"Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice," by Charles E. Bressler, offers a comprehensive overview of important definitions, methods of interpretation, and schools of thought on how to read and understand literature. The book has well-researched, academic content, but the author aims at novices to the subject.
Student will find a useful companion in CliffsNotes, which publishes concise explanatory, analytical and critical commentaries on works of literature. The print series includes notes on classic works from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Wuthering Heights." Many are available free online at CliffsNotes.com.
The ipl2, described on its website as "the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII)," has published an extensive online resource at ipl.org. The site has a large database of articles and links on literary criticism that can be searched by author, title, country and literary period. It also has an introductory guide to finding resources on the subject online.
The New York Times Book Review is a noted source of writing on both classic and contemporary literature, informed by literary criticism and other academic disciplines. The print edition comes out every Sunday, and articles and excerpts are regularly posted at NYTimes.com.