Hylleraas-type calculations for lithium

The method of superposition of correlated configurations has been used to evaluate the nonrelativistic energies of the 22S, 32S, 42S, 22P, 32P, 42P, 32D and 42D states of lithium. The results for 32P, 42P and 42D are the best in the literature. The size of the basis set never exceeds 400 due to a careful optimization of the non-linear parameters. Dipole absorption oscillator strengths and mean lifetimes are also reported.