ENGL 112 Introduction to Fiction

Learn about your Author

Researching your Author

You can start your research by reading about your author and the times in which they lived. Consider the databases linked below as a starting place.

Finding Information about the Author

Using Gale Literature

Gale Literary Sources has a range of information on literature.

You can find:

  • Author interviews
  • Author and work overviews
  • Reviews
  • Critical biographies
  • Scholarly literary criticism 

Search Tips

  • To get started with author biographies and interviews search by author name
  • When you see a list of results, you can then limit by document type as shown in the image below.
    • Here, the search is limited to just Biographies 
  • Notice the various tools to the right of the results - here you can see more options to limit by document type, specific works, and more.

(click on image to enlarge)

results, limited to biographies - highlighting the ways to filter your results on the tools to the right

Using Biography in Context

Use the library's Biography in Context database to find information on your author. This database contains over 700,000 biographies!

Search Tips

Search this database by searching for an author's name or use the Browse People tool to see a list of names by topic/theme.

(click on image to enlarge)

search results showing an overview of the author

Author Names

Things to Consider
 

A Note About Names

Authors can be known by several names, especially when names are transliterated, or translated from another alphabet. This means that there is no "official" way to spell them in English. Do the work to find any and all possible spellings of your author's name! For example:

Gao X = Gao Xingjian = Kao Hsing-chien = 


A Note About Translations

You may read stories originally written in another language. You should know the original, non-English title as it may help you find information on the story.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings = Un Senor Muy Viejo con Unas Alas Enormes

book cover for A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings


A Note About Original Publication

It might help you to know where your story was originally published. While you may not be able to find references to your short story, you may be able to find references to the book in which it was originally published.

Saboteur published in the book The Bridegroom

book cover

Image sources:

Ekstromer, Jonas. Gao Xingjian, 2000. 2000. Encyclopædia Britannica,

www.britannica.com/biography/ Gao-Xingjian#/media/1/735572/181016. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Book cover for 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings'. Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/

34675665-a-very-old-man-with-enormous-wings. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Book cover for 'he Bridegroom: Stories'. Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/335

61.The_Bridegroom? from_search=true&from_srp=true&

qid=grtnfNaaiJ&rank=1. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.