Customer Reviews

The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this book for a class, but was delighted to discover that I will definitely want to hang onto it afterwards. The translations chosen for the 'Ancient World' portion are, for the most part, delightfully vivid and capture the spirit of the original language. I also like the layout - the margin size is just perfect for taking notes.

I bought this to use with Tapestry of Grace curriculum, and used it with a 14 yr old fresh out of public school. It was way beyond her vocabulary level and reading skill set. This is a book I have seen used in college classes, and it figures, because much of the poems and plays are written in old or medieval English. We ended up scrapping this book most of the time and reading the same works in modern English online.
Having said that, for a child who is used to a classical education, this collection of works would be a pleasure to read.

I purchased this book for my Literature class. Unfortunately we did not get to read all of the works. I have fallen in love with this book and I hope to keep it for many many years. Some of the works can be boring but if you keep an open mind and concentrate on the ideas, language, and meaning you will understand even the most boring of works.

Good book to learn some literature from. It is good to understand and it contains the right stuff. Great, quality book.

this is an awesome book, it has all the classics and some that should be classics! I have read Volume 1 and 2 and I love both of them. Enjoy!

Just perfect, indeed; the selection of the texts, the meticulous translation, the presentation, the ambiance, the layout, and above all the quality of the research.
It is a treasure.
It is monumental.
It is a masterpiece.
Highly recommended to students, teachers, linguists, researchers and all those who are fond of the "Divine Letters"!!

Nice collection of classics.
I used this book for my Literature class last semester. It is heavy but it is all worth it, very complete

Loved it!

This is the way to go. I have spent a great deal on books over the years. I will never pay full price again. Thanks Amazon for making this fast and easy.

Can anyone tell me which edition this is? I need it for a class and i didn't see it in the description.

Most people have been focusing on the positives, and I agree with them; it's a great book.

I have two main grievances against the book, however. First, it's immensely thick. I find it difficult to carry it around with me to class if I have both my netbook and binder with me; my backpack is not small. My other grievance is almost as bothersome. The pages are very thin, which makes the ink from the next page show up clearly (to a point where you can usually make out what the next page says without flipping pages.) Here's a photocopied page, hopefully which constitutes fair use. http://i53.tinypic.com/23ueszc.jpg

An e-book version of this would be perfect, but I didn't see one of this, plus I don't have an e-reader yet. Again, it's a great book, but a pain to use. I have to take off two stars simply for that.