The Undergraduate’s Companion to American Writers and Their Web Sites

Citation

Cronau, D.A. (2001), "The Undergraduate’s Companion to American Writers and Their Web Sites", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.4.271.5

This is an excellent volume for any individual or library interested in American literature. The authors are experienced, and their expertise shows throughout the work. The quality control involved in producing this excellent reference volume truly sets it apart from its predecessors; different parts and versions of the work‐in‐progress were evaluated by a range of experienced peers from a variety of areas – senior librarians, literature professors etc., and a draft was also given to graduate literary bibliography students for comment. The Acknowledgments discuss the expert comments and how they were acted upon to refine this as a compilation that would appeal to students, educators, avid readers and librarians.

This is one of the most user‐friendly resources I have seen in some time. The table of contents and indexing really are excellent. The former is simple but effective, and the format throughout is simple, consistent and clear. Within the Introduction, but not listed in the contents, is “A strategy for literary research in the 21st century”, a well‐written four‐page, four‐point guide.

The authors have correctly recognised that no single book could contain every important American author, which is why they opted to make this a “companion” volume. There are around 300 authors treated in the work, all of whom are featured in the most recent editions of widely used literature anthologies such as the Concise Anthology of American Literature (4th ed.) and The Harper American Literature (2nd ed.). This is not to suggest that the book is reduced in value or usefulness if you do not hold these volumes. For each author there are concise lists of the best Web sites, as well as traditional printed sources, including biographies and criticisms, dictionaries and handbooks, indexes and concordances, journals, and bibliographies.

A further selection principle is that this guide covers only frequently anthologised American authors who are the subjects of “good” Web sites. By “good” the authors mean sites that include biographical sketches of authors, bibliographies of works by and about authors, links to full texts of works by and about authors (the latter mostly in the form of online journals), and links to other sites related to authors (if classified, these are often referred to as webliographies). Overall this is a highly commendable work that should be a welcome resource for students of American literature, especially at senior secondary and undergraduate levels.