Created by Ashton Nichols, Professor of English at Dickinson College, this interesting site should appeal to users in both the history of science and literature. Basically, the site explores connections between literary works and natural history in the century before Darwin's Origin of the Species. At the site, visitors will first find several essays by Ashton, some short case studies, and a...

Readers with an interest in contemporary literature and literary criticism may appreciate Alluvium, which describes itself as "an open access scholarly journal dedicated to 21st-century writing as well as 21st-century approaches to the literary canon." Here, visitors will find a robust collection of peer-reviewed essays (with most accompanied by multiple images) on a wide range of timely...

The web makes finding reference works rather simple, and Bartleby.com has been kind enough over the past few years to put more than a healthy offering of their publications online at no cost to voracious readers and the generally curious. On this corner of their site they have brought together over one hundred popular nonfiction works. Visitors can meander through "The World's Famous Orations",...

John Lye, a professor in the Departments of English and Communication Studies at Brock University (Canada), offers this resource designed for beginning literature students. Critical Guide contains sections on poetry, fiction, prose in fiction, and writing analytical essays. Though not exhaustive, this guide forms a useful framework to help beginning students think critically about the literature...

Some readers may not need an invitation to world literature, but this very interesting and thoughtful website created by Annenberg Media offers the welcoming embrace of such works as the Bhagavad Gita and the epic of Gilgamesh. The site complements a 13-part video series, which offers up literature from "a range of eras, places, cultures, languages, and traditions." Your host for this adventure is...

Founded in 1974, the National Books Critics Circle is an organization that includes over 900 book reviewers who are "interested in honoring quality writing and communicating with one another about common concerns." The Circle offers forums around the United States, and they also give annual awards for books in six different categories. On their homepage, visitors can learn about these annual...

The University of Pennsylvania's Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing has created this impressive site to bring together a wide range of spoken word endeavors, including poetry readings, literary discussions, and other engaging items. The Center is led by Charles Bernstein and Al Filreis, and visitors can get a sampling of their efforts by looking over the "New at PENNsound" section of the...

This wide-ranging collection from the Huntington Library brings together well over 100,000 items from its prodigious physical collection, which includes 7 million manuscripts, 1.3 million photographs, and prints. As the homepage of its digital collections, this site includes Maps, Rare Books, and Southern California Edison Photographs and Negatives. This last collection offers over 70,000 items...

John Lye, a professor in the Departments of English and Communication Studies at Brock University (Canada), offers this resource designed for beginning literature students. The Problem of Meaning discusses the meaning of literature from the point of view of the author, the text, and the reader. Though not exhaustive, this guide forms a useful framework to help beginning students think critically...

Founded by award-winning author Dave Eggers, McSweeney's Publishing has been putting out offbeat books, magazines, and websites since 1998. Since October 2014 it has also been a nonprofit. Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency is the group's daily-updated humor and literature site. The homepage divides posts into five categories: Today's Feature, Recently, Also New, Popular, and Columns. Each...