The Norton Anthology of American Literature

Good book. Came to me in excellent shape. I thought I was getting the 7th edition when i ordered it ... oops!

Except for the silliness of Avishai Mallinger, I can sympathize with the view points of all the reviews of the anthology. I am using the 1820-1865 vol in a class right now and must say, I find the selections over-all quite varied and enjoyable. I do fear that in our pluralistic society, the American Literary Canon is being distorted to fit material that is only included due to the minority status of it's author, or the political correctness of its subject matter. An example, I think, is the inclusion of the rather churlish William Apess. I have always been dismayed by the American pedagogy's fetish for slavery, and that preoccupation is well exemplified here. I must ask if the inclusion of both Harriet Beecher Stowe AND Harriet Jacobs was strictly necessary, and I find it unnecessary to sound the beautiful deeps of Thoreau to bring up his opinion of the same institution. And not only his, but Longfellow's as well. And not only his, but Emerson's as well. In my own class, "Nature" was dismissed with a cursory glance, while "Last of the Anti-slavery Lectures" became a paper topic. However, if the Canon were not revised, I might not have been treated to the wonderful Margaret Fuller or the fascinating Enlightenment piece of the first of the Cherokee Memorials. It is only by reading and testing such material that we can determine if it is truly worthy of being canonized. Anthology revision, in it's successes and failures is a part of that process.

The Norton anthology is the definitive collection of American literature. Its selections range from the letters of Christopher Columbus to quintessential American works like Whitman's "Song of Myself" and inherently American movements such as beat poetry. The collection offers a wide spread selection of works, some of which fall outside of your typical definition of "literature." All, however, have been important parts of our artistic tradition and provide literary examples of the coming of age of America. Literature has truly helped to define the American identity. This book is a history lesson, a journey through some of the most beautiful poetry and prose ever written and a testament to the kind of intelligent, passionate people that have formed our country.

The Norton anthology is the definitive collection of American literature. Its selections range from the letters of Christopher Columbus to quintessential American works like Whitman's "Song of Myself" and inherently American movements such as beat poetry. The collection offers a wide spread selection of works, some of which fall outside of your typical definition of "literature." All, however, have been important parts of our artistic tradition and provide literary examples of the coming of age of America. Literature has truly helped to define the American identity. This book is a history lesson, a journey through some of the most beautiful poetry and prose ever written and a testament to the kind of intellegent, passionate people that have formed our country.

The Norton Anthologies are still the best selections of traditional literature, although there has been a decline in quality as the editors anthologize non-mainstream work to satisfy the demands of what Harold Bloom calls the School of Resentment. Give us more Auden and less Ginsberg. Also, the editors' notes are often too indulgent. It is the editors' own assertions that they are not supposed to be shaping students' interpretations, but then there are remarks such as the one in the headnote to Matthew Arnold, criticizing Arnold for his negative criticism of Chaucer. This, dear readers, has no place in an anthology. Again, a footnote to the last line of "Dover Beach" reads, "Perhaps a reference to contemporary European wars, or perhaps a reference to no war in particular." If they aren't sure, this footnote is an inexcuseable lapse in editorial judgment. And do we really need an eight or nine page introduction to Herman Melville, covering every book he ever wrote? (Imagine devoting the same amount of space to covering the minutiae of Byron or of Henry James.) To summarize my position, though, the Nortons are still very good, but they could be just a little better.