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Michigan State University

Theatre Research Guide: Theatre Criticism

This is a general guide to research in the scholarship of the History of Theatre. For a guide to Period Resources (for images and scholarship in material culture) please see: http://blog.lib.msu.edu/libdata_pos/page.phtml?page_id=1373 .

Sources for Finding Criticism

Criticism: Overviews and Yearly Bibliographies

Within the Gale Literature Resource Center is contained most (but not all) of Gale's series on the history of criticism, including: CLASSICAL & MEDIEVAL LITERATURE CRITICISM, CONTEMPORARY LITERARY CRITICISM, DRAMA CRITICISM, POETRY CRITICISM, LITERARY CRITICISM FROM 1400 TO 1800, as well as the volumes for the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries (also in Reference). You must use the Advanced Search to get best results.

  • Literature Criticism Online
    This is the full backfile of Gale collections: CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE CRITICISM, LITERATURE CRITICISM FROM 1400 TO 1800, NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE CRITICISM, AND SHAKESPEAREAN CRITICISM.
  • MLA International Bibliography (Ebsco)  An index of scholarly books and articles on the literature of all languages, film studies, folklore, book history, Theatre, and other topics        (indexes 1923 to current).
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  • ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature): Same scope as MLAIB, only English-language only.
  • Dictionary of LIterary Biography : Provides biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.