The Literary Encyclopedia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

The Literary Encyclopedia Described

A Unique Digital Environment

The Literary Encyclopedia is an all-new reference work written by university teachers around the world. It is also a unique digital environment designed to integrate current knowledge of literature and culture and facilitate understanding of historical contexts and connections. Click here to read more about our 'scholarly architecture'.

Contents and Scope

  • over 10m words in over 6400 articles with an average length of 2200 words.
  • all aimed at a "higher introductory" level for university / college reading.
  • overview profiles of the life and works of writers, philosophers and major cultural figures.
  • separate descriptive profiles of their works.
  • essays on critical, philosophical and political concepts.
  • essays on major historical events.
  • contextual timelines of works and historical events.
  • guidance to the most important secondary reading.
  • very good coverage of English, American, Canadian, German and Russian literatures.
  • increasing coverage of French, Italian, Japanese, classical Greek, Latin, Hispanic and East European. (Other major literatures to be added as resources permit.)
  • detailed individual chronologies for major writers which reveal the cultural milieu of each author and allow one writer's life to be compared with up to two others. 39 published, 22 commissioned. Each chronology comprises 2-400 biographical events, day-by-day, month-by-month.

In statistical terms:

  • over 10m words in more than 6400 completed. articles: >2150 author biographies, >2300 profiles of works, >1850 essays on topics.
  • reference listing of 24,000 literary, philosophical, political works.
  • reference listing of nearly 10,000 literary, political and cultural events.
  • increasing by about 700 articles (1.4m words) each year.

Quality

  • all of our authors have research interests in the area they write about.
  • our articles are commissioned and approved by an editorial board of more than 50 distinguished professors.
  • The Literary Encyclopedia can be cited with confidence in university and college assignments.
  • The Literary Encyclopedia was positively reviewed by the American Library Association magazine Choice in April 2004 and has been recommended by JISC in the United Kingdom since 2006.

Ethics

  • The Literary Encyclopedia is published by The Literary Dictionary Company on behalf of its contributors and editors who share ownership of the publication. The Company aims to build the best possible literary reference work for the internet age, and to ensure that whose who contribute to it are properly rewarded for the knowledge they invest.
  • The Literary Encyclopedia is supplied freely to institutions where the per capita income is below the world average.
  • The Literary Encyclopedia sponsors the Emory Elliott Memorial Prize for distinguished undergraduate critical writing.

Dr Robert Clark
Reader in English, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Editorial Director
16 October 2009