Research Guides: English: 20th &amp; 21st Century

20th & 21st Century

In this section of the guide, we have collected resources relevant to contemporary literature, including the 20th as well as the 21st century.

For more information on 20th- & 21st-century literature within the English Department, see the link below.

20th- and 21st-Century Literary Studies
A page maintained by the Purdue English Department summarizing the state of 20th & 21st Century Literary Studies within the department, as well as a list of faculty involved.

American Fiction, 1774-1920
More than 17,500 works of prose fiction written by Americans from colonial times to the early twentieth century. The collection includes novels, short stories, romances, fictitious biographies, travel accounts and sketches, allegories, and tract like tales typifying the development of American literature in a changing culture.

Coverage 1774-1920
Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS)
The most comprehensive Western-language bibliographical database for research on East, Southeast and South Asia. It covers Western-language journal articles, review articles, conference proceedings and chapters in edited volumes with special focus on the humanities and social sciences.

Coverage: 1971 – current.

COVE Studio Purdue
Containing over 17 million words of content, this database allows you to create anthologies of literature and to annotate collectively with students.

Graphic Novels Core Collection
Highlights over 2,000 recommended titles with descriptive and evaluative annotations (including review excerpts and awards the title has won), plus cover art. Standards for rating material by age appropriateness are strictly applied, plus all titles are searchable by author, title, subject, genre, and grade level.
Independent Voices
Independent Voices chronicles the transformative decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s through the lens of an independent alternative press. Consolidated for the first time, Independent Voices provides over 1,000 titles from the special collections of dozens of libraries. Independent Voices provides easy access to the powerful voices of feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more.
Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels
A collection of adult comic books and graphic novels from the first underground comix from the 1960s to the works of contemporary creators. Still growing, the collection contains 421 comic series, 1,901 comic books totaling 129,624 pages, including a complete run of The Comics Journal. Includes some material from the 1950s, notably Dr. Frederic Werthams Seduction of the Innocent, as well as influential works by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder.

Independent Voices
Independent Voices chronicles the transformative decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s through the lens of an independent alternative press. Consolidated for the first time, Independent Voices provides over 1,000 titles from the special collections of dozens of libraries. Independent Voices provides easy access to the powerful voices of feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more.

Bodleian -- Early Modern and Modern Rare Books
Rare printed books produced after the 15th century, including Shakespeare's First Folio. The rare books holdings of the Bodleian Library reflect its history as the library of the University of Oxford since 1602, with particular strengths in theology, law, the classical tradition, mathematics, life sciences, literature and early children’s books, although almost all subjects and genres are represented.
Bodleian -- Modern Manuscripts and Archives
Manuscripts and archives from the year 1801 to the present day. The Bodleian holds one of the world’s largest and most wide-ranging collections of archives and manuscripts. The modern holdings (1801-) provide excellent sources for: British political, diplomatic, social and economic history, including the personal archives of seven prime ministers, and the official archive of the Conservative Party; The politics, economics and social development of African and Commonwealth countries during the colonial and post-colonial period, including the personal archives of former colonial administrators; International development and international relations, including the archive of Oxfam GB as well as the personal archives of many former United Nations personnel; British literature, including the Romantic and Pre-Raphaelite movements of the 19th century (particularly Shelley and his circle); writers connected to the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement; Oxford-related authors of all periods, including coherent groups of writers (eg. the Inklings and the ‘Pylon poets’); and many others; Science and medicine, including the archives of individual scientists and physicians connected with the University of Oxford, as well as those of scientific organisations, such as the archives of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning; Art history and visual culture, including the archives of photographers, illustrators, engravers, etc., particularly those relevant to the history of the book.