Letter from the Editor
Dear Compass User,
What first attracted me to Literature Compass was its novelty and ambition. I had used other literature web resources, but they had been limited in concept: journals catering to particular periods or authors, and searchable databases of texts.
Literature Compass has much broader horizons: a state-of-the-art site providing expert coverage of every period - in effect, nine searchable journals for the price of one, each edited by distinguished specialists (typically one British and one American) supported by editorial advisors. Then again there is a new kind of core content: survey articles, written by established and upcoming professionals who foreground the work and trends they consider important; and viewpoint articles, designed to challenge received wisdom.
For the academic community Literature Compass is very good news: it gives desktop access to the driving ideas, current issues and controversies that enliven our discipline and fuel our research - a topicality that stands foursquare on the enduring preoccupations of literary scholarship. And since this is a site by the community for the community it generates a strong sense of dialogue and engagement. From a contributor's point of view Literature Compass has the huge advantage over a print journal of publishing a peer-reviewed and fully citable article within eight weeks of acceptance.
New, innovatory features are a regular occurrence. Recently, we introduced a graduate essay prize, and we have begun to pilot a project on the teaching applications of Literature Compass. In the future I expect its interactive elements to grow, as well as its use of pictorial materials.
Enjoy exploring with Literature Compass!
Yours faithfully,
Professor Peter Brown
University of Kent