Databases: Gale Literary Index

Several search paths have been designed to help you locate the information you are seeking from Gale's literature products:

Author: Type in an author's name and find out what Gale literature products include an entry on the author. You can search by the author's real name, or any pseudonym under which he or she has written. If you know the author's first and last names, either option will work for your search. If you know only the author's last name, select the "Start of Last Name" option.

Title: Type in a full or partial title of a work of literature, and find out what Gale literature products discuss that work. If you know the exact full title of the work you are searching for, select the "Match words exactly as entered" option to return the most specific result, or enter either the full title or keywords from that title and choose the "Match all words entered" search option (omitting prepositions is sometimes helpful as well). This second search option is recommended for the best all-around search. If you only know a key word or two, select the "Match any word(s) entered" option; note that this option will result in the greatest number of hits. Please note that keying "Moby Dick" and selecting the "Match words exactly as entered" option will not return Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Melville's Moby Dick will come up if you choose either the "Match all words entered" or "Match any word(s) entered" option.

Custom Search: You can narrow your author search criteria to a specific nationality, birth year, or death year by selecting a nationality from the Author Nationality pull-down list and by entering dates in the Birth Year and Death Year fields. For example, selecting "Italian" from the Author Nationality pull-down list and entering 1926 in the Birth Year field and selecting the "is" and "A.D." options will return a list of Italian writers born in 1926.

What Your Search Results Mean

If you conducted an Author Search or a Custom Search, your results list will contain the names of authors who match your search. Click on the name of the author you are interested in to view his or her full index record. The index record will show you the author's birth and death years (if applicable and known), the pseudonyms the author has written under (if applicable), and a listing of the Gale literature products that contain an entry on the author. The author record also contains the titles of works by the author that are discussed in Gale's literature products. For each title, the product name, volume number(s), and page number(s) on which the work is discussed are listed.

If you conducted a Title Search, your results list will contain the titles of works and the names of the authors who wrote them (if applicable) that match your search. Click on the name of the title you are interested in to view the full index record for that title. The index record will show you the title of the work, the name of the author (if applicable), and which Gale literature products contain an entry on the title. You may click on the name of the author to go directly to that author's index entry.

Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references over 165,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for over 215,000 titles into one source.

Gale's Literary Index provides quick and easy access to author and title listings from over 130 literature products from Gale and the imprints Charles Scribner's Sons, St. James Press, and Twayne Publishers. The referenced products themselves will contain complete biographies on authors and critical essays on their writings. You can use Gale's Literary Index as a starting point to locate authors and titles covered in any volumes of the following products:

• African-American Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• African Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• American Nature Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• American Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• American Writers: The Classics (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• American Writers Retrospective Supplement (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• American Writers Supplement (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Ancient Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Asian American Literature
• Authors and Artists for Young Adults
• Authors in the News
• Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction:  Analyses
• Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction:  Biography and Resources
• Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults
• Beat Generation: A Gale Critical Companion
• Bestsellers
• Black Literature Criticism
• Black Literature Criticism Supplement
• Black Writers
• British Writers(Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• British Writers: The Classics (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• British Writers Retrospective Supplement (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• British Writers Supplement (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Children's Literature Review
• Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
• Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography
• Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography Supplement
• Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography
• Concise Dictionary of World Literary Biography
• Concise Major 21st-Century Writers
• Contemporary American Dramatists(St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Authors
• Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series
• Contemporary Authors Bibliographical Series
• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series
• Contemporary Authors Permanent Series
• Contemporary British Dramatists (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Canadian Authors
• Contemporary Dramatists (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Literary Criticism
• Contemporary Novelists (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Poets (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Popular Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Southern Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Women Dramatists (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary Women Poets (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Contemporary World Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Dictionary of Literary Biography
• Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series
• Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook
• DISCovering Authors
• DISCovering Authors 3.0
• DISCovering Authors: British Edition
• DISCovering Authors: Canadian Edition
• DISCovering Authors Modules
• Drama Criticism
• Drama for Students
• Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Epics for Students
• European Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Exploring Novels
• Exploring Poetry
• Exploring Short Stories
• Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion
• Feminist Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Gay & Lesbian Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion
• Guide to French Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion
• Hispanic Literature Criticism
• Hispanic Literature Criticism Supplement
• Hispanic Writers
• International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers:  Writers and Production Artists (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• International Dictionary of Theatre: Playwrights (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Junior DISCovering Authors
• Latin American Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Latin American Writers
• Supplement (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Latino and Latina Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Literature and Its Times 
• Literature and Its Times Supplement
• Literature Criticism from 1400-1800 
• Literature of Developing Nations for Students 
• Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults 
• Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults Supplement 
• Major 20th-Century Writers 
• Major 21st-Century Writers (eBook)
• Modern American Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Modern American Women Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Modern British Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Modern Japanese Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Mystery and Suspense Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Native North American Literature 
• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism 
• Nonfiction Classics for Students
• Novels for Students 
• Poetry Criticism 
• Poetry for Students 
• Poets: American and British (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Reference Guide to American Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Reference Guide to English Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Reference Guide to Short Fiction (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Reference Guide to World Literature (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers (UXL, an imprint of Gale)
• Science Fiction Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Shakespearean Criticism
• Shakespeare for Students
• Shakespeare's Characters for Students
• Short Stories for Students 
• Short Story Criticism 
• Something about the Author
• Something about the Author Autobiography Series
• St. James Guide to Children's Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• St. James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Supernatural Fiction Writers (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Twayne Companion to Contemporary Literature in English (Twayne Publishers, an imprint of Gale)
• Twayne's English Authors (Twayne Publishers, an imprint of Gale)
• Twayne's United States Authors (Twayne Publishers, an imprint of Gale)
• Twayne's World Authors (Twayne Publishers, an imprint of Gale)
• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism 
• Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• Twentieth-Century Western Writers (St. James Press, an imprint of Gale)
• UXL Graphic Novelists (UXL, an imprint of Gale)
• William Shakespeare (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• World Literature and Its Times 
• World Literature Criticism 
• World Literature Criticism Supplement
• World Poets (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• World Writers in English (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Writers for Children (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Writers for Young Adults (Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Gale)
• Yesterday's Authors of Books for Children

Each Literary Index author entry contains the author's primary name, with listing for any known pseudonyms or variant names under which the author has published. Names and titles are cross-referenced for easy and thorough searching.