This document covers general principles and patterns of LC classification for 20th-century and 21st-century literary
authors. It is intended to be used in conjunction with consulting LC literature classification schedules.
One goal of LC classification is to keep together all literary works by a single author in a single
language. LC assigns a specific classification number or range of numbers to each literary author with
whom it deals; more than one separate number is assigned in those exceptional cases when
the author writes in more than one language (e.g., Samuel Beckett). This policy of keeping literary works
together contrasts with the classification of works on particular topics, where the subject determines the classification
number and the same author will have works scattered throughout the shelflist if (s)he writes on different subjects.
Twentieth-century and twenty-first-century authors: 20th-century and 21st-century authors are assigned a single class number, usually with a
cutter. This number is structured based on:
Language
Nationality
Period of writing.
A second cutter is included in the call number, usually based on title.
Language and literature are covered in the P schedules.
Some languages have separate broad class numbers for language and for literature. Examples include:
English:
language: PE
literature: PR-PS
French:
language: in PC
literature: in PQ
Spanish:
language: in PC
literature: in PQ
Some "less commonly known" languages (from LC's US library point of view) have language and literature included in the same broad classification.
Examples include:
Catalan:
language and literature: in PC
Arabic:
language and literature: in PJ
Some of the major broad classifications:
PQ Romance literature
(for the better-known Romance languages: French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese)
PR English-language literature other than U.S. literature
PS U.S. literature
PT Germanic literatures
(German; Dutch, Flemish, and Afrikaans; and Scandinavian)
Nationality or cluster of nationalities. For example, Latin American authors are
classified by specific nationality. On the other hand, European authors are often clustered: the
same letter-plus-number combinations are used for authors writing in French of French, Belgian, or Swiss
nationality or those writing in German of any European nationality.
Period of writing. This category is generally based on the period during which
the majority of the author’s books were written. While the periods may vary, the most common
pattern for the 20th century is to have two periods:
1900-1960
1961-2000
So far, class numbers for authors writing in the 21st century are designated simply for:
One cannot generalise too much about the pattern of this letter-plus-number-combination, because the structure
can vary from language to language and from one period to another.
Examples for the 20th and 21st centuries:
PS3523 = U.S. authors writing in English 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “L”
PS3562 = U.S. authors writing in English 1961-2000 with headings beginning with “L”
PS3612 = U.S. authors writing in English 2001- with headings beginning with “L”
PQ2605 = European authors writing in French 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “C”
PQ2663 = European authors writing in French 1961-2000 with headings beginning with "C”
PQ2703 = European authors writing in French 2001- with headings beginning with "C”
PQ3919.2 = Canadian authors writing in French 1961-2000
(note that this level of the class number does not specify anything about the author heading)
PQ3919.3 = Canadian authors writing in French 2001-
(note that this level of the class number does not specify anything about the author heading)
PQ6664 = Spanish authors (i.e., of Spanish nationality) writing in Spanish 1961-2000 with headings beginning with “N”
PQ6714 = Spanish authors (i.e., of Spanish nationality) writing in Spanish 2001- with headings beginning with “N”
PQ7298.24 = Mexican authors writing in Spanish 1961-2000 with headings beginning with “N”
PQ7298.424 = Mexican authors writing in Spanish 2001- with headings beginning with “N”
PQ7519.2 = Nicaraguan authors writing in Spanish 1961-2000
(note that this level of the class number does not specify anything about the author heading)
PQ7519.3 = Nicaraguan authors writing in Spanish 2001-
(note that this level of the class number does not specify anything about the author heading)
PT2678 = European authors writing in German 1961-2000 with headings beginning with “R”
PT2718 = European authors writing in German 2001- with headings beginning with “R”
While you do not need to memorise any of these combinations, some of them may become familiar to you.
A more unusual pattern is for a class number to reflect the language and nationality but not to vary according to
the period of writing. An example:
PR9309.9 = Chilean authors writing in English (during any time period)
Please note: These examples and subsequent discussion do not include the very unusual pattern that applies when an author writes
in an obscure language that is assigned only a cutter number. In such cases, the author can only be reflected in the second cutter.
When considering whether the class number is appropriate for the author, it is helpful to ask yourself the
following questions:
Does the broad letter classification correspond to the language in which the original edition of
the work was written?
Be careful that the language represented is not a language of translation. For example, an Italian
novel translated into English should be classified under PQ (for Italian), not PR or PS (for English).
Does the letter-plus-number combination correspond to the nationality of the author?
Naturally, this correspondence can only be checked if you can determine the nationality of the
author. Biographical information in the book (often the back cover) or on the jacket may help.
Place of publication may be a clue but is not always reliable; still, you may generally fall back on the country
of publication if there is no other information, particularly if several books by that author have been published
in the same country.
E.g. PQ4835.I7 for: Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936
Blurb on back of book calls Pirandello one of the most outstanding Italian writers of the twentieth century.
PQ4835 = Italian authors writing 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “P”
E.g. PQ7499.2.A73 for: Arias, Arturo, 1950-
Book in hand as well as most other records in Voyager for books by Arias show place of publication as Guatemala.
Does the letter-plus-number combination correspond to the primary period during which the
author wrote?
One clue to this issue may be the author’s dates. For example, an author who died in
1946 should not have a class number for authors writing 1961-2000. On the other hand,
an author born in 1962 would have to have begun writing after 1961, as would almost all
authors born 1940 or later.
E.g. PQ4835.I7 for: Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936
Blurb on back of book calls Pirandello one of the most outstanding Italian writers of the
twentieth century.
PQ4835 = Italian authors writing 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “P”
E.g. PQ7499.2.A73 for: Arias, Arturo, 1950-
PQ7499.2 = Guatemalan authors writing 1961-2000
If the letter-plus-number combination incorporates the representation of the first letter
of the author’s heading, does it represent the correct letter?
E.g. PQ4835.I7 for: Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936
PQ4835 = Italian authors writing 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “P”
Does the author cutter begin with the correct letter?
One relatively common error is for a class number to use the first letter
of an author’s heading when it should use the second number, or vice versa.
E.g. PQ4835.I7 for: Pirandello, Luigi, 1867-1936
PQ4835 = Italian authors writing 1900-1960 with headings beginning with “P”
Multiple languages: Literary authors who actually write in multiple
languages can be assigned a separate, valid class number for each language. You need to ascertain the language
of the original edition of each work to determine the appropriate class number for any given work.
E.g. Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989
For works originally written in English: PR6003.E282
For works originally written in French: PQ2603.E378
E.g. Dorfman, Ariel.
For works originally written in Spanish: PQ8098.14.O7
For works originally written in English: PR9309.9.D67
Uncertain nationality — especially if there is no biographical information or
if the author has lived in more than one country. If an author’s country of citizenship is known, that country
should determine the classification, but dual citizenship presents problems. Writers in exile (e.g.,
Chileans living abroad during the 1970s and 1980s) and expatriate writers often are tricky to classify.
E.g. Dorfman, Ariel.
For works originally written in Spanish: PQ8098.14.O7
[PQ8098.14 = Chilean authors writing in Spanish 1961-2000 with headings
beginning with “D”]
For works originally written in English: PR9309.9.D67
[PR9309.9 = Chilean authors writing in English]
Dorfman continues to be classified and identified as a Chilean author. A resident in the
US since 1980 who has begun to write in English as well as Spanish, as of 1996 he was still
described in one book as “chileno de origen argentino.” [Chilean, of Argentine origin]
Since the ending of military dictatorship in Chile, he has divided his time between the US and Chile.
T.S. Eliot is classified as a U.S. author. Although he spent most of his adult
life in England (from 1914 until his death in 1965), wrote most of his works there, became
a British citizen in 1927, and is buried in England, he was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
Generally, search for evidence that such an author has actually changed citizenship; otherwise, such authors are
generally classified with their country of original citizenship.
Without any information on citizenship, you may need to look at factors such as:
The country where the author’s most productive years were spent (e.g., “weight” a country in
which the author lived as an adult more heavily than one in which (s)he lived only as a child)
Length of time spent in different places (e.g., in the absence of any other evidence, an
author writing in French who spends nine months of every year in Paris and three months in
Palma de Mallorca, Spain would be classified as of French rather than Spanish nationality;
an author who lived and wrote for forty years in Liverpool, England, then moved to Jamaica,
dying there three years later, would be classified as British rather than Jamaican)
References by critics or blurb writers to nationality (e.g., a book published in Nicaragua that
calls the author “un escritor guatemalteco” furnishes useful evidence that the author is
considered Guatemalan)
Inclusion of a book in a series that identifies a nationality (e.g., Colección de poesía hondureña)
Finally, for existing class numbers used by LC, the Classification and Shelflisting Manual
states (Section F632): “Once a decision has been made to class an author with a particular country,
this number will usually continue to be used. Do not change the number unless the original
choice was clearly in error.” (This position may account for the use of a U.S. number
for T.S. Eliot.)
Changed class number ranges: Authors in countries,
particularly former colonies, that fall into class number ranges that LC has changed in the past,
expanding the literature class schedules to give now-independent areas their own class ranges. The author’s
number in a given record may be obsolete, especially if the author was active prior to the 1960s.
E.g. Césaire, Aimé. A Caribbean author writing in French.
The correct class number is now: PQ3949.C44
[PQ3949 = West Indian French-language authors through 1960]
However, older records may still have an obsolete number for Césaire:
PQ2605.E74
[PQ2605 is now used only for European authors writing in French, 1900-1960]
Changed author headings: Please note that once
LC has established a literary class number for an author, this number should continue to be used even if the
author’s heading changes. Therefore, in some cases the letter-plus-number combination and/or
the first letter of the author cutter may not actually correspond to the current heading.
E.g. heading in authority file: Alain-Fournier, 1886-1914
class number: PQ2611.O85
[PQ2611 = European authors writing in French
1900-1960 with headings beginning with “F”]
pre-AACR2 heading: Fournier, Alain, 1886-1914
E.g. heading in authority file: Guido Lavalle, Tomás, 1937-
class number: PQ7798.22.A87
[PQ7798.22 = Argentine authors writing 1961- with
headings beginning with “L”]