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Title: The Norton Anthology of English Literature by M. H. Abrams ISBN: 0-393-94774-2 Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc Pub. Date: February, 2001 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $62.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.64 (25 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Panders to the Zietgeist
Comment: Ninety-nine percent of the people who buy this book will have no choice; it will be the required text for an undergraduate survey of British literature. They should know that while this is in many respects a fine book, it is misleading. I will offer a couple of examples based on my own specialization, 19th century literature.
The two volumes offer 15 pages on Sir Walter Scott, that is, 1/400th of the whole anthology, or 1/200th of the second volume. Yet Scott is, arguably, the most influential writer in English for the 19th century. No Scott - - no historical novel - - no War and Peace. The volume's ill-treatment of Scott extends to the selection of Scott's prose, namely the first chapter of The Heart of Midlothian. The story proper does not begin till chapter 2. I would advise a reader new to Scott to skip Chapter 1. What about printing one of Scott's short stories instead, "The Highland Widow" or "The Two Drovers"? If an excerpt must be used, what about the climax of Redgauntlet, with the dismissal of Bonnie Prince Charlie?
The editors and/or publishers have prepared a book they think will _sell lots of copies_. Be warned that this has dictated some distortions. Giving three times the space to Mary Wollstonecraft as to Scott is an example. No doubt Wollstonecraft is important for understanding the currents of sensibility of the age and the voice that feminists did have; but then, where are the hymns of Charles Wesley, taken up by innumerable British people? You need to know something about them if you are to understand the period. Leaving them out really does the reader a disservice.
Users of this book get an anthology that subtly distorts one's picture of the eras through which the selections move. Good luck to its users.
Rating: 4
Summary: A great anthology of English Literature
Comment: I had to buy this book for two of my English Literature survey courses. I'm sure that most people who buy this volume do the same--they buy it because they have to. Still, it is an excellent volume and a very thorough survey of English Literature, from the middle ages on down to the nineteenth century.
Highlights from this volume include Seamus Heaney's exceptional translation of Beowulf (in its entirety), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, many selections from the Canterbury Tales, lots of Shakespeare, and Milton's masterpiece Paradise Lost, reprinted in full.
As I said before, many who buy this volume will do so because they have to. Still, I think most people will find this anthology to be one they will not be selling back at the end of the semester. I know I'll definitely be keeping mine. This is a great place to start a study of English Literature.
Rating: 4
Summary: Norton is still the best
Comment: This second volume of the NAEL covers the expanse of the Romantic Period, the Victorian Age and the 20th Century (or Modern Period). While I did have to get this book for a survey course, I was pleasantly suprised at the vast range of work represented in the text.
Not only does the book include "Cannonical" writers but also more obscure writers that may not be as well known now but were popular during their timeframe. The text has an equal amount of work represented from both women and men and explains the viewpoint of each in relation to what was going on at the time. An example are the women Romantic writers; they viewed things differently than their male counterparts and therefore wrote about different things, had different styles of writing, etc.
Of course, as with all Norton books, there are bios of each author before their selections, introductions to each period, apendicies, bibliographies, essays and a section of goegraphic nomenclature. The book is well formated, foot-noted (not end-noted =)), and the selections are marvelous. Anyone well versed in English literature should have this book on their shelves.
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