Novels: finding literary reviews and criticism

Reviews of books using current and historic sources, online and in print.

Introduction

Australian authors' works are reviewed in international journals and newspapers, if they are well-known overseas, so it is worth searching international resources for these reviews or articles.  There are also specific resources for Australian literature.

The Internet has a lot of information about authors and books, but be aware that the quality of free websites varies.  It may take a bit of searching to find useful information. The most accurate, indepth and extensive book reviews is usually found in resources available  through libraries, which pay for these resources. 

Author's personal sites often include reviews. To locate them do a search under an author's name. The web address of the author's site will usually include their name.

Amazon also includes many reviews and the full text of many works which are out of copyright. This is an ever-changing area, so it is worth seeing what you can find free online.

    Online

    The Library subscribes to a range of online journal and newspaper databases. These are a good source of recent book reviews. Try the After 1990 tab above for further suggestions for online sources. Many of these items will be available outside the Library to registered Victorian users.

    AustLit online database

      This database is a collaboration between Australian Universities and the National Library of Australia.

      • coverage from 1780 onwards
      • critical material on Australian literary works, creative writers, and on Australian literature in general
      • indexes journals, newspapers and other publications
      • gives citation details rather than full text. Use the citation details such as journal title and date to locate a print or online article
      • use Advanced search to identify literature by  author's gender or cultural heritage, subject area, time period etc.

      Informit online database

      • subscription database available within the Library (and externally to registered Victorian residents)
      • includes numerous databases dealing with different subjects. Select all or some databases
      • covers wide range of Australian publications including literary journals and newspapers
      • includes book reviews, some full text and some citations and abstracts only

      Article databases via our catalogue

      • choose the 'Article' tab from above the search box
      • you can do a quick search or use the Database A-Z link (beneath the search box) to specify particular databases

      Online journals

      The above databases allow you to search a wide range of journals. Some journals are available in both print form and online.  When you search for a particular  journal on the Library catalogue, the online version will have a term such as 'online', 'view online'  or 'electronic resource' in the record.

      Most online journals have full article records dating back no earlier than the 1980s or 1990s. Earlier issues are in print. The catalogue or database record tells you when the online version started, and whether it has citations or full text articles.

      Several key journals containing reviews and criticism of Australian literature are available online through our Library catalogue.

      Online Newspapers

      Newspapers usually include literary pages and book reviews. Often these appear in weekend editions of newspapers.

      Historic Australian newspapers

      • project is progressively digitising a major daily newspaper from each state
      • content is progressively being transcribed to improve accuracy of searching
      • very good facility for browsing specific dates

      Google news archive

      • use 'Advanced News Archive Search' to narrow to The Age (Melbourne) or Sydney Morning Herald
      • the search function is still being developed so try a range of terms in different searches to try and locate material
      • the Archive has papers for the entire period back to 1854 but there are significant gaps
      • if you have dates use the date option to browse
      • Google have been reducing their commitment to the News Archive

      Print sources

      There are a number of print sources that will help locate reviews for Australian books.  Those listed below may assist in finding reviews of more obscure Australian publications.

      Children's literature

      For information on children's and young adult books, see our separate Children's literature guide.

      Catalogue

      Check the catalogue for books on Australian literature or authors.

      You can search using keywords to locate specific items. For example - peter carey criticism

      Alternately you can search under the subject option; for example - Richardson, Henry Handel.

      On the left of the screen you will see a list of related subjects for that author.

      The following subject keyword search will list subject headings relating to critical works on Australian literature.