LITERARY CRITICISM AND ANALYSIS OF NOVELS AND POETRY

Welcome to The Literary Index. This site features a vast array of links to academic criticism of a wide range of literature. The site is primarily aimed at students studying literature, mainly at advanced or degree level, although it may also be of use to people researching a certain work for a book group discussion, or just to the casual reader interested in exploring a particular text in greater depth.

The Literary Index focuses on academic analysis of novels, short stories and poems, featuring links to a wide variety of material covering work from the eighteenth-century to the present day. It doesn't however include any material specifically relating to plays or other forms of literature - although I may add these at a later date. My selection criteria for the texts I have chosen to include is chiefly determined by the standard of academic writing I have obtained about them. This is mainly in the form of essays and papers, or articles which follow academic conventions, produced by members of university faculties, independent scholars, and other authors. In some instances however I have also linked to in-depth reviews and online newspaper articles. I have tried to include at least some works by all the great authors, although finding scholarly analysis of many of the canonical texts has proved very difficult, and there are several surprising omissions on the site which I hope to be able to rectify in due course.

The material that The Literary Index links to is actual analysis and criticism of individual texts as opposed to general synopses, commentary, or short reviews. The site also avoids work that focuses specifically on biographical information. The novelists and poets whose works I have found material on are indexed alphabetically by surname, along with the relevant links to the material, and my own short summary of the content I have linked. These summaries are generally very brief, although they all state the name of the writer. I have also provided an alternative index with the works presented alphabetically instead of the authors. These pages can be accessed by clicking the "TITLES" tab on the nav bar.

None of the material requires payment or registration to view, each item can be read in its entirety and, in most cases, displays on the one page. I have also avoided famous sites such as Wikipedia, Googlebooks and Findarticles, as well as general online study guides such as Sparknotes - part of the aim of The Literary Index is to index lesser known sites. The reading level of the material I've linked generally varies, often depending on the angle of each individual analysis, with some essays potentially proving difficult to readers unfamiliar with certain modes of criticism.

I will regularly maintain The Literary Index and hopefully update frequently, linking more material as and when I find it. If you've discovered an essay or article which you feel meets the standard of the material featured on this site, please email me with the link and I'll review it for inclusion. The same applies if you've produced an essay yourself and would like a link on The Literary Index. Also feel free to inform me if you've found a dead link and I'll remove it.

I dreamt up the idea for a literary index when studying for a degree in Language and Literature. I used the net a lot for researching assignments and discovered many informative and interesting essays which I thought may be of benefit to other literature students.

The Literary Index does not endorse plagiarism of any kind. The material I've linked to should only be used to broaden a reader's understanding of a particular novelist or poet's work. Also, if you are an author of one of the many essays or articles I've linked who doesn't wish to have your work indexed on The Literary Index, please contact me and I'll remove the link(s).