Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: The Western Tradition, Vol. 1: Literature of Western Culture Through the Renaissance [Paperback]

Sarah N. Lawall (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999 | ISBN-10: 0393972895 | ISBN-13: 978-0393972894 | Edition: 7th

Offering a splendid collection of literary masterpieces in the best available translations, The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces is a literal library of Western literature in two portable volumes. Most major works, from Homer's Odyssey to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, are offered complete or in substantial, readable excerpts. New authors and works abound, including pieces by Plautus, Lucian, Ariosto, de Vega, Shakespeare, Joyce, O'Connor, Munro, and Silko, and new sections of Medieval lyrics and tales, Romantic poetry in translation, and Dada-Surrealist poetry. Informative period introductions and author headnotes guide readers through the cultural and historical contexts surrounding the literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 2500 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 7th edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393972895
• ISBN-13: 978-0393972894
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Strange Choices, November 23, 2003

By 

Philip J. Bentley (Long Island NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: The Western Tradition, Vol. 1: Literature of Western Culture Through the Renaissance (Paperback)

My own education was in the Great Books and I am familiar with both the literature and how to teach it. I used this book for the first time in the current semester because it is virtually standard where I teach.
I was puzzled by the many obscure selections in this anthology such as Thorstein the Staff-Struck and Marguerite de Navarre. I was frustrated by the selection of relatively unreadable translations like the Jowett "Socrates' Apology" and the apparently untranslated "Morte Darthur." This book is intended for contemporary college students who have had little experience reading classical experience and these choices were simply inappropriate to them.
Shakespeare is represented only by "Othello." Why not also one of the comedies or histories? Why not any other example of Elizabethan drama?
The editors left out important works such as More's "Utopia," anything by Aquinas, any of Aristotle except for a brief excerpt from "The Poetics," and anything by Martin Luther. The selections from the New Testament were also deficient.
They chose, correctly I believe, to include some Jewish and Muslim literature but did not choose well. Aside from the Old Testament the Jewish literature was limited to a few Medieval verses and not the best of them. Aside from a few selections from the Koran, they saw fit to include a tiny selection of verse and a little of "The Thousand and One Nights." The lack of possible choices that either affected or were affected by Western literature (Philo, Maimonides, Al-Gazzali, Ibn-Khaldoun) are an indication of timidity or ignorance on the part of the editors.
I detect an attempt at the kind of political correctness that wants to include authors aside from "dead, white, European males." That is not an unworthy aim, but they did it badly.
Finally the introductions, which were in almost unreadably small print, were filled with inaccurate information. These were not carefully written.
It's a shame that this anthology dominates the search engines at Amazon and at other online services. The reason would seem to be a matter of economics rather than quality. I'm already searching for a better anthology to use next semester.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Norton's Anthology of World Masterpieces, a review, September 12, 2005

By 

Candace E. Barnes (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: The Western Tradition, Vol. 1: Literature of Western Culture Through the Renaissance (Paperback)

This seventh edition has left out the poetry of John Donne, the great metaphysical poet. Big mistake. I was disappointed in the translation of Gilgamesh, considering Stephen Mitchell's version to be superior. I was also disappointed in the Bible excerpts - particularly Genesis, where there is no indication that the redactor of the selections picked and chose between J, E and P texts, with no indication of the lacunae, making it seem as if there were only one version, for instance, of the Creation or the Flood, while any biblical scholar knows that there are at least two. My overall impression, however, is that this offers a fair introduction to Western world literature to the mid-seventeenth century.

7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars World Masterpiece, June 5, 2000

By 

P. Tran (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: The Western Tradition, Vol. 1: Literature of Western Culture Through the Renaissance (Paperback)

Wide collection of works and translations. I really enjoyed the translation of Homer in the Iliad. Norton's Anthology has help transform literature from being boring to being fun.