The Literary Encyclopedia Described

What it is

The Literary Encyclopedia provides

• biographies of writers and other prominent figures whose lives are of interest to literary readers
• descriptive profiles of literary works and other cultural texts
• articles on literary topics and historical events
• lists of recommended internet resources
• historical timelines
• author timelines
• a Glossary of literary terms (for quick definitons)
• A "Stylebook" which helps correct errors in punctuation and expression
• and in February 2008 will begin adding annotated lists of recommended reading

All of these aspects can be explored through "Search" on our menu. From the same menu you can also use advanced searches to find all writers working in a particular period, and novels written by women in Australia between year YYYY and XXXX, and so on.

You can save groups of articles that you might want to use again into bookshelves by clicking on the link at the top of any article you are reading (as for example here).

You can print articles in a clean format by clicking on the print button which you will find in the options lists at the top right-hand side of any article.

Where the "Anthology" option is visible at the top-right of an article, you can read and print all or part of a primary literary text.

Access

The publication is free when you access it through your university terminals. If you wish to access the publication from off-campus, please create a personal login using your university email address. Having your own account enables you to store sets of articles to bookshelves (see below). Please note that your personal account is for your own personal use and should not be used by others. If we believe that any individual account is being used by someone not lawfully entitled we will withdraw the privilege.

About the Publication

The Literary Encyclopedia is managed from London but its editors and contributors live and teach in many parts of the world, notably in North America, Europe and Australasia. Its entries are written in the last few years by scholars who are usually current teachers in universities, and they have been approved by qualified ediors. They therefore reflect current scholarly understanding and can be quoted with confidence in scholarly essays. The publication is owned collectively by its 1750 writers, not by a corporation, and aims to offer a wonderful educational resource at modest cost.

The Literary Encyclopedia publishes around 80 new articles per month. Over 6000 writers have been listed, and more than 20,000 works, and so far more than 4200 entries have been completed. A futher 1000 are commissioned for publication in 2008. Eventually The Literary Encyclopedia aims to describe all writers and literary works in world history which are still read today.

The coverage here of writing originally in the English language is already extensive (although there are annoying gaps); coverage of German and Russian is very good, French, Latin and Spanish are catching up.

Problems, Inaccuracies, Deficits

Please send word to admin@litencyc.com and we will do our best to resolve them.

Dr Robert Clark
Managing Editor
Reader in English at the University of East Anglia
January 2008