When researching a new topic it is often necessary to get an overview, explanations of unfamiliar terms, or brief factual information. The print and electronic resources listed below include selected reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, handbooks, guides, and standards) for the study of New Brunswick Literature. To find additional reference materials, check UNB WorldCat (the library catalogue), or check out Encyclopedias, etc. on the library website.
The New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia is also an excellent place to begin your search.
Key Resources
-
Literary and Linguistic History of New Brunswick
see also [multiple locations PS8131 .N4 L57] -
Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, The
see also [multiple locations HIL-REF PS8015 .O93 1997 ]The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature was first published in 1983 to great acclaim. In the years since its publication Canadian literature has enjoyed an explosion of creative talent. This exciting new edition reflects this vivid flowering, adding more than 360 new entries as well as updating material from the original to reflect recent publications and changes in the biographies of writers previously included. As before, the entries cover fiction, prose, poetry, and drama, prominent writers, literary magazines, and publishers. Highlights include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Sandra Birdsell, Neil Bissoondath, Boston Mills Press, Caribbean-Canadian literature, Censorship, Creeps, The English Patient, William Gibson, Gay and Lesbian Literature, Barbara Gowdy, The Handmaid's Tale, Alberto Manguel, and The Rebel Angels, among many others. This completely revised edition is not only an indispensable resource, but a browser's delight for anyone interested in Canadian literature. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
-
The Oxford companion to Canadian theatre
see also [HIL-REF PN2301 .O93 1989] -
Encyclopedia of literature in Canada
[HIL-REF PS8015 .E53 2002]
This up-to-date reference book brings together three hundred leading Canadianists to look at literature in Canada from a variety of perspectives. In over two thousand entries that attest to Canada's cultural plurality, the Encyclopedia covers literature in English and French, and also in such other languages as Yiddish, Spanish, Haida, and Cree. It discusses authors and their work, related literary and social issues, professional institutions that play a role in the lives of Canadian writers, and the major historical and cultural events that have shaped Canada. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
-
The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature
From Aboriginal writing to Margaret Atwood, this is a complete English-language history of Canadian writing in English and French from its beginnings.
Purchased multi-user unlimited access -
Dictionary of Canadian biography online / Dictionnaire biographique du Canada en ligne
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada provides detailed biographies of important figures in Canadian history from the year 1000 to 1930. This free online resource is produced by Library and Archives Canada, in partnership with Universite Laval and the University of Toronto, and reproduces the full contents of the print Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada.
Additional Resources
-
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online (DLB Online)
Provides more than 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, andcareers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.Comprised of the award-winning Dictionary of Literary Biography series, which over its30-year history has been dedicated to making literature and its creators betterunderstood and more accessible to students and interested readers, DLB Complete Onlineprovides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format while placing writersin the larger perspective of literary history. Specifically, DLB Complete Onlineincludes the DLB main series, the DLB Documentary Series, and the DLB Yearbook Series -the latter two of which have never been electronically available. Additionally, DLBComplete Online will include the extremely valuable images from the above DLB series -again, content that has never been available online.
-
Contemporary authors
[HIL-REF CT220 .C63]
"A bio-bibliographical guide to current authors and their works."
-
Canadian Literature in English, vol. 1
-
Canadian Literature in English, vol. 2
-
ECW's Biographical guide to Canadian novelists
[multiple locations HIL-REF PS8081 .E32 1993 ]
This matched pair of books is not a good choice for most libraries on several counts. First, the paper binding will not withstand normal library use. But more important, the contents are not what the publisher suggests. The promotional literature states that all major Canadian authors are included, but French Canadian novelists and poets are excluded. Even among English Canadians, many popular authors have been passed over, including L.M. Montgomery (famous for her Anne of Green Gables series) and W.P. Kinsella (author of Shoeless Joe, the novel on which the movie Field of Dreams was based). Also missing are Arthur Hailey (Airport), W.D. Valgardson, and several others. Given the current sensitivity toward balance for ethnic minorities, it should be noted that aboriginal Canadians are not included in appropriate numbers. Women are also underrepresented relative to their contribution to Canadian literature. Finally, none of the writers included was born within the past 50 years. The books' organizational features are also a concern: neither volume has a preface or introduction; entries are listed chronologically by the writers' birthdates; and there is no alphabetical index to the contents, so it is tedious to determine whether on not a given author is included. The selection criteria used by the editors (who are not identified on the title page) are not explained, and the credentials of the contributors are not supplied. Entries vary in length from two to ten pages, and there is no standard format, resulting in inconsistencies in treatment. Five writers who are both novelists and poets are covered in both volumes. In one case the same essay is used; in others there are different essays by the same contributor, or essays by different contributors. For biographical information, the volumes of Dictionary of Literary Biography that treat Canadian authors (v. 53, 60, 68, 88, 92, 99) are a much better choice. The titles are recommended here (but without enthusiasm) only for smaller libraries that do not own DLB. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
-
ECW's Biographical guide to Canadian poets
[multiple locations HIL-REF PS8081 .E33 1993 ]
This matched pair of books is not a good choice for most libraries on several counts. First, the paper binding will not withstand normal library use. But more important, the contents are not what the publisher suggests. The promotional literature states that all major Canadian authors are included, but French Canadian novelists and poets are excluded. Even among English Canadians, many popular authors have been passed over, including L.M. Montgomery (famous for her Anne of Green Gables series) and W.P. Kinsella (author of Shoeless Joe, the novel on which the movie Field of Dreams was based). Also missing are Arthur Hailey (Airport), W.D. Valgardson, and several others. Given the current sensitivity toward balance for ethnic minorities, it should be noted that aboriginal Canadians are not included in appropriate numbers. Women are also underrepresented relative to their contribution to Canadian literature. Finally, none of the writers included was born within the past 50 years. The books' organizational features are also a concern: neither volume has a preface or introduction; entries are listed chronologically by the writers' birthdates; and there is no alphabetical index to the contents, so it is tedious to determine whether on not a given author is included. The selection criteria used by the editors (who are not identified on the title page) are not explained, and the credentials of the contributors are not supplied. Entries vary in length from two to ten pages, and there is no standard format, resulting in inconsistencies in treatment. Five writers who are both novelists and poets are covered in both volumes. In one case the same essay is used; in others there are different essays by the same contributor, or essays by different contributors. For biographical information, the volumes of Dictionary of Literary Biography that treat Canadian authors (v. 53, 60, 68, 88, 92, 99) are a much better choice. The titles are recommended here (but without enthusiasm) only for smaller libraries that do not own DLB. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
-
Profiles in Canadian literature
see also [HIL-REF PS8071 .P76 vols. 1-8]Profiles began life in 1980 with two pilot volumes, and appeared at intervals throughout the eighties on a schedule determined largely by the availability of suitable contributors, the perseverance of the editor, and the sometimes comic setbacks native to the publishing process. The project sprang from the desire to make lively introductions to representative Canadian writers available to an audience that would not necessarily be a scholarly one.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Heath, J. M. (1991). Profiles in Canadian Literature 7. Toronto: Dundurn Press.
MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Heath, Jeffrey M. Profiles in Canadian Literature 7. Dundurn Press, 1991. EBSCOhost. -
The Canadian encyclopedia
Free online encyclopedia, containing the full text of the print Canadian Encyclopedia, "the most comprehensive source of information on all things Canadian." Includes the full text of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
-
checklist of Canadian literature and background materials, 1628-1960
[HIL-REF PS8061 .W37 1972]
