The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume D

by Martin Puchner (Editor), Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Editor), Wiebke Denecke (Editor)

A classic, reimagined. Read by millions of students since its first publication, The Norton Anthology of World Literature remains the most-trusted anthology of world literature available. Guided by the advice of more than 500 teachers of world literature and a panel of regional specialists, the editors of the Third Edition―a completely new team of scholar-teachers―have made this respected text brand-new in all the best ways. Dozens of new selections and translations, all-new introductions and headnotes, hundreds of new illustrations, redesigned maps and timelines, and a wealth of media resources all add up to the most exciting, accessible, and teachable version of “the Norton” ever published. The Norton Anthology of World Literature is now available as an interactive ebook, at just a fraction of the print price. 

Genres: Classics, Reference, Anthologies, Textbooks, Fiction

631 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2012

About the author

Martin Puchner is a literary critic and philosopher. He studied at Konstanz University, the University of Bologna, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, before receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard University. Until 2009 he held the H. Gordon Garbedian Chair at Columbia University, where he also served as co-chair of the Theater Ph.D. program. He now holds the Byron and Anita Wien Chair of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He is the founding director of the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University.

Reviews

[David Withun · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Isiel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering how much shorter this one is than the previous texts in the set, it's pretty telling that this one took me the longest to slog through, but I guess there are only so many overly dramatic tragic love stories a person can handle at one time.

Of course that doesn't mean there aren't some gems hidden in here.

I was really excited that they included a lot more texts from Asia, but I was a little disappointed by what the collection had to offer. Beyond mediocre text selections that really didn't do justice to certain eras like the Edo period in Japan, one major issue (particularly affecting Chinese texts) was that a lot of the best stuff comes from insanely long stories, so naturally only small bits could be included and those selections end up so fragmented they are unreadable. The anthology includes a full text summary at the beginning, but without a quick bit about the context of each selection, it can be difficult to immerse yourself in the stories. For example, when you are skipping 20 chapters in a book with over 400 characters it really isn't enough to just give the chapter a title and hope your audience can figure out what is going on. I ended up skipping a lot of really interesting sounding stories because of this problem.

Let's look at the good stuff though.

In order of appearance, these were my top favorites from this collection:
Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Women"
Moliere's "Tartuffe"
Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz's "Philosophical Satire: Poem 93"
Feng Menglong's "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger"

(Are you noticing a pattern? I'm noticing a pattern.)

Wollstonecraft is a legend, enough said really. They only gave us 3 pages of the text, but it was enough to paint a beautifully crafted argument for equal opportunities in education. It stands as a perfect addition to feature in the introduction of the Enlightenment.

"Tartuffe" is hilarious and a particular joy in this collection of otherwise tragic and dark stories.
Some great quotes: "I will be fond of you in spite of you." "Prayer is not a shout." "I smell an atheist! It's that freethinking!" "Lovers are not completely sane." Besides the humor, this story also shows a lot about how religion can be be used as a weapon to manipulate people as well as the challenges young women faced in their struggles to follow familial and societal demands against their better judgement and true feelings.

Poem 92 belongs side by side with Wollstonecraft's piece- a masterful and concise poem highlighting the hypocritical expectations of women.

Menglong's Jewel Box story was so good- it pulls you right in and makes you fall absolutely in love with Du Tenth. What a brilliant move to show how a prostitute could embody all of the traditional beliefs of good conduct and morale character and have so much more wisdom, determination, bravery, and conviction than the educated elite male leads that were automatically being pushed on track to take roles in the government just because of their status. The story was so beautifully executed and a breath of fresh air.

Overall, it's so fascinating to see the side by side shift away from traditional beliefs and academic gatekeeping that favored the elite to the new boom of vernacular works in Asia and arguments for equal rights and the dignity of all people via the Enlightenment in the West. I mentioned before that so many of these stories are dark and tragic, but that is probably because this shift allowed a more diverse group of writers to share the true cruelty and hypocrisy that was plaguing the lives of the common people around the world. Voltaire's Candide is the cornerstone piece to all of that- showing that no matter how much people like to believe this is the best of all worlds, it is filled with some pretty horrible stuff. However, that reality should remind us that we have work to do in making things better for ourselves and the people around us, and part of the path of improving things is recognizing and admitting there is a problem in the first place. These texts took bold steps to highlight those problems, and show the need for change.

[Saadullah]

read the 2024 version because it's free for US university teachers (teaching related classes) on the Norton website!

[Nostalgia Reader]

*Enlightenment*