Irish Literature and Language Research Guide
This list is not exhaustive. Consult your librarian for further help.
Books:
Use the BISON CatalogFor books containing criticism and interpretation about a specific author, do a "subject" search in the Libraries Catalog using the author's name and look for "Criticism and Interpretation."
s= Joyce, James
Do a keyword search on your author or topic in the Libraries Catalog
K=Finnegans Wake and criticism
K=Bram Stoker and Irishness
Use Google Books Search the full text of over 10 million books in 40 languages. Start your search with a title or author, or use the Advanced Search to browse by language, subject, or date published. Note: If there is only a preview of the book, check the Libraries Catalog to see if UB owns a copy.
Return to TopArticles/Criticism:
- Contemporary Literary Criticism Select
Summaries of the lives and works of over 100,000 current writers in fiction, poetry, television, radio, general non-fiction, drama, and movies. Additional entries cover major 20th Century authors.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB)
Leads to full-text access to over 9,000 critical and biographical essays on British and American authors from all eras and genres.
- Humanities International Complete
Provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world; includes original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations.
- Literature Resource Center
A complete literature reference database designed for undergraduate students. Much of the information is full-text. Contains electronic version of biographical, bibliographical and contextual information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism).
- MLA International Bibliography
The premier resource for locating information on topics in literature, language, linguistics and literary criticism.
- Literature Online
A set of databases which provide access to full-text, fully searchable electronic versions of poetry, fiction, drama, and reference works, as well as links to additional relevant web resources, and selected secondary sources.
- JSTOR (Journal STORage)
Contains full-text of the most important journals in the social sciences, humanities, general sciences as well as in the fields of mathematics, botany & ecology.
- Project MUSE
Contains full-text online editions of over 300 scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences published by The Johns Hopkins University Press and other scholarly publishers.
- Dissertations and Theses
Provides title, author, and subject access to virtually every U.S. dissertation; the database also provides access to thousands of Canadian dissertations and U.S. master's theses, and since 1988 selected access to British and European dissertations.
- Historical Abstracts
Indexes the literature about world history, excluding the United States and Canada.
- APS Online
Searchable access to the full-text images of 1,100 American periodicals, across many disciplines and intended audiences, published from 1741-1900. While the publications are American, the coverage is worldwide.
- Cambridge Histories
Provides online access to over 250 Cambridge history volumes.
- New Hibernia Review/ Iris Éireannach Nua: A Quarterly Record of Irish Studies
Presents plainly argued scholarship on all aspects of Irish civilization. It seeks to address a readership of both professional scholars and educated readers as it examines, without political agenda, the cultures of the whole of Ireland. All disciplines are represented in the pages of New Hibernia Review; literary studies and history predominate. In addition to fully annotated scholarly articles, the journal also presents new Irish poetry and book reviews, as well as occasional memoirs and informal essays.
Bibliographies:
- Best, R.I. Bibliography of Irish Philology and Manuscript Literature: Publications 1913-1941. Dublin, The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1969. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .B3 1969
- Clyde, Tom. Irish Literary Magazines: An Outline History and Descriptive Bibliography. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2003. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8711 .C58 2003
- Finneran, Richard J. Anglo-Irish Literature: A Review of Research. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1976. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .A54
- Finneran, Richard J. Recent Research on Anglo-Irish Writers. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1983. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8712 .R4 1983
- Harmon, Maurice. Modern Irish Literature, 1800-1967: A Readers Guide. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1967. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .H3 1967
- Harmon, Maurice.Select Bibliography for the Study of Anglo-Irish Literature and Its Backgrounds: An Irish Studies Handbook. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1977. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .H33
- Howard-Hill, T.H. Bibliography of British Literary Bibliographies. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2011 .H6
- Irish History Online http://www.irishhistoryonline.ie/ Online bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with Ireland from prehistoric times to the present.
- Kersnowski, Frank L. A Bibliography of Modern Irish and Anglo-Irish Literature. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1976. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .K47
- McKenna, Brian. Irish Literature, 1800-1875: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale, 1978. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .M235
- Mikhail, E.H. An Annotated Bibliography of Modern Anglo-Irish Drama. Troy, N.Y.: Whitston, 1981. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2039.D7 M5
- Mikhail, E.H. A Bibliography of Modern Irish Drama, 1899-1970. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2039.D7 M53
- National Library of Ireland. Bibliography of Irish Philology and of Printed Irish Literature. New York, Johnson Reprint Corp. [1970]. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .D81 1970
- O'Malley, William T. Anglo-Irish Literature: A Bibliography of Dissertations, 1873-1989. New York: Greenwood Press, c1990. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .A54 1990
- Warner, Alan. A Guide to Anglo-Irish Literature. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8711 .W3
- Weekes, Ann Owens. Unveiling Treasures: The Attic Guide to the Published Works of Irish Women Literary Writers. Dublin: Attic Press, 1993. Special Collections / Poetry Reference: W43 1993 U58 1.1A
- Year's Work in Modern Language Studies. London [etc.] Modern Humanities Research Association [etc.]
Lockwood Library / Reference: PB1 .Y45
Includes descriptive essays on bibliographical sources, especially linguistics. Coverage of Celtic studies began in 1974, and includes Welsh, Breton & Cornish, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic studies. Full-text online is available from 1930 through 1994 through Periodicals Archive Online
Biographical Dictionaries:
- Brady, Anne M. and Brian Cleeve. Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985 Lockwood Library/Reference:PR8727.B5 1985
- Brady, Ciaran, ed. Encyclopedia ofIreland: An A-Z guide to its People, Places, History, and Culture. New York:Oxford University Press,2000. Lockwood Library/Reference:DA906.E53 2000
- Contemporary Authors Summaries of the lives and works of over 100,000 current writers in fiction, poetry, television, radio, general non-fiction, drama, and movies. Additional entries cover major 20th Century authors.
- Cleeve, Brian. Dictionary of Irish Writers. Cork: Mercier Press, 1967-1971. Lockwood Library/Reference:PR8727.C5
- Coleman, Anne. Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Irish Women Poets. Galway: Kenny's Bookshop, 1996. Special Collections/Poetry Reference:REF C64 1996 D52 1.1
- Dictionary of Literary Biography Leads to full-text access to over 9,000 critical and biographical essays on British and American authors from all eras and genres.
- Irish Women Writers Collection. Check the Libraries Catalog catalog for individual titles.
- Literature Resource Center Substantive biographical essays on more than 130,000 authors, providing insights into life and times, works, and critical reception. (After your search, select the Biographies tab.)
- Gonzales, Alexander G. Modern Irish Writers: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Lockwood Library / Reference: PR8727 .G66 1997
- Hogan, Robert. Dictionary of Irish Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979.
- Loeber, Rolf and Magda Loeber with Anne Mullin Burnham. A Guide to Irish Fiction, 1650-1900. Dublin: Four Courts, 2006. Lockwood Library / Reference: PR 8706 .L64 2006
- Molino, Michael. Twenty-first century British and Irish Novelists. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Lockwood Library / Reference: PS128 .D5 v.267
- O' Donoghue, D.J. The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Irish Writers of English Verse. Detroit, Gale Research Co., 1968. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: Z2037 .O26 1968
- Welch, Robert, ed. The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. New York: Clarendon, 1996. Lockwood Library / Reference: PR8706 .O88 1996
Language Resources:
- Contributions to a Dictionary of the Irish Language
- Irish Dictionary Online
- Focal.ie
Ireland's national terminology database for the Irish language. Irish-to-English and vice-versa.
- Gaeilge ar an Ghréasán
Links to web resources, in and about Irish Gaelic.
- An Foclóir Beag
Irish language dictionary (Irish only).
- The Doegen Records Web Project
Early Irish language dialect recordings of folktales, songs and other material, from 1928 to 1931.
Literary Anthologies:
- Donavan, Kate, et al. Ireland's Women: Writings Past and Present. New York: Norton, 1995. Special Collections / Poetry: ANTH I73 1995 1.1
- Dunne, Sean, ed. The Ireland Anthology. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1997.Special Collections / Poetry: ANTH I 73 1999 1.1
- Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Lawrence Hill, Derry, Northern Ireland: Field Day Publications; New York, N.Y.: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 1991. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PB1345 .F53 1991
- Hull, Eleanor. A Text Book of Irish Literature. Dublin: M.H. Gill, 1920. Special Collections / Poetry: H84.4E 1906 T49 1.1
- Jeffares, A. Norman and Peter van de Kamp. Irish Literature: The Eighteenth Century. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2006. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8835 .I756 2006
- Jeffares, A. Norman and Peter van de Kamp. Irish Literature: the Nineteenth Century.Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2006-2007. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8835 .I7565 2006
- Pierce, David. Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: a Reader. Cork: Cork University Press, 2000. Special Collections / Poetry: ANTH I75 2000 1.1
- Tobin, Daniel, ed. The Book of Irish American Poetry: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. Special Collections / Poetry: ANTH B66.557 2007 1.1
Literary Texts/Primary Resources Online:
- Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Contains over 22 million digital page images of virtually every work printed in the English language as well as works printed in Great Britain and its dependencies from 1473-1700 in any language.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
Provides access to the digital images of every page of books published during the 18th Century.
- Literature Online
A set of databases which provide access to full-text, fully searchable electronic versions of poetry, fiction, drama, and reference works, as well as links to additional relevant web resources, and selected secondary sources. You may search the complete Literature Onlinedatabase at once, or choose an individual collection from the list of collections.
Newspapers:
- British Library Newspaper Catalog
The British Library’s Newspaper Library online catalog, including entries for over 52,0000 newspaper and periodical titles, contains many Irish provincial newspaper titles.
- Irish Newspaper Archive
World's largest online database of Irish Newspapers, Search, retrieve and view Ireland's past exactly as it was originally published. The archive ranges from the 1700's to present and takes in many of the seminal moments in the development of New World countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States.
- National Library of Ireland Newspaper Database
A listing of newspaper titles held in the National Library of Ireland, including information from the Newsplan Project
.
Online Catalogs for Irish Libraries and Archives (select list):
- British Library Public Catalogue
- COPAC: Merged Online Catalogs of 20 of the Largest University Research Libraries in the UK and Ireland
- Irish Literary Collections Portal
Provides access to the finding aids of over 100 of North America's Irish literary manuscript collections. The collections represented in the portal range in date from the Irish Literary Renaissance to the present and contain a wide variety of materials including correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts of literary works, photographs, and printed material.
- Lester, DeeGee. Irish Research: A Guide to Collections in North America, Ireland, and Great Britain. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. Lockwood Library / Reference: DA906 .L47 1987
- National Archives of Ireland
- Royal Irish Academy Library and Catalogue
The RIA's collection of c.2,000 manuscripts includes the largest corpus of Irish language manuscripts in a single repository, the oldest surviving Irish manuscript, the Cathach, or Psalter of St. Columba, and other important early texts.
- The Women's History Project
A searchable database containing descriptions of over 14,000 collections and sources held in over 420 public and private repositories in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland relating to the history of women in Ireland from the earliest times to the present.
Surveys of Irish Literature:
- The Cambridge History of Irish Literature, Volume 1, to 1890
(Also in print, see Lockwood Library / Reference: PB1306 .C36 2006)
- The Cambridge History of Irish Literature. Vol. 2, 1890-2000
(Also in print, see Lockwood Library / Reference: PB1306 .C36 2006)
- Cleary, Joseph and Claire Connolly. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: DA959.1 .C35 2005
- Deane, Seamus. A Short History of Irish Literature. London: Hutchinson, 1986. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PB1306 .D38 1986
- Dunn, Douglas. Two Decades of Irish Writing: A Critical Survey. Cheshire: Carcanet Press, 1975. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8753 .T9
- Kiberd, Declan. Inventing Ireland. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8753 .K53 1995
- McHugh, Roger Joseph.Short History of Anglo-Irish Literature from its Origins to the Present Day. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1982. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8711 .M35
- O'Connor, Frank. The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish literature. London, Melbourne [etc.] Macmillan, 1967. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PB1306 .O3 1967a
- O'Leary, Philip. The Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival, 1881- 1921. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PB1336 .O43 1994
- O'Leary, Philip. Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State, 1922-1939. Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2004. Special Collections / Poetry: J69.23.1 O53 G33 2004
- Welch, Robert, ed. The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. New York: Clarendon, 1996.Lockwood Library / Reference: PR8706 .O88 1996
- Welch, Robert, ed. The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Lockwood Library / Book Collection: PR8706 .C66 2000
Additional Select Web Resources:
- British and Irish Authors on the Web
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
Ireland's longest running Humanities Computing project.
- IBIS Manuscript and Text Sources
From the Institute of British and Irish Studies, University of Southern California. Online materials in British and Irish history.
- Irishdiaspora.net
A collection of papers on the dispersion of the Irish. This site grew from The Irish Diaspora Studies Web Site at the University of Bradford which is still online, but not updated.
- Irish History
Online Resource for Irish History, Literature and Politics.
- The Irish Playography Database
A database of Irish plays produced since 1904.
- Irish Resources in the Humanities
Developed in 1999 by Dr. Susan Schreibman as a Gateway to sites on the World Wide Web that contain substantial content in the various disciplines of the humanities in the area of Irish Studies.
- James Joyce Collection, University at Buffalo
Comprising more than 10,000 pages of the author's working papers, notebooks, manuscripts, photographs, correspondence, portraits, publishing records, important memorabilia and ephemeral material, as well as Joyce's private library and the complete body of significant Joyce criticism, the collection distinguishes UB as the leading resource for Joyce scholarship. - Voice of the Shuttle
List of Irish Literary Sources and Resources on the web.
- Women in Modern Irish Culture: A Database of Irish Women's Writing, 1800-2005
A bibliographical database of Irish women writers, who wrote in both Irish and English, between 1800 and 2005. The database includes a whole range of publications, such as novels, articles, poems, memoirs, travel writing, essays, cookery writing, plays, films, etc.
Citing Resources/Creating Bibliographies:
- The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Online citation help for popular styles such APA, MLA, and Chicago.
- Research Tips
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research - Lockwood Library / Reference: LB2369 .G53 2009
- The Chicago Manual of Style - Lockwood Library / Reference: Z253 .U69 2010
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)Lockwood Library / Reference Desk: BF76.7 .P83 2010
- Citation Management Software: ENDNOTE