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Maintained by B. Hubbard
Updated 6-12-08
Language
Dictionaries
For French / English Dictionaries go
to REF PC 2640 on the main floor of the library.
For Spanish / English Dictionaries go
to REF PC 4640 on the main floor of the library.
For German / English Dictionaries go to
REF PF 3640 on the main floor of the library.
For Italian / English Dictionaries go
to REF PC 1640 on the main floor of the library.
The library provides dictionaries for several
other foreign languages which can be found in the P section of the reference
collection. P is the first letter in the call number of language
and literature books. Ask a reference librarian if you need help.
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Foreign
Language Materials
The library's largest collection of foreign language
materials is in Spanish. The titles, locations, and call numbers
of these materials are available from the Ely
Library Catalog. Titles are listed under the subject heading:
Spanish
language materials Bilingual, Spanish language Readers,
Spanish
literature and Spanish poetry.
See our Guide to the
Ely Library Catalog for more information about the catalog and
its many features.
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Country & Cultural Information is available from a variety of different sources. You can find quality information on countries and their cultures from Books in the Stacks, Periodical Articles, Reference Books, and Web sites.
Books in
the Stacks
There are hundreds of books on countries and
their cultures available in the stacks. Use the Ely
Library Catalog to locate books on a country. Type in the
country's name. A list of subject headings for the country will appear.
Scroll down the list to see all the subject headings for the country.
Click on the subject heading of your choice to view a list of titles under
that topic. You must write down or print out the locations and call
numbers in order to find the books in the library.
Periodical
Articles
Thousands of articles on your country are available
through the library's
databases. If you are using an off-campus Internet connection,
logon
to gain access to the databases.
Expanded Academic ASAP contains several thousand articles each on France, Spain, and Italy. Type the name of your country into the subject guide search, and then narrow by subdivision. For more complete information about this database, see our Guide to Expanded Academic ASAP.
Contemporary Women's Issues allows you to limit your search to a country or other geographical region. Excellent country specific information on topics affecting women is provided.
For more database suggestions, see our list of
Language
Databases and Literature Databases.
For specific research topics, a librarian will be happy to recommend a
specific database or group of databases.
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Reference
Books
The books listed below provide good background information, general
overviews, and useful facts. The reference collection is on the main
floor of the library. Locate the titles by using the call numbers
in parentheses.
Culturegrams. Standard Edition. Provo, UT: CultureGrams
and Brigham Young University, 2002.
(REF. GT 150 C85 2002)
Brief reports covering geography, history, people, customs and courtesies,
lifestyle, society, and travel regulations.
Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. edited by
Alex Hughes and Keith Reader. New York: Routledge, 1998.
(REF DC 33.7 E53 1998)
Brief entries on various aspects of French culture, current topics
and important people are arranged alphabetically. This encyclopedia
provides quick information on a variety of subjects.
Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture. edited by
John Sandford. New York: Routledge, 1999.
(REF DD 290.26 E53 1999)
Brief entries on various aspects of German culture, current topics
and important people are arranged alphabetically. This encyclopedia
provides quick information on a variety of subjects.
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture. edited by
Gino Moliterno. New York: Routledge, 2000.
(REF DG 450 E53 2000)
Brief entries on various aspects of Italian culture, current topics
and important people are arranged alphabetically. This encyclopedia
provides quick information on a variety of subjects.
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. edited by
Eamonn Rodgers. New York: Routledge, 1999.
(REF DP 233.5 E63 1999)
Brief entries on various aspects of Spanish culture, current topics
and important people are arranged alphabetically. This encyclopedia
provides quick information on a variety of subjects.
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. edited
by Barbara A. Tenenbaum. New York: Scribner's, 1996.
(REF F 1406 E53 1996)
A distinguished team of scholars compiled this 5 volume set which contains
5,287 articles by 832 specialists in Latin American history, politics,
society, and culture. Detailed articles on countries, people, historical
topics and current events are included.
Encyclopedia of Modern Mexico. David W. Dent. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press, 2002.
(REF F 1234 D364 2002)
250 entries in an A-Z format covering the cultural, political, and
economic transformations in Mexico since World War II.
Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society, and Culture.
edited by Michael S. Werner. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
(REF F 1210 E63 1997)
People, concepts, issues and events receive a thorough treatment in
this 2 vol. set.
Encyclopedia of World Cultures. David Levinson, Editor-in-Chief.
Boston, G.K. Hall, 1991.
(REF GN 307 E53 1991)
7-volume set covering more than 1,500 cultures. Cultural summaries
include: Culture Name and Ethnonyms, Orientation, History and Cultural
Relations, Settlements, Economy, Kinship, Marriage and Family, Sociopolitical
Organization, Religion and Expressive Culture, and Bibliography of works
about the culture.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations
of Mexico and Central America. edited by David Carrasco.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
(REF F 1218.6 O95 2001)
Significant cultural aspects are discussed in this well written 3 volume
set containing617 articles from more than 300 scholars. Topics include
people, cultures and sites as well as broad subjects like "Anthropology."
Entries are alphabetically arranged.
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Web sites
Library
of Congress Country Studies
http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
On-line versions of hardcover books previously
published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress.
The information is extensive and authoritative. Over 101 countries
are covered including Spain, Mexico and Germany.
Background
Notes
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
On-line fact sheets on countries. Information
on people, history, government, economy, etc. is presented in a concise
format by the U.S. Department of State.
Literary Criticism on the works of foreign authors and the literatures of countries is available from Reference Books, Periodical Articles, and Books in the Stacks. In addition, you may wish to consult the library's Guide to Literary Criticism.
Reference Books
The library's reference section, located on the
main floor, has numerous books devoted to literary criticism. Hundreds
of volumes contain essays on authors and their works. There are also
discussions of foreign literary concepts, movements and time periods. Books
in the Stacks are located on floors 2 though 5 of the book tower.
The Gale Literary Index provides access to much of the literary criticism available in the reference collection. The on-line Index identifies which reference books contain discussions of a particular author or his specific works. A Custom Searches by nationality generate a list of authors. See our Guide to the Gale Literary Index for more information on finding the essays you want within our reference collection. Reference books that are indexed by the Gale Literary Index include:
The Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1978 -
(REF PS 129 D5)
More than 270 volumes provide coverage of authors
representing a wide variety of nationalities, genres, time periods, and
literary movements. The volumes are organized by topic, period or
genre. They include Twentieth Century Spanish Poets (v. 108);
Italian
Novelists Since World War II, 1945-1965 (v. 177); and French Dramatists,
1789-1914 (v. 192). Each volume provides scholarly discussions
of individual authors, illustrations, and ample references.
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1978-
(Located on tables in Reference
Area)
More than 120 volumes provide "excerpts from
criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers,
and other creative writers" (Title page). Each volume represents
a variety of genres and nationalities.
Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1981-
(Located on tables in Reference
Area)
More than 100 volumes provide excerpts from literary
criticism for authors who lived between 1800 and 1900. First published
critical appraisals are included with current evaluations. Each volume
represents a variety of genres and nationalities.
Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1973-
(Located on tables in Reference
Area)
More than 150 volumes provide excerpts from literary
criticism for authors who are now living or have died since January 1,
1960. Foreign authors and their works are included in the coverage.
Contemporary authors; a bio-bibliographical guide to current writers
in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry,journalism, drama, motion pictures,
television and other fields. Detroit, Gale Research Co. 1962-
(REF PN771 .C6x) and (REF
PN771 .C62x)- New Revision Series
Biographical information on approximately 112,000 modern novelists,
poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters.
Entries include personal information, addresses, career history, writings,
work in progress, biographical/critical sources, and authors' comments
and/or informative essays about their lives and work. Beginning with volume
187, 20% of each volume is devoted to international authors. New
Revision Series provides the most recent data on the world's authors.
The above titles are just a representative sample of the hundreds of volumes covered by the Gale Literary Index. For a full list of titles, see Gale Literary Books Available in Ely Library. The Index provides access to all of these volumes.
Additional Reference Books, covering the literatures of foreign countries, are NOT indexed by the Gale Literary Index. These books can be found in the P section of the reference collection.
Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature.
edited by Verity Smith. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
(REF PQ 7081 A1 E56 1997)
This 926 page volume "contains entries on writers,
works and topics relating to the literature of Latin America, including
survey articles on all the continent's individual countries." (Editor's
Note)
Spanish American Authors: The Twentieth Century.
Angel Flores. NY: H.W. Wilson, 1992.
(REF PQ 7081.3 F57 1992)
More than 330 major novelists and poets from
Puerto Rico, the Crribbean, Central America, and South America. Many entries
also include an autobiographical passage written by that author.
A Companion to US Latino Literatures, edited by Carlota Caulfield
and Darien J. Davis. Woodbridge : Tamesis, 2007.
(REF PQ7070 .C66 2007)
Unique in its scope and perspective, this volume focuses on various
literary genres and cinema related to Latinos. Each essay considers not
only Latino writers who were born or raised in the USA, but also Latin
American writers who took up residence in the USA but may also be considered
part of the literary scene of their countries of origin.
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th
Century. Third Edition. Steven R. Serafin, Editor. NY: St. James Press,
1999.
(REF PN 771 E5 1999)
More than 2,300 articles in four volumes provide
a comprehensive survey of international literary activity.
Literature of developing nations for students : presenting analysis,
context, and criticism on literature of developing nations. Edited
by Elizabeth Bellalouna, Michael L. LaBlanc, and Ira Mark Milne. Detroit
: Gale Group, c2000.
(REF PN 3326 .L58 2000)
This 2 volume set profiles approximately 50 authors and works from
many developing regions that are often overlooked including Africa, Latin
America, Asia/Pacific Rim, India and the Caribbean. Alphabetically arranged
entries include authors' works, lives, literary style and social context
through proprietary material, excerpted critical essays and further reading
sources. Author, title and nationality indexes included
Holocaust literature : an encyclopedia of writers and their work,
edited
by S. Lillian Kremer. New York : Routledge, 2003.
(REF PN 56 .H55 H66 2003)
A 2-volume set featuring 300 alphabetically organized bio-critical
essays on writers of memoirs, novels, poetry, and drama, ranging in length
from 1,500 to 7,000 words. This comprehensive, scholarly work presents
a broad spectrum of voices remembering, interpreting, and reinterpreting
one of the twentieth century's most politically and emotionally charged
events. Includes writers whose works first appeared in Czech, Dutch, English,
French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, and Yiddish. Provides wide international coverage, though its
focus is on writers whose work is available in English.
Cyclopedia of World Authors. Revised, Third
Edition. Edited by Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press,
1997.
(REF PN 451 M37 1997)
5-volume set provides introductions to the lives
and works of 2,057 world authors from antiquity to the present.
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama.
edited by Stanley Hochman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984.
(REF PN 1625 M3 1984)
Five volumes of essays have been written by those
active in the theater world as academics or practitioners. Essays
on the drama of different countries as well as essays on playwrights, personalities
and topics are included.
Twentieth Century Literary Movements.
edited by Helene Henderson and Jay P. Pederson. Detroit: Omnigraphics,
2000.
(REF PN 597 T94 2000)
This dictionary defines foreign literary terms
and movements. It names principal writers associated with those movements.
Examples of entries are: Andalusian League; Diepalismo; and
Felibrige
Movement.
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Edited by Peter
France. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995.
(REF PQ 41 N48 1995)
Approximately 3,000 alphabetically arranged entries were written by
members of an international team of 130 scholars. The majority are limited
to a single paragraph, but major authors and topics receive more
extensive treatment.
Guide to French literature. Anthony Levi. Chicago : St.
James Press, c1992-c1994.
(REF PQ 41 .L48 1992)
A two volume survey of the lives and works of famous French writers
from the roots of French literature to the present. Provides comprehensive
entries on over 300 of the most notable French authors from Ronsard, Montaigne
and the Crebillons to Camus and Le Clezio. Entries are devoted to the primary
writers, with some entries on important movements, literary groups and
publications. Each "Writer" entry provides: an extensive narrative biography;
a thorough critical analysis and evaluation of all major works; plot summaries;
a full list of the writer's publications; and a select list of biographical
and critical studies.
Encyclopedia of German Literature.
edited by Matthias Konzett. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers,
2000.
(REF PT 41 E53 2000)
Essays on authors, works, and topics are arranged
alphabetically in 2 volumes. For each author discussed, biographical
dates, a list of works and suggestions for further reading are included.
The Oxford companion to Italian literature. Edited by Peter Hainsworth
and David Robey. New York : Oxford University Press, 2002.
REF PQ 4006 .O84 2002
Embraces the whole of Italian literature in 2,400 entries, from the
early 13th century to the present covering historical writing, travel writing,
theatre, and philosophy as well as the novel, poetry, literary dialogues,
and critical theory. Provides generous coverage of canonical figures -
from Dante and Petrarch to Montale and Calvino - and contains a wealth
of short entries on significant minor figures. Also explores Latin literature
written by Italian authors - a major feature of Renaissance culture - and
Italian dialect literature; and highlights articles which place the writers
and their works in their wider social, historical, artistic, and political
context.
An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers.
Edited by Katharina M. Wilson. New York: Garland Pub., 1991.
(REF PN 481 E5 1991)
Basic essays provide good starting points for
research on continental woman writers from antiquity to the present.
A list of the writer's work along with a bibliography of critical works
is provided for each writer represented in this 2 volume set.
The Companion to African Literatures.
Edited by Douglas Killam & Ruth Rowe. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, c2000.
(REF PR 9340 .C65 2000)
A comprehensive introduction and guide
to African-authored works, with over 1,000 cross-referenced entries covering
classics in African writing, literary genres and movements, biographical
details of authors, and wider themes linking African, Afro-Caribbean and
Afro-American literatures
Student Encyclopedia of African Literature.
By Douglas Killam and Alicia L. Kerfoot. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
c2008.
(REF PR 9340.A52 K65
2008)
Included are nearly 600 alphabetically arranged
entries on authors, such as Chinua Achebe, Athol Fugard, Buchi Emecheta,
Nadine Gordimer, and Wole Soyinka; major works, such as Things Fall
Apart and Petals of Blood; and individual genres, such as the
novel, drama, and poetry. Many entries cite works for further reading,
and the volume has a selected, general bibliography.
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Periodical
Articles
If you are using an off-campus Internet connection, logon
to gain access to the following databases.
Literature Resource Center provides discussions of authors and their works. To generate a list of authors from a specific country or literary movement, click on Authors by Type. You may search by Author Ethnicity,Author Nationality, Literary Movements such as French romanticism, and Time Periods such as the Spanish golden age. For more information about searching this database, see our Guide to Literature Resource Center.
Expanded Academic ASAP is a multi-disciplinary database that contains full-text articles. In Expanded Academic ASAP, more than 180 articles are available under the subject, French literature, and more than 70 articles under the subject, French language. Other languages and literatures are also extensively covered. Try subjects and keywords that represent your topic. If you are searching for information on an author, type his or her name into a Subject guide search. When looking for articles on a specific work of literature, type the title into a Keyword search. For more information about searching this database, see our Guide to Expanded Academic ASAP.
MLA
International Bibliography, produced by the Modern Language Association
of America, is a database of records pertaining to literatures and languages
of the world. The Bibliography indexes materials published
in French, Spanish, German and Italian as well as English and a host of
other foreign languages. MLA International Bibliography does
not contain the full-text of articles. It provides citations to scholarly
articles in nearly 4,000 journals and series, plus books, working papers,
proceedings, bibliographies, and dissertations. After obtaining article
citations from the Bibliography, use the List
of Journal Titles to see if the journals are available in our collection.
If the journals are not available in this library, you may Request
an Interlibrary Loan. See our Guide
to MLA International Bibliography for further information on searching
this database.
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Maintained by B. Hubbard