Reference Sources
- Browse or search Cambridge Companions to Literature Cambridge Companions provide essays on major authors, periods and genres, written by experts and designed for student readers.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window Published by Oxford University Press, it is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database containing dictionaries, language reference and subject reference works.
- Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new window Cross-searchable library containing the full text and abstracts of classic and newly published Oxford books in the areas of biology, business and management, classical studies, economics and finance, history, law, linguistics, literature, mathematics, music, neuroscience, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, public health and epidemiology, religion, and social work.
Memory 101 by
Contemporary research has found that memory is much more than the process for recalling information that has been learned and retained√>=it is a rich, nuanced process that is an important part of every human activity. This highly readable foundational text provides an overview of the theories and research on human memory from a psychological perspective. Grounded in the premise that all psychological processes depend on memory, and that memory is shaped by the functions it serves, the authors look at a wide range of memory processes and discuss the major theories that have been developed to explain how it functions. This book describes the major structural and functional theories that guide our understanding of memory. The authors then focus on everyday functions of memory, including memorizing things, remembering to do things (prospective memory), and recalling how to do things, such as skills, procedures, and navigation. Disorders of memory including Alzheimer's and amnesia are examined along with exceptional memory skills, such as the phenomenon of individuals with highly superior autobiographical memory. The book also addresses the intriguing and controversial topics of repressed and recovered memories, the validity of memory in courtroom testimony, and the effects of remembering traumatic events. Illustrative examples, metaphors, and humor make for a text that is engaging and entertaining, resulting in a valuable, concise introduction for students. Key Features: Provides a concise, easy-to-read, yet scientifically based survey of theory and current research on memory Grounded in the concept that memory is foundational to all psychological processes and human experience Covers controversial and intriguing topics including repressed and recovered memories, memory in legal testimony, amnesia, and the phenomenon of super memory Explores the myths and realities surrounding memory loss The Psych 101 Series Short, reader-friendly introductions to cutting-edge topics in psychology. With key concepts, controversial topics, and fascinating accounts of up-to-the-minute research, The Psych 101 Series is a valuable resource for all students of psychology and anyone interested in the field.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2014
Handbook of Culture and Memory by
In the Handbook of Culture and Memory, Brady Wagoner and his team of international contributors explore how memory is deeply entwined with social relationships, stories in film and literature, group history, ritual practices, material artifacts, and a host of other cultural devices. Culture isseen as the medium through which people live and make meaning of their lives. In this book, analyses focus on the mutual constitution of people's memories and the social-cultural worlds to which they belong.The complex relationship between culture and memory is explored in: the concept of memory and its relation to evolution, neurology and history; life course changes in memory from its development in childhood to its decline in old age; and the national and transnational organization of collectivememory and identity through narratives propagated in political discourse, the classroom, and the media.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2017
The SAGE Handbook of Applied Memory by
A fabulous collection of essays on memory in the real world. The leading scholars have been assembled to produce a volume that is intellectually rich, up-to-date, and truly important. - Elizabeth F. Loftus, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine "An invaluable resource for anyone wishing to access the current state of knowledge of, or contemplating research into, the growing area of applied memory research." - Graham Davies, Editor, Applied Cognitive Psychology The SAGE Handbook of Applied Memory is the first of its kind to focus specifically on this vibrant and progressive field. It offers a broad and comprehensive coverage of recent theoretical and empirical research advances in the psychology of memory as they apply to a range of applied issues, and offers advanced students and researchers the opportunity to survey the literature in the psychology of memory across a range of applied domains. Arranged into four sections: Everyday Memory; Social and Individual Differences in Memory; Subjective Experience of Memory; and Eyewitness Memory, this handbook provides a comprehensive summary and evaluation of scientific memory research as well as theory in a broad range of applied topics including those in cognitive, forensic and experimental psychology. Brought together by world-leading scholars from across the globe, The SAGE Handbook of Applied Memory will be of great interest to all advanced students and academics with an interest in all aspects of applied memory.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2013
Marking the Mind: A History of Memory by
Memory is one of the few psychological concepts with a truly ancient lineage. Presenting a history of the interrelated changes in memory tasks, memory technology and ideas about memory from antiquity to the late twentieth century, this book confronts psychology's 'short present' with its 'long past'. Kurt Danziger, one of the most influential historians of psychology of recent times, traces long-term continuities from ancient mnemonics and tools of inscription to modern memory experiments and computer storage. He explores historical discontinuities, showing how different kinds of memory became prominent at different times, and examines these changes in the context of specific themes including the question of truth in memory, distinctions between kinds of memory, the project of memory experimentation and the physical localization and conceptual location of memory. Daniziger's unique approach provides a historical perspective for understanding varieties of reproduction, narratives of the self and short-term memory.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2008
Literary Biography
BU Databases:
- American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window Biographical dictionary of notable deceased American men and women from all eras of American history. Includes illustrations and links to other web resources.
- Biography (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window Biography In Context offers biographical information about historically significant figures as well as present-day newsmakers. It includes reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images.
- Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
- Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new window LION includes texts, criticism, and reference material, including thousands of literary articles, essays, biographies and encyclopedia entries on over 350,000 works of poetry, prose, and drama from the 8th to the 21st century.
Browse Books and eBooks on:
William Wordsworth, a Poetic Life by
Wordsworth: A Poetic Life is a new biography of the great father of British Romanticism. It is new in several ways, most notably in the way it approaches the life of the poet. Paying its proper respect to the classic lives of Wordsworth by Mary Moorman and Stephen Gill, it attempts to tell the story of the life through a more rigorous reading of key and representative works of the poet, through careful blending of life and poetry. Wordsworth offers the story of the literariness of the poet's life - childhood and adolescence in the Lake District, education at Cambridge, love and political radicalism in France, the long period of residence in Grasmere and Rydal, celebrity, and national and international recognition. Its reading of the poems, in tune with current theoretical practice, offers a sense of the continuities in Wordsworth's career as it moves away from familiar theories of a Golden Decade of creativity and a period of long decline. The book also works closely and rigorously with Wordsworth's poetry as a method of dramatizing the essentially poetic character of the poet's life.
Location: Mugar Stacks PR5881 .M33 1997 and OnlinePublication Date: 1996
Dickinson in Her Own Time: : A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates by
Even before the first books of her poems were published in the 1890s, friends, neighbors, and even apparently strangers knew Emily Dickinson was a writer of remarkable verses. Featuring both well-known documents and material printed or collected here for the first time, this book offers a broad range of writings that convey impressions of Dickinson in her own time and for the first decades following the publication of her poems. It all begins with her school days and continues to the centennial of her birth in 1930. In addition, promotional items, reviews, and correspondence relating to early publications are included, as well as some later documents that reveal the changing assessments of Dickinson's poetry in response to evolving critical standards. These documents provide evidence that counters many popular conceptions of her life and reception, such as the belief that the writer best known for poems focused on loss, death, and immortality was herself a morose soul. In fact, those who knew her found her humorous, playful, and interested in other people. Dickinson maintained literary and personal correspondence with major representatives of the national literary scene, developing a reputation as a remarkable writer even as she maintained extreme levels of privacy. Evidence compiled here also demonstrates that she herself made considerable provision for the survival of her poems and laid the groundwork for their eventual publication. Dickinson in Her Own Time reveals the poet as her contemporaries knew her, before her legend took hold.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2016
Maya Angelou: Adventurous Spirit by
A comprehensive biographical and critical reading of the works of American poet and memoirist Maya Angelou (1928-2014). Linda Wagner-Martin covers all six of Angelou's autobiographies, as well as her essay and poetry collections, while also exploring Angelou's life as an African American in the United States, her career as stage and film performer, her thoughtful participation in the Civil Rights actions of the 1960s, and her travels abroad in Egypt, Africa, and Europe. In her discussion of Angelou's methods of writing her stunning autobiography, which began with the 1970 publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Wagner-Martin writes about the influences of the Harlem Writers Group (led by James Baldwin, Paule Marshall, and John O. Killens) as well as Angelou's significant friendships with Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leaders from both international and African American United States cultures. Crucial concepts throughout include the role of oral traditions, of song and dance, of the spiritualism of art based on religious belief, of Angelou's voiced rhythms and her polished use of dialogue to convey more abstract "meaning." Wagner-Martin shows that, viewing herself as a global citizen, Angelou never lost her spirit of adventure and discovery as well as her ability to overcome.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2015
Octavia E. Butler by
"I began writing about power because I had so little," Octavia E. Butler once said. Butler's life as an African American woman--an alien in American society and among science fiction writers--informed the powerful works that earned her an ardent readership and acclaim both inside and outside science fiction. Gerry Canavan offers a critical and holistic consideration of Butler's career. Drawing on Butler's personal papers, Canavan tracks the false starts, abandoned drafts, tireless rewrites, and real-life obstacles that fed Butler's frustrations and launched her triumphs. Canavan departs from other studies to approach Butler first and foremost as a science fiction writer working within, responding to, and reacting against the genre's particular canon. The result is an illuminating study of how an essential SF figure shaped themes, unconventional ideas, and an unflagging creative urge into brilliant works of fiction.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2016
The pocket essential Philip K. Dick by
Who was Dick? A freaked-out junkie who took too many drugs? An explorer of madness who got too close to his subject and ended up claiming to have met God? A practical joker? The most consistently brilliant SF writer in the world? All this and much more is revealed in this addition to the Pocket Essentials series which as well as an introductory essay on Dick, includes reviews of each of his novels and an analysis of his complete oeuvre. Essential for sci-fi fans everywhere.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2000
