What is the Literature Resource Center?
The Literature Resource Center (LRC) is a literature reference database containing biographical, bibliographical, work overviews and critical information on literary figures from all time periods.
The foundation of the LRC is built on three popular literary criticism sources published by the Gale Group: Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism (all authors since vol. 95 and selected authors from editions prior to vol. 95); and Dictionary of Literary Biography (text only).
The LRC also includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material from Gale's Literature Criticism and For Students Series. The titles in these series include: Children's Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Drama for Students, Literature from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Novels for Students, Poetry Criticism, Poetry for Students, Shakespearean Criticism, Shakespeare for Students, Short Story Criticism, Short Stories for Students, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. In addition, users can access current, full-text critical essays on major authors via the LRC's link to160 literary journals. Included also are entries on literary figures, works and terms from Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature.
Other features in the LRC include plot summaries and explications of prominent literary works; links to websites focusing on major authors and their works; author portraits; a guide to writing a MLA-style research paper; a literary timeline, and an index to all the Gale literary publications.
Where is the Literature Resource Center?
The LRC is available through The University of Memphis Libraries Web Page.
On the library home page menu, click on Electronic Resources, then on Electronic Indexes and Databases Title List. Scroll down to Literature Resource Center. If you are connected to the Internet through The University of Memphis, simply click to open. If you are connected via a commercial Internet Provider such as AOL, you will need to identify yourself as an authorized U of M use by typing in your UUID and Ph password.
If you want to access the LRC now, click here.
If you have problems connecting to the LRC, call the Information Systems Help Desk (678-8888). If you need help using the LRC, inquire at the Reference Desk (678-2208).
Comparable Print Sources in McWherter Library
The Literature Resource Center (LRC) duplicates much of the text covered in popular print sources published by the Gale Group. Whereas the LRC pulls the information in these resources together in one easy-to-use database, allows searching in ways not possible in the print sources, and provides information not in the print sources, it omits a significant amount of material found in the print volumes.
The print volumes have cumulative indexes to guide researchers through the collected volumes. A comprehensive index to the print volumes is also available on the Web: Gale's Literary Index, accessible through the LRC or directly, can be searched by title of work, author's name, birth date, death date or nationality.
Contemporary Authors (CA) [Ref Z1224.C6] Volumes 1-200; New Revision Series: Volumes 1-109.
A separate cumulative author index helps find the volume entries.
Dictionary Literary Biography (DLB) [Ref PS21.D53x]
Volumes 1-50,52-63,74,76,78,80,82-84,86-89,91-93,95-96,98-102,104-107,
109-110,112-113,115-117,119-122,125-126,130-32,135-137,139,143,145 146,151-153,156-159,162,165,167,169,171,173,175-176,178,186, 249.
(Missing volumes are being purchased as funding becomes available.)
The DLB is a good place to begin for an overall perspective. Contains substantive articles about each author and his or her work, photographs and other illustrations, and a bibliography for further reading. Each volume specializes in a genre and time period. Use cumulative author index at end of the last volume. Contains illustrations and some references not included in the LRC.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbooks. [Ref PS21.D54] Volumes 1981-96.
The Yearbooks "update published [DLB] entries and add new entries to keep the DLB current with contemporary activity."
Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series. [Ref PS129.D48]Volumes 1-14.
The Documentary Series is "an illustrated chronicle," presenting facsimiles of primary materials, photos and illustrations not found in other DLB volumes or in the LRC.
Literary Criticism Series:
Each set of volumes in this series has the same purpose and format. The aim is to "survey the author's career or an individual work of literature and provide a multiplicity of interpretations and assessments." There are also special topics such as Bloomsbury Group or muckraking. Each author entry provides a brief biography, a listing of the author's works, excerpts from major commentators represented chronologically from contemporary to the present, and a bibliography for further reading. Critical excerpts are followed by citations to the original sources. Entries usually have photographs and other illustrations. Cumulative author, title, nationality and/or topic indexes are at the end of the last volume in the set. Some (indicated by the asterisk*) have separate cumulative title indexes.
*Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC) [Ref PN771.C59] Volumes 1-158.
Use for authors who are living or who have died since 1959. Volumes 95 forward and selected entries from prior volumes are available full text in the LRC.
*Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) [Ref PN771.G27] Volumes 1-67.
Use for authors who died between 1900 and 1959.
*Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism (NCLC) [Ref PN761.N5] Volumes 1-59.
Use for authors who died between 1800 and 1899.
Literature Criticism: From 1400-1800 (LC) [Ref PN86.L56] Volumes 1-36.
Use for world authors of all genres from the 15th through the 18th centuries, excluding Shakespeare.
Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (CMLC) [Ref PN610.C53] Volumes 1-20.
Use for world authors from classical antiquity through the 14th century.
Drama Criticism (DC) [Ref PN1601.D59] Volumes 1-12.
Use for the most frequently studied playwrights of all time periods and nationalities.
Poetry Criticism (PC) [Ref PN1010.P499] Volumes 1-17.
Use for poets from various nationalities, eras and movements.
Short Story Criticism (SSC) [Ref PN3321.S5x] Volumes 1-24.
Use for major short-story writers of all eras and nationalities.
Black Literature Criticism (BLC) [Reference Desk PS153.N5B556] Volumes 1-3
"Excerpts from criticism of the most significant works of black authors over the past 200 years."