The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (Expanded Edition) (Vol. One-Volume) (Paperback)

~ (Editor), Jerome W. Clinton (Editor), Robert Lyons Danly (Editor), Francis Abiola Irele (Editor), Bernard Knox (Editor), Sarah Lawall (Editor), John Nierhorst (Editor), Stephen Owen (Editor), P. M. Pasinetti (Editor), Indira Viswanathan Peterson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This groundbreaking Norton Anthology offers the best of the literatures of India, China, Japan, the Middle East, Africa, and native America alongside the masterpieces of the Western tradition. These texts have been selected and prepared by expert scholars and translators who are also committed undergraduate teachers. Like all Norton Anthologies, the Expanded Edition in One Volume of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces is foremost a teaching anthology, edited to meet the needs of today’s students discovering a range of literary traditions for the first time. .

About the Author

Maynard Mack is Sterling Professor of English Emeritus at Yale University.

Jerome W. Clinton, Ph.D. Michigan, is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His publications include two book-length translations of two sections of the Persian national epic, the Shahnameh: The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam and In the Dragon’s Claws: The Story of Rostam and Esfandiyar.


F. Abiola Irele, formerly Professor of French, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, was for several years Professor of African, French, and Comparative Literature at the Ohio State University. After retiring from Ohio State in 2003, he became Visiting Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Among his many publications are The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature (edited with Simon Gikandi) and two collections of essays, The African Experience in Literature and Ideology and The African Imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora. He is a contributing editor to The Norton Anthology of World Literature and General Editor of the Cambridge Studies in African and Caribbean Literature series.

Sarah Lawall, Ph.D. Yale, is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her publications include Critics of Consciousness: The Existential Structures of Literature and Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice.


John Nierhorst (B.A. Cornell University) is a writer and translator who has published widely on native American literature, specializing in Aztec studies. His books include Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature (1974), The Red Swan: Myths and Tales of the American Indians (1976), The Mythology of Mexico and Central America (1990), and The Way of the Earth: Native America and the Environment (1994).


Stephen Owen, Ph.D. Yale, is James Bryant Conant Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His books include The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang; Traditional Chinese Poetry and Poetics: An Omen of the World; Remembrances: The Experience of the Past in Classical Chinese Literature; and An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911.


Indira Viswanathan Peterson, Ph.D. Harvard, is Professor of Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Her publications include Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints.

Product Details

• Paperback: 3088 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; Expanded Edition edition (January 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393971430
• ISBN-13: 978-0393971439
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.7 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,919 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Masterpiece, May 12, 2002

By	John Thykattil - See all my reviews

Great reading on those quiet Sunday evenings. The historical perspectives and timelines are the best part; really helps you understand the progression of lieterature as we know it. The Norton series was used often in highschool for me, but I had quite narrow historical perspectives back then; this book has helped change that. The book is quite heavy, hard to lug around and seems to get damaged easily (paperback), but the content is well worth it. I think they should have removed the Odyssey and included the Illiad. I would also recommend Glimpes of World History by J. Nehru. Though it can be at times tedious, it is good accompaniment to this Norton anthology.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars world lit., August 31, 1998

By A Customer

I really enjoyed this anthology. It contains many selections that are not easily found and give a good summary of the major issues of each author. I was not at all aware of many of the authors included and the editors really help you to understand the events and issues of the day. The expanded edition is the best and gives an even larger sample of each author. It is still an anthology, however, and suffers from the same problems they all do. Not enough material from this or that author but do you really want it to be twenty thousand pages?

3.0 out of 5 stars Good content horrible construction, September 10, 2009

By	K. Farr - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was required for my English college class. The stories and content are great however the construction of the book is terrible. The pages are thinner than tissue paper. I was afraid I would rip a page if I turned it too quickly. Also, there's just over 3000 pages in this novel sized book. It's really thick and kind of awkward. It would have been better to have made it textbook sized then there would be less pages and it wouldn't be so massive. There's so many pages that the binding feels flimsy when you open it. Overall great book poor construction.