Italian Literature
The printed materials listed here are all owned by the Binghamton University Libraries and the BU call number is provided. Please note that they represent just a very small sampling of the resources that are actually available. Researchers can locate other relevant materials by using BearCat, the Libraries' online catalog. See the "Finding Books" section of Research Basics for tips on using BearCat.
Short Answers, Introductions, & Overviews
The following resources contain articles on authors, works, movements, etc, and often include brief bibliographies, i.e., a list of other materials, at the end of each entry: Examples include:
Oxford companion to Italian literature.
Oxford University Press, 2002. REF PQ 4006 O84 2002
Dictionary of Italian literature. Greenwood Press, 1996. REF PQ
4006 D45 1996
Letteratura italiana : le opere. Einaudi, 1992-1996. REF PQ 4037
L459 1992
Enciclopedia della letteratura. 3a ed. Garzanti,
1997. PN 41 E46 1997
Letteratura italiana. Gli autori : dizionario bio-bibliografico e indici.
REF PQ 4006 L48 1990
The following two titles are multi-volume, comprehensive histories
of Italian literature and include bibliographies.
Letteratura italiana. Einaudi, 1982-
PQ 4037 L44
Storia della civilità letteraria italiana. UTET, 1990-
PQ 4037 S66 1990
And, the Literature
Resource Center database is the electronic version of such print standbys
as Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism,
and the many volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
The coverage of foreign language literature is adequate, especially for
older works and prolific authors.
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Bibliographies & Research Guides
Resources actually entitled "Bibliography" often do not contain discussions of relevant topics, but are extensive listings of major publications in the field. Lower division courses may not require the use of these resources, but upper division students should at least be familiar with them. Examples include:
Guida allo studio della letteratura italiana.
REF PQ 4013 G85 1997
Manuale critico-bibliografico per lo studio della
letteratura italiana. 4a ed. Società editrice internazionale,
1994. REF PQ 4037 P8 1994
Novecento letterario italiano : repertorio bibliografico : strumenti
per lo studio e la ricerca. Palomar, 1996. PQ 4087 I87 1996
The following 3 titles are "closed bibliographies",
i.e., no longer being issued. Note that the second and third are continuations
of the first.
Repertorio bibliografico della storia e della critica della letteratura
italiana. Edizioni Roma, 1937-48. REF Z 2351 P93
Repertorio bibliografico della letteratura italiana. Sansoni,
1953-60 REF Z 2341 B6
Repertorio bibliografico della letteratura italiana. Sansoni,
1969. REF Z 2341 R4
You can also check the Italian sections of
the
Year's work in modern language studies.
Modern Humanities Research Association, 19--. REF PB 1 Y39
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Journal Indexes
For a general listing of indexes that cover
all languages and literatures, go to Research
Basics and scroll down to "Finding Articles."
Special Topics
While most of the printed resources listed here are not "reference" materials, most of them includes bibliographies or lists of additional works that lead you to other research.
Women
Italian women writers:
a bio-bibliographical sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1994. REF PQ
4063 I88 1994
Feminist encyclopedia of Italian literature. Greenwood, 1997.
REF PQ 4063 F45 1997
Extraordinary women of the Medieval and Renaissance world : a biographical
dictionary. Greenwood Press, 2000. REF HQ 1143 E93 2000
The Celebration of Women Writers web site provides links to resources, accessible by country, name, century and ethnicity!
And Cybergrrl® Inc. provides Femina, an excellent gateway site to thousands of links related to women .
Middle Ages
Dictionary of the Middle
Ages. Scribner, 1992- REF
D114 D5 1992
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Citta nuova, 2000. REF CB 351
E53 2000
There is an excellent web site based at Rutgers University with links to many internet resources for medieval literature.
Renaissance
The Oxford dictionary of the Renaissance.
Oxford University Press, 2003. REF CB 361 C27 2003
Hutchinson encyclopedia of
the Renaissance. Westview Press, 1999. REF CB 361 H88 1999
Encyclopaedia of the Renaissance. Batsford, Ltd., 1988. REF CB
361 B43 1988
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a series of pages covering Renaissance art, including architecture in Renaissance Italy. (Use the pull-down menu at the upper right to get to discussions of other aspects of Renaissance art.)
And the full text of Jacob Burkhardt's classic The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy is available online.
•Dante
The Dante encyclopedia. Garland,
2000. PQ 4333 D36 2000
Enciclopedia dantesca. Istituto della enciclopedia
italiana, , 1970-76. REF PQ 4333 E6
There are many web sites devoted to Dante studies. Try Dante Online, based in Italy, the Dante Society of America, or the Italian Società Dante Alighieri.
•Cinema
Encyclopedia of European cinema.
Facts on File, 1995. REF PN 1993.5 E8 V56 1995
The companion to Italian cinema. British Film Institute, 1996.
FINE ARTS PN 1994 N69 1996
Washington University's Rome Center has a page of excellent links for the academic study of Italian film and cinema.
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Electronic Texts
There are numerous sites that contain full texts of literary works in the public domain.
Try TIL On-line (Testi italiani in linea) or the Antologia (frammentaria) della letteratura italiana or the Italian Literature listing from University of Virginia's E-text center.
The Dartmouth Dante Project and Columbia University's Digital Dante allow you to search the text of the Divina Commedia and a large body of critical commentary.
There is also an excellent site devoted to Boccaccio's Decameron.