A quick and authoritative source for brief overview of Russian authors and works is the Encyclopedia Britannica Online .
Entries are scholarly.
Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism , Twentieth Century Literary Criticism and Contemporary Literary Criticism are quick places to look for a collection of journal articles and books, reprinted from a variety of sources. Books Trexler Library's online catalog points to books on literary history, biography, and criticism. A keyword search on the catalog allows combining of terms. It is also advantageous in retrieving book chapters on your subject as well as entire books. Then connect to any relevant subject headings as they appear.