The Norton Introduction to Literature

by Carl E. Bain (Editor), J. Paul Hunter, Jerome Beaty

This edition continues its role as both anthology and textbook - a teaching anthology--fir the indispensable course in which college student and college teacher begins to read literature seriously together.

Genres: Fiction, Anthologies, Poetry, Literature, Classics, Textbooks, Reference

1561 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read from time to time, just to keep in contact with real literature, which is something I really have to do considering my average books....

Ogni tanto lo prendo e ne leggo qualcosa, giusto per restare in contatto con la vera letteratura, che é qualcosa che mi manca, considerando la media dei libri che leggo....

[Jamie Belanger · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this book is a monster. It looks like it's a thousand pages, until you open it. When you see the ultra-thin paper (which, by the way, makes reading difficult due to bleed-through), you know it's more. Way more. Flip to the back and you see it's almost 2200 pages. I first acquired this book as the textbook for a required college literature class in 1998 or so, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.

I started reading the commentary and stories, intending to read the entire book from cover to cover. The commentary sections annoyed me quickly. It's not that the writing or analysis was particularly bad, it's just that the editors talk about stories they haven't presented yet. And their analyses are full of plot spoilers. Why do people feel the need to do things like this? Commentary is sometimes interesting, sure, but put it after the stories. Don't assume I know the stories as well as you do.

So I continued reading the book, except I was now skipping the commentaries. Then I started skipping stories. There are some gems in here, for sure, and since the book is so massive and individual tastes so subjective, I'm sure there really is something for everyone in here. I was particularly impressed with DH Lawrence (Odour of Chrysanthemums and The Rocking-Horse Winner) and Richard Connell (The Most Dangerous Game), writers whose work I had not previously read. But there are a lot of really terrible stories here. Some are the type that read well, then have an annoying end. And there are some where the stories are (in my opinion) so poorly worded that they are unreadable. I call those "word soup." If I read the first paragraph three times and still have no idea what you are saying, I skip the story. There's only so much abuse I can take. Like I said above, tastes are subjective, and I'm sure the stories were chosen because the editors understood the stories and decided they were hallmarks of classic literature.

And then the book descends into five hundred pages or so of poetry. I tried to read it, really I did. After the third or fourth poem, I gave up. I never liked poetry when I was in school. I just didn't quite "get" it. When the writer takes the time to choose words that have a good cadence and plans clever rhyme schemes at the ends of the lines, I enjoy the pace and feel of the poem. But most of these so-called "poems" were really just mediocre prose and a bunch of line returns.


I don't like when
someone does this
and calls it a poem
because it requires
no talent.
Look, I hit "Enter"
a few times
and now it's
a poem.
Yay?

But when the poet takes the time
To arrange the words so that they rhyme
And plans the tempo, word by word
Then, my friend, it should be heard.


I'm not a poet. I've written poems in the past, when I was young (I'm still rather fond of haiku). And then we got to studying the non-rhyming (or forced rhyme, yuck) poems and I totally lost interest. Now, I only bother with it when I'm writing something in my fantasy world, and even then it's rare. But reading poetry? I just don't enjoy it. So I tried a few and then skipped the rest of the section.

This book finishes its tour of literature with a few hundred pages of drama. I've read and enjoyed Shakespeare before, and this collection has two of his plays (Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream). There are also some other classics in here, like Oedipus Rex and Antigone. One day I will re-read those Shakespeare plays, along with all the rest of his work. But the modern plays in here (like Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire)? No thanks. I wouldn't mind seeing them performed on stage, but I don't want to read the plays. It's just not the same experience.

With that, I gave up, having read less than a third of this monstrosity. There are some good stories in here, and since everyone's tastes are different, grabbing a copy would probably be a good idea for anyone. I have the 6th Edition, and this is one of those textbooks that changes content often, so you could probably grab several editions and not have too much overlap. But I highly recommend that you skip the editor commentaries, or at least read the writings in each section before you read the commentaries.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note to staff: the page count for this book is wrong. Not including the forward and indexes, the page count for this edition is 2165.

This was a text book for an English course I took in while in university.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Literature Text I ever had to buy. I still find myself picking it up from time to time in order to find something to read.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing...I love it. I periodically pick it up and just open it up and start reading....I actually have the Third Edition that was published in 1981 and it is 1968 pgs.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book in a Theatre class I had in college. It was a very good read for the class. We had fun discussing it and reading aloud, which helped me understand and critique plays.

[Cecep Maulana]

i want to get the reference