German 60 : Performance
Spring 2005
GENERAL SOURCES | ENCYCLOPEDIAS | BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND INDEXES | A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOURNAL ARTICLES | WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
GENERAL SOURCES
The Five-College
Library Catalog (one segment lists books and journals in the Four
Colleges, another lists UMass holdings) is the best place to start
library research. All books are listed by their AUTHORS, TITLES,
and SUBJECTS, and you can also search by KEYWORD.
KEYWORD searching is not likely to yield a complete list
of locally-owned books on any particular topic, but it's a good way
to begin; type in a common language characterization of your topic,
say "cabaret",
select titles from the resulting list that interest you, note which official
subject headings are assigned to those titles, then click on them
to do a more thorough SUBJECT search.
SUBJECT searching, as such, requires that you use the exact
word or phrase libraries have chosen to describe your topic. The official
SUBJECT for the topic above, for instance, is "music halls, variety
theaters, cabarets, etc.". Be as specific as you can be, and keep
in mind that most major subject headings have detailed sub-divisions,
so browse through those as well. Ask at the Reference Desk if you're
not sure what words or phrases to use.
For quick background information, try the
Britannica Online from any computer on campus; just click
on the colored link.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
The Dictionary of Art. New York, Grove's Dictionaries,
1996. 34 volumes.
The basic encyclopedia of artists (short biographies), topics,
terms, etc. Many articles have brief bibliographies appended. (Ref N 31
D5 1996) The
Dictionary of Art (click here to connect) is also available online
from any Amherst computer.
Art in the Modern Era. New York, Abrams, 2002.
Concise summaries of styles, schools and movements, from 1860
to the present; especially helpful for historical background to current
trends. (Ref N 6490 D415 2002)
Artwords: A Glossary of Contemporary Art Theory.
Westport CT, Greenwood, 1997.
A dictionary of theoretical and critical terminology for the
visual arts. (Ref N 71 P32 1997)
A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. New York, Schirmer,
2000. 2nd edition.
Quirky but informative and enjoyably browsable entries on
experimental artists of the past few decades. (Ref NX 456 K67)
A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory. Oxford,
Blackwell, 1996.
Brief entries on theorists, ideas, etc., with an extensive
bibliography at the back. (Ref HM 101 D527 1996)
Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. London & New York,
Routledge, 2001.
Similar to the preceding title, with good cross-referencing
and tiny reading lists following some entries. (Ref B 831.2 E63 2001)
Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture. London
& New York, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. 4 volumes.
A-Z entries, illustrated, on architects, building types, notable
buildings, countries, cities, movements, materials, theory, etc., most
with small bibliographies. (Ref NA 680 E495 2004)
World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. London
& New York, Routledge, 1994. 6 volumes.
Each of the first five volumes covers an area of the world
("Europe", "Americas", "Africa", etc.),
and within each there's a country-by-country survey of local 20th century
theater history, sociology of theater, directing, acting, dramaturgical,
and design styles, etc. The sixth volume includes an index to the previous
five, plus a 250-page bibliography. (Ref PN 1861 W67 1994)
International Encyclopedia of Dance. New York, Oxford,
1998. 6 volumes.
Huge collection of short articles on performers, techniques,
regional styles, etc. (Ref GV 1585 I586 1998)
Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture. London
& New York, Routledge, 1999.
Brief articles on selected issues and individuals in German
cultural studies. (Ref DD 290.26 E53 1999)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND INDEXES
Printed subject bibliographies and indexes,
which list books and/or articles on particular topics, can lead you
to substantial reading lists in your area of research. Action Art:
A Bibliography of Artists' Performance from Futurism to Fluxus and Beyond (Ref
Z 5936 nP47 G73 1993) is one key example. It lists books and articles
on general topics, movements, and individual artists. But it's a bit
dated; online indexes enable you to update.
Depending on your research topic, there may be
other useful printed bibliographies (thousands exist); use the SUBJECT
category in the Library Catalog to track them down, guess at KEYWORD(s),
or ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.
The most relevant indexes for this course, available by clicking
on the links which follow, are probably Art
Abstracts,
The Bibliography of the History of Art (RILA/BHA), Avery
Architectural Index, and
MLA (literary criticism). You can also try
Academic Search Premier and
Expanded Academic Index, both of which are more general in
their coverage and therefore significantly more selective than discipline-specific
listings, but have the advantage of including many electronic, full-text
articles.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOURNAL ARTICLES
Printed and computerized indexes and bibliographies provide citations to articles which may or may not be owned by the Amherst College Library. To find out if and where we have older issues of journals, you can look up each journal title in the Library Catalog; be attentive to volume numbers and dates which show up onscreen since sometimes we've started or stopped a subscription in the middle of a run. Or you can use the Journal Locator (linked from the Library homepage, beneath Research) to find specific articles as well as electronic versions of journals, some of which are not currently listed in the online Library Catalog.
WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
A Google search using "performance art"
(in quotes, to retrieve sites using the phrase, not each word separately)
yields 'about' 886,000 results.
It's more efficient to use what are called metasites
- sites which compile relevant links - provided the selection is worthwhile.
The Amherst Library maintains a selection of reliable World Wide Web metasites
and other useful links, arranged by academic department; for this course,
try Art,
German,
and Theater
& Dance.
With respect to limiting Google output, look for
a so-called directory service in your results, like Yahoo, which has done
some preselection. Always remember that the World Wide Web, unlike the
Library, is largely un-refereed, that is, the information mounted may
or may not be legitimate. Be skeptical, and read critically. For tips
on finding, evaluating, and citing websites, check out Evaluating
Web Sources, in the Amherst College Library site.
Comments regarding this page should be directed to: Michael Kasper (mkasper)