The historical context surrounding a literary work or creation can have several layers you might explore. For example, consider the following:

• What was happening in the world at the time the work was created?
• What was happening in the world during the time in which the work takes place?
• What impact do certain cultural references or histories of particular words and their use have?
• What is the history of the genre and how does the work fit (or not fit) within that history?
• What was the process of publication and distribution at the time that might affect the audience and influence of the work?
• How has the reader response to the work changed over time?
• What is the history about how the particular subject matter was treated by other texts or works?

Remember, there are often innumerable and overlapping contexts to any given work that can help shape the different meanings that arise. Make sure to careful consider what contexts impact your interpretation of the text.

Depending on what type of historical context you are trying to gather, there are different sources you might consider.

• Historical overviews of certain time periods or events: books can provide an overview of background information and time periods. Encyclopedia articles are another place to gather information about certain events without quite as much detail.
• Cultural References: You might search for information about specific cultural references by finding more information about the culture or time period either in books, encyclopedias, or even popular material such as newspapers and magazines.
• Histories of individual words: Encyclopedias and dictionaries can often provide etymologies of words.
• Reader responses: Book reviews can be a great sources of reader responses. These can be found in historical newspapers, disciplinary journals, and websites, especially for current reader responses (i.e. Goodreads).
• Genre studies: Books are often written around specific genres. Disciplinary encyclopedias are another place to check for shorter articles.

Here are some suggested starting places to look for materials. This list is not all inclusive.