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Historical Figures & Fictional Characters
Drama Research Guide > Research a Play > Figures/Characters
A knowledge of historical figures, fictional characters, meanings of names, and literary allusions may be useful for theater research, design, criticism, or interpretation. (This is a broad area. Consult a librarian if you do not find what you need. For theater criticism, see Literary Biography and Criticism.)
Biographical Sources
- Biographies (PDF) -- This guide lists a broad range of biographical resources.
-
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
-- Electronic resource. Citations to biographical
sketches in reference books; covers contemporary and
historical figures. Very thorough.
- Gale Literature Resource Center
-- This full-text database has biographies, overviews of
playwrights' work, critical essays, works lists, and
bibliographies.
- Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary. Babbidge Ref. CT 103 M47 1995
- New Century Cyclopedia of Names. Babbidge Ref. PE 1625 C43 1954 v. 1-3
- For additional biographical dictionaries, try the following Subject Heading searches in HOMER:
Biography--Dictionaries
Names, Personal--Dictionaries (or Names--Dictionaries)
Fictional Characters
- Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. The Reader's Handbook of Famous Names in Fiction, Allusions, References, Proverbs, Plots, Stories, and Poems. 1899. Babbidge Ref. PN 43 B7 1965 v.1-2
- Magill, Frank. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Babbidge Ref. PN 44 M3 1963
- Magill, Frank. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters II. Babbidge Ref. PN 44 M3 1990 v.1-4
- For additional "character" or literary dictionaries, try these Subject Heading searches in HOMER:
Characters and characteristics in literature
Fiction--Dictionaries
Literature--Dictionaries
Literature--Stories, plots, etc.
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