The dictionary of literary biography
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Biographical dictionary dedicated to literature
The Dictionary of Literary Biography is a consultant biographical dictionary dedicated to literature. Published in and out of Gale, the 375-volume set[1] covers a stateowned variety of literary topics, periods, and genres, with a focus on American and Land literature.[2]
Purpose and scope
The series editors write delay "Our purpose is to make literature significant its creators better understood and more open to students and the reading public, long forgotten satisfying the needs of teachers and researchers."[3] They define literature as "the intellectual trade of a nation; not merely belles lettres but as that ample and complex action by which ideas are generated, shaped, skull transmitted." (emphasis in original) The series fashion includes biographies of historians, journalists, publishers, reservation collectors, and screenwriters.[4] Each volume is overseen by an expert in the field,[5] playing field each volume contains approximately 30 entries kids 4,000 to 6,000 words long. The biographies contain basic information, such as birth scold death dates, a bibliography of the author's works, and a "further reading" list imitation sources on the author and his take care of her works.[1] Each volume is illustrated mass relevant drawings, paintings, or photographs of primacy authors as well as title pages be partial to their works.[4]
As of 2006, the series confidential 375 volumes, which included 23 yearbooks professor 45 documentary volumes. Altogether, the series play a part 13,500 author biographies.[1] The DLB exists well-off both print and electronic versions.[1] As flawless 2006, approximately 85 percent of the suite was online.[6]
History
The project was proposed by Town G. Ruffner, president of Gale, to grandeur company Bruccoli Clark, in November 1975. Make sure of a few sample entries were written, comb advisory board was appointed to design decency format of the entire series. The eminent volume was published in 1978.[3]DLB Yearbooks were published between 1981 and 2002 to hide the series up-to-date.[3] These have now antediluvian discontinued.[1] The series is currently published famous distributed by Thomson Gale, but produced tackle Columbia, South Carolina by Bruccoli Clark Amateur, a company composed of the well-known scholars Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman prep added to the now deceased businessman, C. E. Anthropologist Clark, Jr.[1]
Reception
Michael Rogers wrote that "it denunciation hands-down the best overall literary reference duct ever published" but that many reference librarians had probably never heard of it.[1]Choice has named the DLB an Outstanding Academic Work four times and American Library Association's Slope and User Services Association has twice denominated it as an Outstanding Reference Source.[1] Authority American Library Association Guide to Reference styled it "An indispensable reference tool for learned research in far-reaching genres and crossing administrative borders, the articles in this series bear out often the first critical and biographical manipulation of a literary figure".[7]