Table of Contents		Get Personalized Help: Ask a Reference Librarian Schedule a research consultation
I. Literary Criticism II. Background Sources III. Finding Books IV. Finding Articles V.Bibliographies VI. Web Sites
Reference Stacks World Wide Web Electronic Library Resource (GU only)

 

 

I. Literary Criticism

1. Literature Resource Center (LRC)
In addition to author biographies, LRC includes excerpts of criticism from such sets as Classical and Medieval Literary Criticism (Ref. PN 610 .C53), Contemporary Literary Criticism ( Ref. PN 771 .C59), Literature Criticism from 1400-1800 (Ref. PN 86 .L53), and Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism (Ref. PN 761 .N56).

2. Le Robert des Grands Ecrivains de Langue Francaise. Ref. PQ 41 .R57 2000
A collection of criticism of 150 French-language writers. Each entry includes an anlysis of the writer's work, selected quotations, a brief biography, and a biblography. Covers writers from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century.

 

II. Background Sources

3. ARTFL
French-language literary, religious, philosophical, political, and scientific works from the 13th through the 20th centuries. Originally created in 1957 as the database behind Trésor de laLangue Française, French-language dictionary, this database drew from a broad range of written French, from novels and poetry to biology and mathematics.  The database consists of nearly 2000 texts written between the 13th and 20th  centuries, ranging from classic works of French literature to various kinds of non-fiction prose and technical writing. ARTFL also includes a Provençal database. Genres include novels, verse, theater, journalism, essays, correspondence, and treatises.

4.Dictionnaire des Ecrivains de Langue Francaise. Ref. PQ 41 .B412 2001
Many of the biographical articles include chronologies of works written as well as the writer's life. Articles also contain criticism of specific works. Contains entries for literary movements and terminology.

5. Dictionnaire des Littératures de Langue Francaise. Ref. PQ 41 .B4 1984
Contains concise articles on French literary authors, themes, genres, and periods. Includes bibliographies.

6. Dictionnaire des Oeuvres du XXe Siecle: Litterature Francaise et Francophone. Ref PQ 305 .D53 1995
Analyses 1547 French literary works and 73 movements and genres of the 20th century.

7. Dictionnaire des Termes Litteraires. Ref. PN 44.5 .D48 2005
Has a very broad scope, describing literary movements and including terminology from fields related to literature. Also contains many in-depth entries with bibliographical references.

8. Dictionnaire du Cinéma Populaire Français: Des Origines a Nos Jours. Ref. PN 1998.2 .D53 2004
Alphabetical listings of French films, directors, actors, themes, and techniques. Includes many photos and reproductions of posters. some articles have bibliographical references.

9. Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. Ref DC 33.7 .E53 1998
Contains more than 700 alphabetical entries. Covers post-1945 French and francophone culture. As well as entries such as economy, fashion, food, politics, sports, and the arts, includes entries under "francophone" for cinema, performing arts, music, radio, television, and writing in locations such as North Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Indian Ocean, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Electronic version in ebrary. Search for book by title in ebrary.

10.Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature. Ref. PQ 149 .F47 1999
Biographies of women authors who lived and worked mainly in France, of all time periods, writing in various genres. Also includes influential women who were not writers. Topical essays cover a wide range: e.g., birth control, education, melancholia, travel literature, translation. Each entry includes a bibliography of primary or secondary texts, with a general bibliography and a chronology at the end of the volume.

11.La Francophonie dans le Monde, 2002-2003. Ref. DC 33.9 .F735 2003
Includes chapters on literature, film, music, media, French language education, development initiatives, and cultural differences in the francophone world.

12.  Guide to French Literature: beginnings to 1789. Ref. Biog PQ 41 .L47 1994
Guide to French Literature: 1789 to the Present.  Ref Biog PQ 41 .L48 1992
Contains substantial entries for individuals and literary movements.  Includes comprehensive bibliographies of works and selective lists of largely book-length studies.

13. Medieval France: An Encyclopedia. Ref. DC33.2 .M44 1995
Covers the political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, literary and artistic history of France from the early fifth century to the late 15th. Includes both short entris and longer, in-depth essays, alphabetically arragned. Also has maps, genealogies, index and bibliographies.

14.   The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Ref. PQ 41 .N48 1995
Discusses authors and works of French-language literature. Also has essays on literary movements and genres, historical subjects, linguistic topics, and the arts and media, including opera, cinema, and the press.

15. The Regions of France: A Reference Guide to History and Culture. Ref. DC 33.7 .N63 1996
Contains a chapter for each of the 22 recognized regions of France. Each chapter has a section on geography, history, recent politics, population, economy, architecture, and culture (art, literature, customs, food). The culture section includes a local recipe.

 

III. Finding Books

To locate books in Lauinger Library, use GEORGE, the online catalog.

To find books of literary criticism in GEORGE,  look up the author's name (last name, first name) as a subject.  Many different subheadings can appear under this subject heading, but note particularly "Criticism and interpretation" (e.g., Duras, Marguerite, --Criticism and interpretation) and "Bibliography" (e.g., Voltaire, 1694-1778--Bibliography).  If a specific work has been widely studied, you may find a subheading devoted just to it (e.g., Camus, Albert, 1913-1960--Etranger).

NOTE: For a given book to appear under an author's name, the book must be solely or primarily on the author. Therefore, you might want also to expand the scope of your search using subject headings such as "French fiction", "French literature", "French drama", etc.

Keyword Searching: When you can't determine a relevant subject heading, try searching by keyword. This technique locates words in a book's title, subject headings, and contents notes. For example:  romanticism and (french or france) and literature .

16.  WRLC Catalog <http://catalog.wrlc.org/>
The catalog of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC): George Washington, American, Catholic, George Mason, Gallaudet, and Marymount Universities, the University of the District of Columbia, and Georgetown University. Georgetown students may borrow directly from WRLC libraries or request items via the WRLC Catalog.

 17. WorldCat
A catalog comprising millions of records representing the holdings of thousands of libraries. NOTE: Available only to Georgetown students and faculty. 

 

IV. Finding Articles

18. MLA Bibliography. 1963- .  (1921-1994  Ref. Z7006 .M64)
Produced by the Modern Language Association of America and covers scholarship in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore.  Includes journal articles (75% of the entries), books, and book  chapters from multi-author works.  Does not include book reviews.

19. JSTOR
Contains the full text of articles from a range of core journals in various fields of literary criticism, humanities and social sciences including art, music, and performing arts. Search can be limited by language, and French is one of the selections.

20. Le Monde
Full color images of each page of the French daily newspaper, Le Monde, from 5/25/05 through the current issue. Searchable.

21. LexisNexis Academic
Select Non English Language News, then French Language News. Over 70 sources in French, mostly newspapers and news wires from France and other countries.

22. Literature Resource Center (LRC).
Full-text biographical, bibliographical, and critical analysis of more than 100,000 world authors and works throughout history and across all literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and journalism). Enables you to search by literary movement (e.g., Harlem Renaissance), gender, or author ethnicity (e.g., Asian American). LRC is an electronic version of such print reference sources as Dictionary of Literary Biography (Ref. Biog. PS 121 .D48) and Contemporary Authors (Ref. Biog. CT 220 .C62).

 23. Project Muse
Access to full text of scholarly journalsfrom the mid 1990's in fields of literature and criticism, Fench Studies, cultural studies, visual and performing arts, and francophone Africa, among others.

 

V. Bibliographies

24. Critical Bibliography of French Literature. Ref. Z 2171 .C3
Each volume covers a particular period of French literature and was compiled and critically annotated by specialists in the field. Arranged by topic, each volume has an author, title, and subject index.

25. French 17.   Ref. Z 2172 .M6
An annual, annotated bibliography of scholarly work in 17th century French studies, including literature and linguistics. Literary authors are listed in Part V with references to criticism in earlier sections. Also lists research in progress. Formerly Bibliography of French Seventeenth Century Studies or "French III".

26. French Language and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. Ref. Z 2175 .A2 B39 1989
A comprehensive, classified listing of sources with detailed annotations.

27. International Medieval Bibliography.
Contains over 300,000 records from journal articles, essays in collections, and conference preceedings concerning the Middles Ages (400-1500). Includes research on medieval history in archaeology, architecture, arts, canon law, the Crusades, daily life, religion, folk studies, language, literature, music, social history, theater and performing arts, and other topics. Covers Europe, North Africa, Armenia and the Muslim WOrld.

28. Research and Reference Guide to French Studies.  Ref. Z 2175 .A2 O8 1981
An extensive bibliography of reference sources related to French literature, including bibliographies on individual authors. Includes author and subject indexes.
 
 

VI.  Web Sites

These sites provide links to a wide variety of literary and French-language resources, including literary criticism; full-text access to historical, non-copyrighted literary works; bibliographies; and topics lists.  Other literary sites may be found by searching Internet Subject Guides and Directories or Search Engines.

29. CIEF <http://cief.info/liens.html>
Council of International Francophone Studies (Conseil International d"Etudes Francophones)  is a nonprofit with aims to encourage interdisciplinary studies within French speaking communities and all those interested in the Francophone world. This page contains a list of recommended links.

30.French Connection. <http://www.howard.edu/library/Assist/Guides/FrenchConnection.htm>
Links to a wide variety of French and Francophone websites: current events and media, literature, education, language, art and culture, primary texts, gateways, and search engines.

31.HAPAX: French Resources on the Web. <http://hapax.french.sbc.edu/>
List of key French metasites.

32. Literature and Culture of Francophone Africa & the Diaspora: A Guide to Resources on the Web <http://dl.lib.brown.edu/francophone/>
Links by topic such as literature, music, visual arts, theater, and sociocultural context.

33. Literary Resources on the Web  <http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/>
See "Other National Literatures", then "French (and Francophone)."   

34. French Studies Web  <http://lotus.libs.uga.edu/erms//wess/>
Produced by the Western European Specialists Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries.

35.Voice of the Shuttle: French Literature. <http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2719#id961>
French literature websites; includes all time periods, many author websites.

 

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Content updated: 3/07, mb
Links updated: 12/07 jc