Comparative Literature

Printed collections

Collection overview

The Library has good holdings in comparative literature, collection strengths include:

Historical and theoretical coverage of literature in a comparative context
Literary criticism
Works by and about critical theorists
Postcolonial and international literatures in English
Children’s literature
Literary translation

This complements the Library’s main literature collections:

English, French, Germanic, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish
United States and Latin American
Smaller collections, mostly in translation, of Slavonic, African, Oriental, Celtic, Hebrew, Indic and Dutch literatures

Collection location

Historical, theoretical and critical works on comparative literature and critical theory are located within the ENGLISH Collection on the 5th floor, eg ENGLISH South Block 5th Floor (3) YUC Dam
The French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish literature collections are located on the 5th floor, eg FRENCH South Block 5th Floor (3) XTU7 Jor
The Germanic literature collections are located in two separate locations. Loanable material can be found on the 5th floor, eg GERMANIC (SHL) South Block 5th Floor (3) XWT M27Ja Swa. The Institute of Germanic Studies (IGS) reference collection can be found in the Middlesex North Reading Room on the 4th floor, eg IGS South Block 4th Floor Mx North Reading Room
Latin America and United States literary texts and critical works are located within the specific Area Collections on the 6th floor, eg LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES South Block 6th Floor (34) PQ7081.A1 .E56 1997, or, U.S. STUDIES South Block 6th Floor (33) YTD7 Gri
Material from the smaller literature collections (eg Slavonic, African) is located in the LANGUAGE/LITERATURE collection on the 5th floor, eg LANGUAGE/LITERATURE South Block 5th Floor (3) XBJQ C43a Tai
Recent issues of periodicals/journals are located in the North Reading Room (Periodicals Room) on the 4th floor South Block. For more information, see our journals resources page
Back issues of periodicals are held in the closed access stacks. These will display the location Stack Service on the catalogue. These can be requested via the online catalogue and collected at the service desk, 4th floor South Block
To locate individual titles use the online catalogue
Many dictionaries and other reference works, such as The encyclopedia of postcolonial literatures in English, are located in the North Reading Room on the 4th floor South Block.

Related collections

Film & Media, Linguistics and Sociology
Special Collections - The Sterling Library includes literary classics in English from the fourteenth century to the present

Electronic resources

Online databases and periodicals/journals can be accessed via PCs in the Library and the majority can be accessed off-site by Library members. The Library subscribes to major ebook databases such as Early English Books Online (EEBO) and increasingly purchases individual titles available via MyiLibrary which can be accessed via the catalogue. Specific electronic journal titles can also be accessed via the catalogue. Full text services such as JSTOR and Academic Search Complete offer additional titles for which the Library does not have print holdings. Printing facilities are provided in the Library. Wifi access is also available. Please check our web pages for access information: www.shl.lon.ac.uk/resources/databases.shtml

Databases

Databases containing material of interest in this subject area include:

Resource: Location

Academic Search Complete: Online

Arts and Humanities Citation Index: Online

IngentaConnect: Online

JSTOR: Online

LION: Literature Online: Online

MLA International Bibliography, 1920s- : Online

Periodicals Index and Archive Online: Online

Web resources

Other resources can be found via the Gateways tab: www.shl.lon.ac.uk/subjects/comparativeliterature/gateways.shtml.

Classmarks for Comparative Literature and Critical Theory

All the following classmarks have the prefix ENGLISH South Block 5th Floor (3)

Philosophy and aesthetics of literature: YUA

Criticism of literature: YUB

Comparative literature: YUC

Imagination and fantasy: YUI

Romanticism: YUL

Love and sexuality: YUM

Realism: YUN

Humour: YUP

Fiction: YUR

Literary translation: YUT

Classmarks for Literature Collections

English literature: ENGLISH South Block 5th Floor (3) YB-YR

International literatures in English: ENGLISH South Block 5th Floor (3) YS

French literature: FRENCH South Block 5th Floor (3) XT

Germanic literature: GERMANIC (SHL) South Block 5th Floor (3) XW-XZ

IGS Germanic literature: (reference) IGS South Block 4th Floor Mx North Reading Room

Italian literature: ITALIAN South Block 5th Floor (3) XM

Portuguese literature: PORTUGUESE South Block 5th Floor (3) XRL-XRX

Spanish literature: SPANISH South Block 5th Floor (3) XP

Latin American & Caribbean literature: LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES South Block 6th Floor PQ-PR (Library of Congress classification)

United States literature: U.S. STUDIES South Block 6th Floor (33) YT

Children’s literature: LANGUAGE/LITERATURE South Block 5th floor (3) ZDV

Slavonic literature: LANGUAGE/LITERATURE South Block 5th Floor (3) XB

For a more detailed explanation of classmarks see the Library's leaflet 'A guide to the classification scheme'.

Other libraries

For more information about the literature holdings in other academic libraries in the London area, please consult the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries website: www.m25lib.ac.uk. For elsewhere in the UK, consult the Consortium of University and Research Libraries catalogue: www.copac.ac.uk.