Content
The Literary Encyclopedia publishes biographies of major and minor writers; scholarly descriptions of all interesting texts written by these authors, including those often neglected; and a variety of descriptive and critical essays on literary, cultural and historical matters, which provide a finer understanding of the social contexts in which this writing was produced.
We seek to cover all of world literature and endeavor to commission and publish articles on the widest variety of quality writing that has been produced around the world. We offer excellent coverage of English, American, German, Russian, Italian, French and Classical literatures, as well as substantial and increasing coverage of Hispanic, Japanese, Canadian, East European and various postcolonial literatures. (Other major literatures to be added as resources permit.) So far we have published 9970 completed articles, with a total of 21.50 million words. We are currently adding around 20-40 articles to the Encyclopedia every month.
The development of the publication is overseen by 138 scholarly editors and includes work by 4294 contributors who are currently or recently active in university level research.
The Literary Encyclopedia currently publishes the following kinds of content:
- About People
- Biographical profiles
- Lifelines – day-by-day chronologies of an author’s life
- About Works
- Profiles – descriptive-critical analyses
- Primary bibliography of all major works by all writers listed (List of works)
- About Literary Context
- Essays on genres, concepts, movements, theories; comparative and reception essays
- Short notes on genres, concepts, issues
- About Political and Cultural Context
- Essays on important historical events, movements and issues
- Short notes on important events, movements and issues
- Secondary Bibliography
- Annotated or unannotated recommended critical reading for any of the above (recommended readings)
