawk, Chief Joseph and Maria Chona. Section two focuses on Native written literature and contains essays on current and historical Native writers. Author entries include biographical data and critical material excerpted from books, magazines and literary reviews.   Indexed by title, genres and tribal affiliation.

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
PN761 .N56 Commentary on the careers and works of novelists, short story writers, dramatists, poets and philosophers who died between 1800 and 1899. Every fourth volume is a topics volume covering literary movements or prominent themes in nineteenth-century literature. Cumulative author, nationality and topic indexes are included in each volume and a separate cumulative title index is published annually.

Poetry Criticism
PN1010 .P62 Critical excerpts and biographical information on major poets from all eras. Entries provide a biographical sketch, excerpts of a wide variety of critical analyses and sources for additional reading. Some entries include comments from the poets. Cumulative title, author and nationality indexes in each volume.

Shakespearean Criticism
PR2965 .S43 1984 The first ten volumes of this series presents a critical overview of each play, including criticism from the seventeenth century to the present. Volumes 11 through 26 focus on the history of Shakespeare's plays on the stage and in films. Volumes 27 through 56 focus on criticism published after 1960 and provide a thematic approach to Shakespeare's works. Yearbooks, published 1989 - 1998, reprinted the most important critical pieces of the year as suggested by a board of Shakespearean scholars. Starting with Volume 57, the series focuses on coverage of 4-5 plays or works per volume including general criticism published since 1990 and historical criticism not featured in earlier volumes. Beginning with Volume 60 the series will publish an annual topics volume featuring critical essays on important themes present in Shakespeare's work. Indexed by character, topic and topic index by play.

Short Story Criticism
PN3373 .S387 Critical views on the most widely studied writers of short fiction. Each volume includes overviews of four to eight short story writers and an historical survey of the critical response to their work. Brief biographical essay and a listing of further readings are included for each author. Cumulative author, title and nationality index are in each volume. Beginning with volume 43 an annual cumulative title index is published separately.

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
PN771 .G27 Excerpts of criticism on the major literary figures and nonfiction writers, including novelists, poets, playwrights, scientists and literary theorists, who died between 1900 to 1999. Brief biographical information, principle works, chronological excerpts of criticism and list of further readings. Every fourth volume is a Topics volume covering major literary movements, themes, literary reactions to political or historical events, etc. Cumulative author, topic and nationality index. A cumulative title index is issued annually.

Volume Indexes
In addition to the Literary Index database you can use the indexes included with each volume in the series. Most titles contain an author, title and nationality index. Other titles have a separate index volume which is published annually. These indexes often cross reference other Gale titles using a code for each series title and volume number.

For example the author index in Short Story Criticism for Richard Ford indicates additional entries on Ford can be found in Contemporary Literary Criticism, volumes 46 and 99, Contemporary Authors, volume 69-72, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series volumes 11, 47 and 86 and so on.
Ford, Richard..................CLC 46, 99
    See also CA 69-72; CANR 11, 47, 86; DLB 227; MTCW 1

A complete listing of the title codes can be found at the beginning of the volume index.

Additional Databases
The Literary Index and the Gale Literature Series are good starting points for your research but for more in-depth information on your topic you may want to search the following sources.

UW Libraries Catalog
The catalog contains over 1.9 million titles held by more than 20 branches of the UW Libraries. You can request material from the Seattle and Tacoma campus be sent to you at the UWB/CCC Library

Cascade
If you don't find what you're looking for in the UW Libraries Catalog try searching Cascade, the combined catalog of all Washington state four-year colleges. Faculty, staff and students at both Cascadia Community College and UW, Bothell can request items from this catalog and pick them up at the Campus Library.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index    UW restricted
A multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities, with cited references but not abstracts. Indexes 1,100 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, plus individually selected, relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals.

Expanded Academic Index   UW restricted
Provides indexing and abstracting for approximately 1,500 scholarly and general interest periodicals, covering all major fields of study in the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology.

JSTOR   UW restricted
A subject searchable index of journals online with JSTOR. Retrieves full-text backfiles of scholarly journals, some of which date back to the 1800's.

MLA international bibliography of books and articles on the modern languages and literatures   UW restricted
Online version contains bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, and includes coverage from 1963 to the present. Provides access to scholarly research in over 3,000 journals and series; also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.

Research Library Complete   UW restricted
Indexing and full text for a basic collection of general-interest, humanities, social science and science periodicals and newspapers; 1986 to present. Divided into Newspapers and periodicals sections.

Wilson Biography Plus Illustrated   UWB/CCC Campus restricted
Contains more than 95,000 biographies and obituaries and more than 26,000 photographs of the subjects. Many of the biographies are enhanced with full text, abstracts, and citations from H. W. Wilson databases.

If you need additional assistance with your research consult a reference librarian in the Information Commons on the first floor of the campus library or submit a question using the "Ask Us a Question" link located below.
Also check out the Library's Literature Resources Guide for additional information.

Library Research Guides

*Black Literature Criticism* PS153.N5 B556 1992 *Black Literature Criticism-Supplement* PS153.N5 B556 1992 Suppl	This three volume set contains information on black authors from the past 200 years. Biographical information, list of principle works and excerpts of criticism are included. Indexed by author, title and nationality. Author index includes references to other titles in the Gale Literature series. The one volume supplement provides information on an additional 26 writers of the twentieth century.
Contemporary Authors Z1224 .C622	Biographical information on modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Essays include personal information, addresses, career history, writings, work in progress, biographical/critical sources and authors' comments and/or essays about their lives and work. A cumulative index is published twice annually.
Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series Z1224 .C623	Each volume contains about 20 autobiographical essays. Each essay is illustrated with photographs supplied by the author and includes a complete bibliographic listing of works. A cumulative author and subject index are included in each volume.
Contemporary Authors New Revisions Series Z1224 .C622	Updated information on authors listed in earlier volumes of Contemporary Authors. Cumulative index is published twice annually.
Contemporary Literary Criticism PN771 .C59	Each volume profiles approximately 6-8 novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative writers by providing full-text or excerpted criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals. Each entry also includes a list of principle works, an author interview when available and an annotated bibliography of additional reading. Indexed by author, title and nationality. A cumulative title index is published annually.
Contemporary Novelists PR881 .C69 1996	Contemporary Novelists is a single volume work containing biographies, bibliographies and brief critical essays on approximately 650 contemporary writers. Includes nationality and title indexes.
Contemporary Poets PR603 .C6 1996	Contemporary Poets provides biographical and bibliographical information on English-language poets. Entries include personal and career information, addresses, a detailed bibliography and a list of further reading sources. Each entry also includes a critical essay covering the poet's career and works. Indexed by title and nationality.
Contemporary Women Poets PS151 .C67 1998	Single volume work containing information on 250 leading women poets whose works are available in English. Each entry provides biographical data, a bibliography of the poet's works, a critical essay by an academic authority and when available a personal statement by the poet. Nationality and title indexes.
Dictionary of Literary Biography PN41 .D484 1978	Biographies of writers from all eras and all genres. Each volume is dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods, for example American Novelists Since World War II. Entries include a bibliography of the authors works, a biographical essay and references for additional sources. A cumulative index is included in each volume.
Drama Criticism PN1601 .D59	Essays on playwrights of all time periods and nationalities. Each author entry includes a biographical sketch, a chronological list of the writer's major works, critical excerpts and a bibliography of additional readings. Cumulative indexes by author, title and nationality appear in each volume.
Feminist Writers Z5304.A8 F46 1996	Feminist Writers provides biographical, bibliographical and critical information on 300 authors whose works represent a feminist viewpoint. Featured are novelists, poets, dramatists, journalists, short story and nonfiction. Focus is primarily on English-language, 20th-century writers. Individual entries provide personal information, bibliography of works by the author, a list of biographical and critical works, and a critical essay. Author, title, nationality, genre/subject indexes.
Hispanic Literature Criticism PQ6039 .H57 1994	Criticism of major Hispanic authors of the past one hundred years. Biographical information and critical introduction, list of principal works, excerpted criticism arranged chronologically, and an annotated listing of additional sources.
Native North American Literature PS508.I5 N38 1994	Biography and criticism of Native North American authors from both the written and oral traditions. The first section focuses on oral traditions and includes essays on speeches, oral autobiographies, and myths, legends and songs. It also includes individual author entries on such orators as Black Hawk, Chief Joseph and Maria Chona. Section two focuses on Native written literature and contains essays on current and historical Native writers. Author entries include biographical data and critical material excerpted from books, magazines and literary reviews. Indexed by title, genres and tribal affiliation.
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism PN761 .N56	Commentary on the careers and works of novelists, short story writers, dramatists, poets and philosophers who died between 1800 and 1899. Every fourth volume is a topics volume covering literary movements or prominent themes in nineteenth-century literature. Cumulative author, nationality and topic indexes are included in each volume and a separate cumulative title index is published annually.
Poetry Criticism PN1010 .P62	Critical excerpts and biographical information on major poets from all eras. Entries provide a biographical sketch, excerpts of a wide variety of critical analyses and sources for additional reading. Some entries include comments from the poets. Cumulative title, author and nationality indexes in each volume.
Shakespearean Criticism PR2965 .S43 1984	The first ten volumes of this series presents a critical overview of each play, including criticism from the seventeenth century to the present. Volumes 11 through 26 focus on the history of Shakespeare's plays on the stage and in films. Volumes 27 through 56 focus on criticism published after 1960 and provide a thematic approach to Shakespeare's works. Yearbooks, published 1989 - 1998, reprinted the most important critical pieces of the year as suggested by a board of Shakespearean scholars. Starting with Volume 57, the series focuses on coverage of 4-5 plays or works per volume including general criticism published since 1990 and historical criticism not featured in earlier volumes. Beginning with Volume 60 the series will publish an annual topics volume featuring critical essays on important themes present in Shakespeare's work. Indexed by character, topic and topic index by play.
Short Story Criticism PN3373 .S387	Critical views on the most widely studied writers of short fiction. Each volume includes overviews of four to eight short story writers and an historical survey of the critical response to their work. Brief biographical essay and a listing of further readings are included for each author. Cumulative author, title and nationality index are in each volume. Beginning with volume 43 an annual cumulative title index is published separately.
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism PN771 .G27	Excerpts of criticism on the major literary figures and nonfiction writers, including novelists, poets, playwrights, scientists and literary theorists, who died between 1900 to 1999. Brief biographical information, principle works, chronological excerpts of criticism and list of further readings. Every fourth volume is a Topics volume covering major literary movements, themes, literary reactions to political or historical events, etc. Cumulative author, topic and nationality index. A cumulative title index is issued annually.

Gale Literature Series & Literary Index

Searching the Literary Index

Author Search

Tess Gallagher

Title Search

The Dharma Bums

Library Holdings

Volume Indexes

Additional Databases