The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English, Vol. 2

The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women #2

by Sandra M. Gilbert (editor), Susan Gubar (Editor)

Long the standard teaching anthology, the landmark Norton Anthology of Literature by Women has introduced generations of readers to the rich variety of women’s writing in English. Now, the much-anticipated Third Edition responds to the wealth of writing by women across the globe with the inclusion of 61 new authors (219 in all) whose diverse works span six centuries.  A more flexible two-volume format and a versatile new companion reader make the Third Edition an even better teaching tool.

"As diversity itself has shaped the evolution of feminist criticism, from its early preoccupation with women's shared experiences to its more recent absorption in the complex issues and assumptions informing English-language texts by women writers of diverse geographical, cultural, racial, sexual, religious, and class origins and influences, so diversity has shaped the revisions of this anthology." ―From the Preface

Genres: Feminism, Anthologies, Womens, Classics, Poetry, Literature, Nonfiction

1573 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sandra M. Gilbert was an American literary critic and poet who published in the fields of feminist literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalytic criticism. She was best known for her collaborative critical work with Susan Gubar, with whom she co-authored, among other works, The Madwoman in the Attic (1979). Madwoman in the Attic is widely recognized as a text central to second-wave feminism. She was Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Davis.
Gilbert lived in Berkeley, California, and lived, until 2008, in Paris, France. Her husband, Elliot L. Gilbert, was chair of the Department of English at University of California, Davis, until his death in 1991. She also had a long-term relationship with David Gale, mathematician at University of California, Berkeley, until his death in 2008.

Reviews

[bia · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed this one a lot more than the first anthology! once again only read in bits and pieces for a class but i would still recommend nonetheless

[Ben Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this anthology for my Women Writer's course, and was not surprised that the contents were intriguing, terrifying, and dreadful in many ways.

Stories read include:
"The Angel at the Grave", "Two Hanged Women", "Trifles"*, "Sweat"*, "I Stand Here Ironing", "Seventeen Syllables"*, "One off the Short List", "My Father Addresses Me on the Facts of Old Age"*, "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off", "Recitif", "Unspeakable Things Unspoken", "Royalty", "Our Lady of the Massacre", "The Kitchen Child", "Poets in the Kitchen"*, and others. Those with an * are my very favorite stories, some for making me laugh, some for making me cry, and some for enlightening me even further upon women's experience within a patriarchal society. Definitely an amazing book for any study of literature by women, as to be expected from Norton.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this anthology, wished that more attention had been paid to educating on harmful terminologies used in earlier works as well as in the introductions.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I fail my women's Lit exam tomorrow I'm blaming this Anthology.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read bits and pieces of this for an online class I took this summer... So I didn't have high hopes. It didn't go above my expectations, but I didn't want to die while reading it so I guess that is a plus.

This volume was actually better than the first- there were a lot of pieces in here that I actually kind of liked. Most of them were at least okay.

I can say this is one of the best textbooks I've ever had to get- I borrowed it from my school library and renewed it three times over the course so I did not have to buy it. Major plus. I did not want to buy a 100 set of books I was never going to touch again.

[Cynthia Soukup · Rating 4 out of 5]

The variety of stories as well as the back stories provided by the editor gives a great perspective to the different literary works from the woman's view. Both genders can learn a lot about women from these readings.

[Engl 328]

Lots of interesting books

[Denise DeRocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read much of these volumes - certainly not all of them cover to cover!