The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces

by Maynard Mack, Patricia Meyer Spacks, Pier Maria Pasinetti

Book Overview

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. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393963489
• ISBN13: 9780393963489
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 2 Pages
• Weight: 3.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 5.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Very impressive compendium of literature

This Volume 2, combined with Volume 1 of this 1995 expanded edition set, you have exposure to virtually every major author of classical literature. I bought the first volume of this set for a literature class required by a professor from Harvard. The literature that is contained in the "1650 - present" volume here was more or less purchased over several other classes in separate publications and I recently chose to purchase this to complete the set. It's disappointing, but while I was comparing these two volumes to the newest edition of the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (single volume), I observed they cut out about half of the total selections between the two volumes (with the compromise of making the literature survey span 3000 pages, rather than 6000 pages between these two volumes.) As I have seen, next closest thing to these two tomes is the two volume set, Norton Anthology of World Literature.

AN OLD FRIEND.

World Masterpieces Through the Renaissance, Third Edition, which has been edited by a number of people, is an old, old friend of mine. It is within easy reach on my bookshelves, and I must is pretty worn, torn, beat-up, marked on, underlined and is loaded with coffee stains and even has page edges ripped by a long dead pet bird I had that use to like to read with me. This work is simply an anthology of great writing up through and including the Renaissance. It starts with selected section of the Old Testament, such as select Psalms, the story of Joseph and many more. next comes selections of Homer; The Iliad and Odyssey. Following are selections from Archilochus of Paros, Tyrtaeus of Sparta, Minnermus of Colophon, Sappho of Lesbos, Alcaecus of Lesbos, Solon of Athanes, Anacreon of Teos, Xenophanes of Colophon, Theognis of Megara, Aechylus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Thucydides, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Cicero, Catullus, Desiderius Erasmus, Baldesar Castiglione, Niccolo Machiavelli, Francois Rabelais, Benvenuto Cellini, Pietro Aretino, Michel De Montaigne, Edmund Spencer, Miguel De Cervantes, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Calderon De la Barca and John Milton. Of course not all of the works of all of these great men and women are published in this one volume. The editors have selected a goodly example of each of their writings. I must say, in my opinion, they have made a fine selection. One of the strengths, and probably its major strength, is that by giving these examples, it encourages the reader to seek out, find and read the complete manuscripts when ever possible. It acts as a motivator, a "tickler" to lead you on and on. Some works of course are printed here in their entirety, such as The Song of Roland (one of my all time favorites), while others, as noted, give you tantalizing bits to make you want more. My edition was published in 1973, which replaced my 1965 edition which was stolen by a swine who I though a friend. Never mind though, the old 1965 edition was falling apart too. While the printing is rather small for my older eyes now, I still manage it quite well. Probably the only thing I have against the book is that the paper is rather thing and over the years the ink I have used to record my unreadable notes (to others) has tended to bleed through some of the pages. There are many anthologies of this nature out there, some good, some so, so, and others simply bad. This one is the one I happen to have, I love it and consider it a good friend and intend to stick with it. Don Blankenship The Ozarks

Portable Canon

A year or so ago I realized that I had slowly, over a period of years, become a non reader. Work, a new baby, and TV had slowly eroded the hours a day I used to spend reading. I started getting up an hour early each day to read. As a non English major, there are many classics that I never got around to reading. After I completed reading Bloom's new poetry anthology, I turned to this volume, and its companion, which covers the ancient world. Reading these two anthologies has been one of the more rewarding intellectual activities of my life. While coverage of literature from outside Europe is lighter than one might hope, the concentration of great literature is intoxicating. Reading this material without the help of a professor means I've undoubtedly missed things, but I've had the joy of figuring out things for my self. Besides, I'm reading this for me, not for some course.

Well rounded collection of literature since the Renaissance

This collection of readings is unusually wide and varied, and are predominantly an anthology of Western Culture imaginative literature. This revised edition is meant to widen very considerably the range of choice, while at the same time increasing the number of complete works and the quality of the translations. Includes masterpieces of Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism & Naturalism, and Symbolism & The Modern School. This wonderful collection is excellent for study and enjoyment. I highly recommend it.

A Real Masterpiece

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.