Research Guides: French Language & Literature: Literature & Criticism

Browse Core Journals

Contemporary French and Francophone Studies
Extends French Studies beyond traditional limits, inviting all critical approaches on the latest debates in French Studies.
L'Esprit Créateur
Studies on French and Francophone literature, film, criticism, and culture.
French Forum
Journal covering literary criticism and French literature.
French Studies
Contains articles on French literature and French language with an occasional contribution on other aspects of French culture.
Nineteenth-Century French Studies
Scholarly articles on all aspects of nineteenth-century French literature and criticism.
Yale French Studies
One of the premier English-language journals on French literature, thought, and civilization.

Online Dictionaries

Oxford Reference Online - Bilingual Dictionaries

Specialized Resources for French Literature

ABU: la Bibliothèque Universelle
Online collection of classic texts in French, primarily but not exclusively by French authors.
The ARTFL Encyclopédie
A complete online version of the first edition of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie.
ARTFL Project
A full-text database of classical French writings, including literary works, political tracts, philosophical writings, and technical treatises.
French Women Writers
158 works by French women authors from the 16th to the 20th century.
Gallica
Millions of digitized documents representing the entire range of French history and culture.
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French
Guide to literature in France as well as worldwide Francophone literature.
Persée
National digitization project of French academic journals in the humanities and social sciences. Full-text PDF access.

Articles and Literary Criticism

Generally, the first step in researching an author or literary topic is to do a preliminary (or more thorough) search in the following databases:

MLA International Bibliography
MLAIB is a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations.
Gale's Literature Resource Center
Literary criticism and biographical information from Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism (from late 1990s-present), and a variety of other Gale resources.
Gale Dictionary of Literary Biography
Provides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history.
Gale Contemporary Authors
Biographical information on more than 149,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters
Gale Literature Criticism
Literary commentary and analysis from book excerpts, periodicals, and more.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism
The Literature category contains over 400 entries on key Modernist authors and texts.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Significant works published primarily in the UK during the 18th century; includes books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides, and more.
Early English Books Online
Virtually every work published in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America between 1473-1700.

Citing Sources

RefWorks allows you to import references from text files or online sources. You can use these references in writing and formatting papers and bibliographies in a variety of styles (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

If you haven't used RefWorks before, you'll need to create an account.

Go to https://refworks.proquest.com/ and click the "Create Account" link at the bottom of the white box.
Fill in your information using the @bears.unco.edu or @unco.edu email. You cannot use a different account to set up the RefWorks account, though you can change it in settings later.
When it asks your department, indicate your major.

You'll receive an email with a link to complete the registration process. Once you complete registration, you'll get access immediately and can get started managing your references.

Contact jennifer.leffler@unco.edu if you experience difficulties.

Subject Guide

Darren Ilett