LibGuides: Canadian Literature: Find: Background Sources

About Background Sources

Background sources, also known as reference sources, include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories, and other online or print "books". You might want to consult one or more of them when you're first starting your research, especially if the topic you are researching is unfamiliar to you. They can be excellent sources of factual information, concepts, theories, definitions, terminology and references to other, more in-depth, sources of information.

Canadian Literature Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada
Call Number: PS 8015 .E53 2002 Reference (all campuses) + Ebook (single-user)
This is a resource book that provides information about writers and writing in Canada, about oral literatures, and about a range of related subjects, including the social and cultural institutions that have an impact on literary expression and literary production.
Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature
Call Number: PS 8015 .O93 1997 Reference (all campuses) + Online
Covers fiction, prose, poetry, drama, prominent writers, literary magazines, publishers, and more general topics.

Part of the Oxford Reference Online collection of reference works, including Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms and other specialzied subject dictionaries and encyclopedias.
The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature
Call Number: PS 8015 .O95 2016 (Kelowna)
The essays in this volume, written by prominent theorists in the field, reflect the plurality of critical perspectives, regional and historical specializations, and theoretical positions that constitute the field of Canadian literary criticism across a range of genres and historical periods
The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature, 2nd ed. by Eva-Marie Kröller (Editor)
Call Number: PS 8061 .C3356 2017 (Kelowna; 1st ed. in Penticton + Vernon)
Comprehensive introduction to major writers, genres and topics in Canadian literature with essays on: Aboriginal writing, Francophone writing, Exploration and travel, Nature-writing, Drama, Poetry, Fiction, Short fiction, Writing by women, Life writing, Regionalism and urbanism, Canadian literary criticism and the idea of a national literature.
Canadian Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature) by Faye Hammill
Call Number: PS 8061 .H36 2007 (all campuses) + Ebook (Multi-user)
While the focus of the book is on twentieth-century and contemporary writing, it also charts the historical development of Canadian literature and discusses important eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors. The chapters focus on four central topics in Canadian culture: 1) Ethnicity, Race, Colonisation; 2) Wildernesses, Cities, Regions; 3) Desire; and 4) Histories and Stories. Each chapter combines case studies of five key texts with a broad discussion of concepts and approaches, including postcolonial and postmodern reading strategies and theories of space, place and desire.

Canadian Reference Sources

The Canadian Encyclopedia
Call Number: Online
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Call Number: Online
A work in progress, currently covers those who died or whose last-known activity took place in the period 1000-1930. New biographies are released weekly and there are some biographies for 1931-2000.
Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples
Call Number: FC104 E56 1999 Reference (all campuses) + Online
Provides an overview of people within the geographical and social framework of Canada. Each group entry outlines origins; migration; arrival and settlement; economic life; community life; family and kinship; culture; education; religion; politics; intergroup relations; group maintenance and ethnic commitment; and bibliography.
The Oxford Companion to Canadian History
Call Number: Online
An authoritative and comprehensive guide to the significant events, issues, institutions, places, and people that have shaped Canada from earliest times to the present.

Canadian English Dictionaries

Canadian Oxford Dictionary
Call Number: PE 3235 .C36 2004 Reference (all campuses) + Online
Combines coverage of international English with information on English as it is particularly used in Canada. Definitions are presented so that the meaning most familiar to Canadians appears first and foremost

Dictionary of Literary Biography

Find biographical-critical essays from the Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) series; relevant volumes include:

Twenty-First-Century Canadian Writers (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 334)

Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 250)

Canadian Writers Before 1890 (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 99)

Canadian Writers, 1890-1920 (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 92)

Canadian Writers, 1920-1959 (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 68 and v. 88)

Canadian Writers Since 1960 (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 53 and v. 60)

For example:

Sywenky, Irene. "Joy Kogawa." Twenty-First-Century Canadian Writers. Ed. Christian Riegel. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 334.

Find DLB essays using Artemis Literary Sources
In the advanced search change "Keyword" to "Publication Title" using the dropdown menu and enter "Dictionary of Literary Biography" in the search box

Critical Overview of Canadian Literature

"Canadian Literature." _Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism_. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 206. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 132-233.
Digtized version of a collection of essays providing a critical overivew of Canadian writing in the twentieth century