Handbooks

Handbooks and Companions are a single-volume reference books of compact size that provide concise factual information on a specific subject, organized systematically for quick and easy access. The following are a few titles useful for English Literature research.

General

• Oxford Reference Online, e.g.:
  • The Oxford companion to American literature
  • The Oxford companion to Canadian literature
  • The Oxford companion to English literature
• A handbook to literature [print]
• The poetry handbook: a guide to reading poetry for pleasure and practical criticism
• A Handbook of critical approaches to literature [print]
• The Cambridge guide to literature in English [print]
• Cambridge companions to literature (series), e.g.:
  • The Cambridge companion to Canadian literature 
  • Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Comedy

Time Period

• Classical myths and legends in the Middle Ages and Renaissance [print]
• A companion to English renaissance literature and culture [print]
• Romanticism: an Oxford guide [print]
• The Victorian literature handbook [print]
• The Oxford companion to twentieth-century literature in English [print]
• A handbook of modernism studies 

Theme

• The handbook of African American literature [print]
• A critical handbook of children's literature [print]
• The Cambridge companion to Shakespeare [print]
• The feminist companion to literature in English: women writers from the Middle Ages to the present [print]