Subject Guides

Comparative Literature

Here are links to databases, dictionaries, and other useful sites for students and researchers.

Suggested Databases

Below are a list of databases that all contain content relevant to research in comparative literature. For tips on how to begin your database searching, visit the "Database Search Tips" page here.

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text
Subjects covered include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, and dramatic arts. Citations of journal articles, books and dissertations are included.
JSTOR
Primarily a journal archive with some current content. If you are looking for current information, you may want to try other databases as well.
JSTOR has a "moving wall," which represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal. Publishers determine the moving wall length in their license agreements with JSTOR. Moving walls may range from zero to ten years, and those with walls from zero to seven years participate in our revenue sharing program. In calculating the moving wall, the current, incomplete year is not counted.
Project Muse
Humanities, social sciences, and mathematics journals from several university presses.
Coverage: Varies by title; earliest from 1990.
Academic Search Ultimate
Covers over 11,000 journals in all fields of study.
Peer-reviewed, full-text journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos meets the needs of scholars in every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, engineering, health, mathematics, pharmacology, women’s studies, zoology and more.
ACLS Humanities E-Book
Collection of over 1400 full-text, cross searchable books covering topics of interest to historians and humanities scholars.
A collection selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Areas include: African, American, Asian, Latin American, European (Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern), Middle Eastern, World/Comparative, Byzantine/Mediterranean and Australasian/Oceanian history, plus history of the Native Peoples of the Americas and of Science and Technology.
Gale Literature
Provides full text of literary works, journal articles, literature criticism, reviews, biographical information and overviews. Provides term frequency and standardized subject searching across multiple Gale databases.
FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals
Indexes over 500,000 articles from academic and popular film journals. Also includes the International Index to TV Periodicals, Treasures from the Film Archives, silent film holdings archives and International Directory of Film/TV Documentation Collections.
This film studies database was created by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). Coverage: 1972 - present.
Digitalia Hispanica
The most complete database of electronic books and journals in the Spanish language. Covers over 40,000 e-book and journal titles from countries such as Spain, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic
Literature Resource Center
Access biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline.Includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism.
Includes: Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 113,000 writers; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, featuring entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95; Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 10,000 bio-critical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars; Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, featuring 10,000 entries for authors, works, literary landmarks, literary and critical terms, mythological and folkloric figures, fictional characters, literary movements and prizes.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
A digital collection of books, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, ephemera, and maps that cover politics and society, literature, spirituality, technology and more.
*Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
*Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
*British Politics and Society
*British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
*Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
*European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection
*Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
*19th Century US Newspapers
*Photography: The World through the Lens
*Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925, Parts I & II
*Women: Transnational Networks
Philosopher's Index with Full Text
Contains research published since 1940 and includes more than 500,000 records. With more than 1,500 journal titles from over 450 different publishers, the database covers all fields of philosophy.
Theatre in Video (Volume I)
Live video of the original productions of some of the most important theatre performances of the 20th century.
Theater
From the most important productions of Shakespeare to rare in-depth footage focusing on the work of Samuel Beckett, Theatre in Video, when complete, will offer more than 500 hours of online streaming video, available electronically for the first time. With live television broadcasts of New York productions from the 50s, revivals of classic works and experimental performances from the 60s and 70s, as well as important contemporary performances, Theatre in Video covers a wide range of 20th century theatre history. Unlike Hollywood adaptations, these are the actual original productions, captured and recorded while performed for a live theatre audience.
Theatre in Video (Volume II)
Brings together 400 hours of new, international, and contemporary performances; ground-breaking documentaries; and critical instructional series for theatre and drama programs across the globe.
Includes live performance and cinematic productions of plays from classical playwrights such as Shakespeare, Moliere, Voltaire, and Chekhov, while also incorporating new, contemporary writers such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Alexander Buzo, and William Yang. See Find and Using Streaming Video for information.

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Online Dictionaries

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new window
Arabic/English, Chinese/English, French/English, German/English, Italian/English, Portuguese/English, Russian/English, Spanish/English
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
Widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world. Off campus access may require use of the VPN.
Contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with its 3-volume Additions Series, published in 1993 (volumes 1 and 2) and 1997 (volume 3).

Other Subject Guides

Cinema: Resources for cinema researchers and film enthusiasts.

English: An excellent source for literary criticism and biography in many languages.

Comparative Literature

InterLibrary Loan

Subject Librarian

Suggested Databases

Select Journals

Online Dictionaries

Other Subject Guides