Best of the Web: Arts & Humanities » Literature & Linguistics

Awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

"The North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences (NAAHoLS) was founded in San Francisco in December 1987 to promote the study of the history of the many disciplines concerned with language. These include linguistics and subfields within anthropology, cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc."

A search engine designed to help readers locate authors and titles of interest. Available at all NYPL locations and from home with a valid NYPL library card.

"This page provides access to Old French texts and information about the literature, all of which is classified according to century. Some of the documents are in English, some in Old French and others in Modern French translation. Many of the links listed in this website are individual pages from other websites forming entire collections of French literature."

Serves as an index to more than 18,000 public domain books on the web, searchable by author, title, and subject.

A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization. Searchable and browsable.

Extensive directory of links to "illustrators whose primary design style would be suited to and sought for use in the children's market."

Quarterly journal of fiction and poetry, begun in 1994. Contains links to academic and independent literary websites.

"Other Voices is an award-winning, electronic journal of cultural criticism published at the University of Pennsylvania. Founded in March 1997, Other Voices regularly publishes provocative essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, lecture transcriptions, audio lectures, multimedia projects, translations and reviews in the arts and humanities."

Recommended booklists, starred reviews, genre resources and an extensive list of reader's advisory sites.

Currently, the OTA's holdings of high-quality, well-documented electronic texts include 2500 titles in 25 languages. These include the works of individual authorsm reference works, and a range of linguistic corpora.

"The Papyri Pages focus on topics relating to ancient Egyptian papyri and the history and archaeology of "books" and writing in general. They include an exhibit, texts, and links to related sites."

"Passport was created from an United States perspective and defines international children's literature as anything outside of your borders. Passport regards international literature as distinct from multicultural literature. International children's literature is the body of books originally published in one country and later published in another country." Provided relevant annotated links.

A select bibliography of books and articles focusing on the literature of the Harlem Renaissance.

Transcriptions and images from the manuscripts of "The Planctus for William Longsword", the earliest work written about the Normans from a Norman point of view.

Provides links to poetry events and courses book news competitions text links to e-zines audio poetry literary appreciation, criticism and reviews plus sources to improve your own writing and get it published.

Organization for poets and readers.

Home page of the Academy of American Poets. Founded in 1934 to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation os contemporary poetry, this is the largest organization in the country dedicated specifically to the art of poetry

Emory University site provides an introduction to major topics and issues in Postcolonial Studies, with links divided into the following categories: Introduction, Authors, Theorists, Terms and Issues.

"The Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics is a collaborative project of the Classics Department of Princeton University and the Classics Department of Stanford University. Its purpose is to make the results of current research undertaken by members of Princeton and Stanford Universities in the field of classics available in advance of final publication."

Electronic editions of classic literature from Sweden and the Nordic countries.

Introduction to pulp fiction collecting. Includes a guide to genres, fiction titles placed in yearly historical context, and other web links.

This site claims to be the "oldest quotation site on the Web, established 1994." They currently have over 24,000 quotations online from over 2,700 authors, and more are added daily.

This site from the University of Alberta, Canada, is devoted to empirical studies of literary reading and associated theoretical issues. Contains online essays, bibliography, links to relevant websites.

A database-driven site which recommends lists of books by genre.

Comprehensive guides for hundreds of books including romance, bestsellers and literary fiction.

An independent book website devoted to discussing and reviewing the best in literary fiction, poetry, criticism, history, and philosophy.

A series of old-spelling editions of English Renaissance books and manuscripts, and of plain transcriptions of such works, published on the World Wide Web.

A twice-yearly interdisciplinary journal in early-modern English literary and historical scholarship, from March 1996 to the present. Each issue contains 3-4 articles, 5-6 book reviews. The journal is keyword searchable, with indexes.

Includes 3,162 English poems by 500 poets from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets today.

Guide (in German) to many European Classics websites.

"The Rhetorica Network offers analysis and commentary about the rhetoric, propaganda, and spin of journalism andpolitics, including analysis of presidential speeches and election campaigns. This site features the Rhetorica: Press-Politics Journal web log, Presidential Campaign Rhetoric 2004, comprehensive news media links, a rhetoric textbook, a primer of critical techniques, and information for voters. The character of Rhetorica represents the purposes and canonsof classical rhetoric."

Devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture.

An international refereed electronic journal devoted to British Romantic studies.

"Fifty to ninety percent of the world's languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, many with little or no significant documentation." This site currently archives more than 1200 language samples, descriptions, texts, analytic materials and audio files and is searchable by language, family tree, or country.

Links to chronologies, outlines, and other resources. From San Antonio College.

Icelandic medieval literature: images of books and manuscripts published before 1901. Available in English and Icelandic interfaces.

An electronic journal of poetry and reviews. Published three times a year.

"This site is a comprehensive bibliography of science-fiction and fantasy authors and their books. The database also contains links to official and fan sites of various authors where they exist. Updated monthly with the latest books and new authors. . ."

This is the site of "one of the most effective non-profit writers' organizations in existence. Over 1200 sf and fantasy writers, artists, editors, and allied professionals aremembers."

Bibliographic guide offering primary and secondary sources.

A guide to semiotics from the perspective of media studies. Contains a number of relevant links.

With more than 10.000 pages of Science Fiction and Fantasy related content, this site features stories, articles, book reviews, excerpts and synopses, author interviews and profiles, television and movie reviews, and discussion forums.

A site championing Shakespeare as the author of the plays.

Histories of the houses associated with Shakespeare and his family. A biographical section covers his life, family, history, and schooling.

This site "explores nineteenth-century paintings, criticism and productions of Shakespeare's plays and their influences on one another."

University of Basel (in Switzerland) site organizes conferences and seves as a resource for european Shakespeare studies. Includes such topics as Reanissance life and history contemporary texts theatre/film studies and adaptations music education popular Shakespeare uses/adaptations criticism.

British Librarys digitized versions of 93 copies of the 21 plays by Shakespeare printed in quarto. Site includes background material, links and references, and a study of how the plays have been changed in print and performance.

Selected articles available online from this magazine "for teachers and enthusiasts".