Research guides: Literary Theory and Criticism: Glossaries and Dictionaries

Glossaries and Dictionaries

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.
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By Chris Baldick.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Contains succinct definitions for more than1,200 literary terms.

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The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism.
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Edited by Joseph Childers and Gary Hentzi.
NY: Columbia University Press, 1995.
Short-essay format with a focus on 'contemporary' as opposed to 'modern' criticism.

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A Dictionary of Literary Devices.
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By Bernard Marie Dupriez.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.
Translated from the French, contains interesting definitions of terms from Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Philology.

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Critical Terms for Literary Study.
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Edited by Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
High quality, individually written, essay-length entries for 22 core terms in literary study.

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A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms.
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By Richard A. Lanham.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Clear and well illustrated coverage of quite technical terms.

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A Glossary of Literary Terms.
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By M. H. Abrams.
Boston: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2005.
A scholarly work that is, nonetheless, accessible to those less well versed in the field.

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The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory.
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By J. A. Cuddon and Rafey Habib.
London : Penguin Books, 2014.

Contains more terms than Abrams's work but each entry is less detailed.

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A Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory.
By Jeremy Hawthorne.
London: Arnold, 2000.
A Dictionary of Critical Theory.
By Leonard Orr.
NY: Greenwood Press, 1991.
Includes entries pertaining to Anglo-American literary theory as well as Continental.