Context matters!

Do a little background research on the time in which your authors lived and wrote. What personal, social, cultural, political and historical issues shape or inform who they are? What questions and issues might they be responding to in their work?

Ex: a search of Junot Diaz in GVRL returns articles on Diaz, specific works, Dominican immigrants, Dominican American literature, and more. 

Also of special note in GVRL: The Twayne series of criticism provides extensive discussion of select texts and crticism. 

Sample Encyclopedias in GVRL: