Customer Reviews

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

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It strikes me as dangerously presumptuous to "review" such a book without a Ph.D. in literature and thirty years' teaching experience, but after spending a semester as a course assistant for just such a person, I can say this is an ambitious, comprehensive and therefore weighty (in all senses) volume. Beginning a hair's breadth before Plato and bringing us all the way into the 1990s and issues of "hypertext," this first giant Norton effort in the theory and criticism line seems to do all it sets out to do. The excellent introduction nips so-called antitheorists in the bud, remarking, "there is no position free of theory, not even the one called `common sense.'" It also welcomes the student intent on discovering the many and varied ways to examine literature for both enjoyment and edification, terms that we sometimes forget are not mutually exclusive.

Fully half the book is given over to theorists and critics of the twentieth century, which makes sense since far more than half of what we would call literary criticism was written during it. My personal hope is that this new century gives birth to an understanding of theory that realizes, as do the Norton editors, that from the point of view of the student, each theory is essentially a lens through which to view a given work of art, literature, or the world in general. As for the point of view of some professionals who may tend towards the territorial, let's be charitable and remember that they have to work for a living, too. In any event, which lenses work the best on which student's eyes can truly be discovered only when a few different pairs have been tried on.

My professor friend notes that the selections from many key writers are longer than those found in the Hazard Adams' texts she used in the past. This density makes even a two-semester survey difficult to plan, syllabus-wise, mostly because there are so many wonderful and important critics to cover and ideas to absorb. My semi-professional advice would be to bring your love of literature and all your intellectual curiosity to "The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism," but also remember to take deep breaths once in a while and never forget your sense of humor!

This is one of the few comprehensive anthologies of literary theory on the market now, and among the best. THE CRITICAL TRADITION, ed. David Richter, is also very good. But CRITICAL THEORY SINCE PLATO, ed. by Adams, is out of date, and LITERARY THEORY, ed. by Rivkin and Ryan, is not well-edited, giving only short selections, and not comprehensive, with no coverage of classic criticism. Unlike some previous reviewers, I find that the Norton covers well the pre-twentieth century periods. But the coverage of the modern period, while wide-ranging, is still incomplete. The editors, as is typical with norton anthologies, try to cover too much, and end up leaving out some of the most important writers and works. There are too many essays by currently fashionable yet ultimately obscure post-colonial, race, queer, gender, and pop culture theorists. There is nothing here by Brecht on his famous "alienation effect." Where is Shklovsky's great essay on "defamiliarization"? Rene Girard, indubitably one of the most important theorists of the twentieth century, is completely missing in action--a rather shocking omission. Rey Chow, one of the most important post-colonial theorists is also missing. Major players Greenblatt, Bakhtin, Eagleton, Gilbert & Gubar, Showalter, DuBois, Henry Louis Gates, Derrida, Wolfgang Iser are included, but the editors do not always select their most important works. Like all the Norton anthologies, it is printed on onion skin paper which is so thin you can easily see through to the next page. Hopefully the editors will correct some of these faults in future editions; meanwhile this is still one of the best anthologies of literary theory available and essential for all English majors and teachers. But consider also THE CRITICAL TRADITION edited by Richter.

While this is undoubtedly the best anthology of its kind I am aware of and, as other reviewers note, the selection of twentieth century theorists is extremely rich, I do find that that it isn't as strong as I had hoped on earlier periods. Inevitably, no anthology could ever be all-inclusive, but it is surprising when someone like Carlyle, for instance, who is mentioned in a number of the introductory prefaces, doesn't warrant an entry in his own right. Nor is there any Ruskin, which is a *huge* hole. I was also surprised that the Romantic Theory section did not have a selection of Keats' theorising- a very strange omission indeed.

If you are predominantly interested in pre-twentieth century theory, this is not your oracle. From a glance at the index, it's obvious that more than half the anthology is twentieth century material. Perhaps, given the profusion of criticism in the twentieth century, two volumes would have achieved a more effective historical survey. That said, as a twentieth century anthology, this is exemplary. The indexes, bibliographies, tables of content,etc render the material much easier to negotiate than one would have expected and the introductory prefaces which appear before each author's selection are concise, insightful and would be especially useful for students struggling with some of this material for the first time. These prefaces open up further trails of enquiry both within and beyond the anthology, allowing readers to easily pinpoint the relevant theorists for their areas of interest.

Few, if any, English teachers can afford to be without this text. Whether one teaches literature or the history of criticism, the selections in this anthology offer stimuli for inquiry, contentious interventions, exemplary valuations. It offers half again as many selections as its nearest competitor in the field of anthologies of literary criticism. Moreover, the editors have done a fine job of culling chapters from key texts either published in the last thirty years, or those with rising value stemming from recent concerns. This anthology offers a good selection from the classics going back to Aristotle and Plato, but also Gorgias and Longinus (Boethius is one of the few ancients often anthologized who didn't make the cut). Most of the usual suspects are in the line up, whether one is tracking the deeds of Pope or Johnson, Kant or Schiller, Coleridge or Peacock, Poe or Baudelaire, Marx and Engels or Arnold. In addition, critics that never should have been excluded are given their rightful place in this anthology: Du Bois, Trotsky, Lukács, Gramsci, Lacan, Lévi-Strauss, Fanon, Achebe, Hall, Vizenor, Wittig, Cixous, and many others.

Not only does this text offer a superb selection, but the critical apparatus is excellent. The headnotes to each selection locate the given writer historically and critically. There are both author/title and subject indices. The bibliographies in the back offer both a chronological listing and an essay organized by schools and movements. Then, the table of contents shows both the sequential arrangement (by birth of author) and an alternate table that lists schools and movements. Hence, a teacher looking for theories of "the Modern" can be directed quickly to Baudelaire, Benjamin, Bellay, Eliot, Habermas, and so on.

A scholar or teacher lacking access to, or that needs quick sifting of an amply supplied personal or institutional library not only will be able to find many of the critical texts in this volume, but may find these texts more readily.

Being an English major I've had my share of anthologies. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism stands out to me because it offers direct access to the writers and their essays rather than filtered, explained, and dissected discussions of them. It allows for the opportunity to explore what the author had to say in their own voice. Unfortunately that means some selections are more difficult to read than others. The trade-off is knowing that what you are reading is the source of the idea rather than a reflection of it. While I bought this book as a class requirement, reading it (and I am nowhere near done) has offered me new perspectives to not only view literature, but the world in general. That is probably the best thing I can say about this book. The worst? It's not a light read -- literally! Having to tote this brick around campus for a semester was not a pleasant experience regardless of how interesting the essays are.

I'm not commenting on the content, just the book itself. The pages are so thin that when you read you can actually see the type on the opposite side of the page through the paper... I don't know about anybody else, but I personally find this incredibly distracting, especially since the font is already very small. I suppose it would have been too hard to make the book a little thicker so that it would actually be readable? If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, this is a great anthology.

I use this book every year, and that indicates my approval. I do not think it is perfect, but it is the best of those numerous texts available. I will try to answer some objections found in other reviews and give my sense of the totality. Some blame the book's expense: this seems absurd given its almost 2600 odd pages of hard to edit material: the book is well bound with buckram and signatures and the paper -- while thin to allow such massive content (think bible leaves) -- is low acid and reasonably opaque. My copies have been abused and do not fail (unlike novels at $10 for 200 pages that yellow and unbind). The introductions are historical, lucid, and more than informed: they supply a reasoned and fair context for the novice. Sure the selections are bimodal, mostly the classics of aesthetic philosophy and then 20th century without the analytics and perhaps too much french fried and committed theory, but these are the leanings of the profession. If anything gets really left out, it's the medievals. The book then is not flawless, but it is so far ahead of the others available, it's silly.

This criticism anthology is well put together but is lacking in certain authors. While many of the selections are used give a wide range of a particular author's work, some of the authors used in the work are not fully represented.

Sir Philip Sidney, Giambattista Vico, Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, Gyorgy Lukacs, Langston Hughes, Laura Mulvey and several others only have one work each in the book. Granted, you can't put all the works these authors have to offer, but some of them are heavy hitters in the criticism world and I find it hard to believe that they are poorly represented in a work such as this. Hopefully, in future editions these authors will better represented.

An exhaustive and briefly thorough reference on theory and criticism complete with bibliographies at the end of each section. From Plato to Samuel Jonhson to Marx to Habermas to Derrida to Edward Said, if it pertains to the theory or criticism of literature, the arts, or culture, it is probably covered here in a somewhat contemporary presentation. Goes beyond what you might expect in a textbook, serving as a very useful class resource or as the ultimate home library reference for the consumate home reader.

Belongs on the bookcase of every liberal arts, humanities, philosophy, literature or cultural studies enthusiast.

The norton anthology picks up the modern interest in critical theory with an edition that is rigorously comprehensive, cross disciplinary and contemporary. The problem with 'theory studies' is that lately theory has evolved quicker than critics can categorize forms. (Rather like pop music: hard house, house, hip hop, trip hop, downtempo...more genres than performers) The editors have made a valiant effort to find and catagorize everyone. Invaluable. Ranks with the John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory.