I'm entering the world of literary critique; I'm scared.
I've read several significant novels in the past few days. I have scribbed notes about them. Picked out what defined these significant novels.
But I wanna find the best critique for secondary interpretations, at the moment, I use sparknotes.com or it's contemporaries.
Anyone have any links to websites with strong literary critique, y'know proper essays and that, bear in mind, I'm not subscribing to anything either.
“Ho, ho, ho! Well, if it isn’t fat stinking billy goat Billy Boy in poison! How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou!”
Alex deLarge, A Clockwork Orange
What do you mean by critique? Are you interested in schools of criticism or essays like those found in Norton editions?
Sparknotes is more of a glossary.
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Yeah, you're not going to find much online without having a log-in to the likes of jstor or Literature online, your best bet by far is to head off to a decent library. However, you could try Google Scholar, though I have hardly used that myself so I'm not sure how good it really is, I doubt it is very good, but you might find one or two things on there.
Google Scholar links you to a lot of journal stuff that is not accessible without paying exorbitant fees, although you can occasionally preview books to a limited degree. I agree with Neely that your best bet would be at a library. I don't really know how well most public libraries keep up with journal publications (either in print or online), so, if I was in your position I'd find out what your local library offers.
I don't believe sparknotes.com offers real "criticism" as it is mostly defined by scholars (beyond high school).
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into the mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.
- John Berryman
valid point guys, sparknotes isn't criticism, but it's valuable as a starting point, nevertheless.
i'm looking for strong essays, or whatever is effective in maximising my interpretations on the novel;
are these norton guides advanced?
“Ho, ho, ho! Well, if it isn’t fat stinking billy goat Billy Boy in poison! How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou!”
Alex deLarge, A Clockwork Orange
Yes, the Norton anthologies of literature and criticism are very extensive and I would put them certainly at graduate level and beyond. The downside with them is that as they offer such a wide selection of material from primary theoretical sources, they have to be mostly extracts of such material. This means that there is often not enough for a full study, but too much for the general read and consequently I only ever use mine as a sort of reference or to recap a theorist or whatever, and they are certainly not the best place to go for general criticism at A-Level/first year degree level.Originally Posted by burntpunk
By far the best bet is to just do some general digging around and come across whatever is written on the particular author/book you have read. For example if you have just read Jane Eyre, type that into a library critical search and see what you can find. I've often come across the casebook series, which in the past I have found quite useful, but then again it is a case of what you find to be useful to your particular essay question or interest.
You could also try Peter Barry's Beginning Theory which is excellent, and I would say essential, first year reading.
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