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Prepublication Review in Trade Magazine
Citation: Seaman, Donna. "Upfront Fall Preview: Adult Fiction." Booklist 94, no. 23 (08, 1998): 1922. Booklist, published by the American Library Association, publishes a brief review of the Poisonwood Bible. The reviewer, probably a librarian, received an advance copy of the novel. Librarians use Booklist to make decisions about which books to add to library collections. -
Prepublication Review in Trade Magazine
Citation: "Forecasts: Fiction." Publishers Weekly 245, no. 32 (08/10, 1998): 366. Publisher's Weekly includes a brief review of The Poisonwood Bible in its early August issue, which focuses on highlights of the fall publishing schedule. Note that the book has not yet been published; instead, selected reviewers receive advance copies. Booksellers use prepublication reviews to make decisions about inventory. -
Prepublication Review in Trade Magazine
Citation: Flexman, Ellen and Barbara Hoffert. "Book Reviews: Fiction." Library Journal 123, no. 14 (09, 1998): 214. Library Journal is another trade magazine used by librarians to make decisions about which books to add to the library's collection. Note that the Poisonwood Bible still has not been published; instead, the reviewer received an advance copy of the novel from the publisher. -
Prepublication Review in Newspaper
Citation: Kakutani, Michiko. "Books of the Times: No Ice Cream Cones in a Heart of Darkness." New York Times (10/16, 1998): 45.
Publishers often send advance copies of publications to newspapers with large readerships, hoping that reviews will generate publicity and sales. The author of this review, Mikiko Kakutani, has been a literary critic for the New York Times since 1983. -
Prepublication Review in Newspaper
Citation: Klinkenborg, Verlyn. "Going Native." New York Times Book Review (10/18, 1998): 7.
Some books are reviewed twice in the NYT. One review appears in the weekday paper, and the next in the Sunday New York Times Book Review. -
Publication of The Poisonwood Bible in the U.S.
After over three months of publicity and prepublication reviews, the novel itself is finally published. The official publication date is when bookstores are allowed to start selling the title. -
Review in Magazine
Citation: Skow, John. "Hearts of Darkness." Time 152, no. 19 (11/09, 1998): 113.
At one full page in length, this review is more substantial than most published in a news magazine. At this time, Barbara Kingsolver is already an established novelist, so her work receives more attention. -
Review in Newspaper
Citation: Charles, Ron. "A Dark Heart in the Congo." Christian Science Monitor 90, no. 249 (Nov. 11, 1998): 20
Another review appears in a major U.S. newspaper. -
Review in Magazine
Citation: Van Boven, Sarah. "Book Marks." Newsweek 132, no. 19 (11/09, 1998): 76.
Book reviews published in weekly news magazines tend to be brief and are written by journalists. -
Review in Magazine (Religious focus)
Citation: "Poisonous Gospel." Christianity Today 43, no. 1 (01/11, 1999): 88. The author is a journalist writing from a conservative Christian perspective. -
Review in Magazine (Religious focus)
Citation: Bromberg, Judith. "A Complex Novel about Faith, Family and Dysfunction." National Catholic Reporter 35, no. 20 (03/19, 1999): 13. -
Review in Magazine
Citation: Siegel, Lee. "Sweet and Low." New Republic 220, no. 12 (03/22, 1999): 30-37. -
Review in Magazine
Citation: Greene, Gayle. "Independence Struggle." Women's Review of Books 16, no. 7 (04, 1999): 8. -
Review in Newspaper
Citation: Hussein, Aamer. "Daughters of Africa." TLS no. 5001 (02/05, 1999): 21. The novel has now been published in Great Britain and is being reviewed in newspapers there. -
Interview with Author in Magazine
Citation: Vilbig, Pete. "Meet the Author." Literary Cavalcade 52, no. 1 (09, 1999): 13.
Literary Cavalcade is aimed at high school English teachers and college-bound high school students. -
Review in Magazine
Citation: Leonard, John. "Kingsolver in the Jungle, Catullus & Wolfe at the Door." Nation 268, no. 2 (01/11, 1999): 28-33.
Over two months have passed since the publication of the novel, and reviews continue to appear in magazines. -
Oprah's Book Club
Book Club: Oprah Winfrey selects The Poisonwood Bible for her Book Club, boosting sales of the novel. -
Scholarly Essay in Academic Anthology
Citation: Kunz, Diane. "White Men in Africa: On Barbara Kingsolver's the Poisonwood Bible." In Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past (and each Other), edited by Mark C. Carnes, 285-297. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Anthologies of scholarly essays, organized around a common theme, are quite common in academic publishing. This essay is one of the first scholarly publications on the novel to appear, nearly three years after the novel was first published. -
Book for General Audience
Citation: Wagner-Martin, Linda. 2001. Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible: A Readers Guide. New York: Continuum.
This book is part of the "Continuum Contemporaries" series, which publishes accessible introductions to popular novels. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Jacobs, J. U. "Translating the 'Heart of Darkness': Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Contemporary Congo Book." Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa 14, no. 2 (10, 2002): 104-117.
The journal, Current Writing, is edited by scholars based at universities in South Africa. A subject-specific database like the MLA indexes scholarship published internationally. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Demory, Pamela H. "Into the Heart of Light: Barbara Kingsolver Rereads Heart of Darkness." Conradiana: A Journal of Joseph Conrad Studies 34, no. 3 (/Fall, 2002): 181-193.
This is one of several scholarly articles that looks at The Poisonwood Bible as a re-telling of Conrad's novella. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Fletcher, Yael Simpson. "'History Will One Day Have Its Say': New Perspectives on Colonial and Postcolonial Congo." Radical History Review 84 (Fall 2002): 195-207. A historian analyzes the novel. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Koza, Kimberly A. "The Africa of Two Western Women Writers: Barbara Kingsolver and Margaret Laurence." Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 44, no. 3 (Spring 2003): 284-294. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Ognibene, Elaine R. "The Missionary Position: Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible." College Literature 30, no. 3 (Summer 2003): 19.
This journal is intended primarily for college professors who teach literature. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Jacobson, Kristin J. "The Neodomestic American Novel: The Politics of Home in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 24, no. 1 (Spring, 2005): 105-127. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Austenfeld, Anne Marie. "The Revelatory Narrative Circle in Barbara Kingsolver's the Poisonwood Bible." Journal of Narrative Theory 36, no. 2 (/Summer, 2006): 293-305. -
Dissertation
Citation: Bangsund, Jenny Christine. Dwelling among mortals: Narratives of disability and revelation in twentieth-century American fiction. Dissertation. Duquesne University, 2007. The Poisonwood Bible is a major focus of this dissertation, written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Ph.D. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Meillon, Bé. "Aimé Césaire's Une Saison au Congo and Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible in the Light of Postcolonialism." Anglophonia: French Journal of English Studies 21, (2007): 197-211.
As time passes, more peer-reviewed scholarly articles are published. -
Encyclopedia Entry
Citation: "Overview: The Poisonwood Bible." Novels for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web
Entries in specialized subject encyclopedias typically summarize recent scholarship. Called "tertiary sources," encyclopedia entries can help identify scholarly secondary sources. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Purcell, William F. "Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and the Essentializing of Africa: A Critical Double Standard." Notes on Contemporary Literature 37, no. 5 (11, 2007): 2-4. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Strehle, Susan. "Chosen People: American Exceptionalism in Kingsolver's the Poisonwood Bible." Critique 49, no. 4 (Summer 2008): 413-428.
This scholarly journal continues to publish articles examining various aspects of the novel. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: White, Jeanna Fuston. "The One-Eyed Preacher, His Crooked Daughter, and Villagers Waving their Stumps: Barbara Kingsolver's use of Disability in the Poisonwood Bible." South Central Review: The Journal of the South Central Modern Language Association 26, no. 3 (/Fall, 2009): 131-144.
Regional scholarly associations often publish the work of their members. -
Podcast of Author's Talk
Citation: Kingsolver, Barbara. Interview. World Book Club. BBC World Service. 2 October 2010. Podcast.
In this podcast, Barbara Kingsolver discusses The Poisonwood Bible. -
Scholarly Book
Citation: Tricomi, Albert H. Missionary Positions: Evangelicalism and Empire in American Fiction. Gainesville, FL: UP of Florida, 2011.
This scholarly book places Kingsolver's novel into the genre of "missionary novels" in American fiction. -
Article in Scholarly Journal
Citation: Strehle, Susan. "Chosen People: American Exceptionalism in Kingsolver's the Poisonwood Bible." Critique 49, no. 4 (Summer 2008): 413-428.
Critique is an important journal for publishing scholarship on contemporary literature.
