Do any of you know of web sites that host literary discussions in general, with threads devoted to single works of literature? Also, are there any sites where one could find essays on literary subjects? When I google particular works I invariably come up with a bunch of 9th grade term papers that some teacher has decided to post on their web page, etc.

From my References page, this one might have some links that could be useful:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/links.html

I can't really tell if this is what you're after, Alex, but take a look at
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/discussionBoards.jsp
and
http://kobrakin.proboards10.com/index.cgi?board=books
and maybe
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol3/issue3/litblogs.htm.
I didn't delve into the last one; just went to the opening page.

Thanks I'll check those out.