The Norton Anthology of English Literature

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I thought this was an expensive purchase, but you get a lot of product. Quite large books, and thick, with super thin pages. If they used regular thickness pages you'd likely have the equivalent of 10 or so books on your shelf. Very good quality legible print. Should keep me busy for a lot longer than anticipated.

For the specialist reader and others too.

I purchased these anthologies for an English course I was taking last year. I have since read through volumes A and B, and hope to start volume C soon. Firstly the anthologies are arranged both chronologically and thematically. For example in Volume B there is a section devoted to "Women in Power" which features writing from Elizabeth I, Mary of Scots, Lady Jane etc. There is another section later in the volume about "Inquiry and Experience" featuring writing from Francis Bacon, William Harvey and others. And for example a writer like Milton is placed at the end of the volume, while Sir Philip Sydney is placed near the beginning. The true strength of these anthologies (over simply finding each work online in the public domain) is the editorial additions. Each volume, section, author and work is carefully introduced with a written essay/blurb, outlining the historical-biographical contexts of each author and work, and also highlighting relevant themes and topics to pay attention to when reading each work. For example, the 30-page general introduction to Volume B does an excellent job at setting up the Elizabethan era society, what this meant for writers, and how this affected topics and themes explored in writing both fictional (letters, essay) and non-fictional (poetry, plays). Editorial introductions for specific authors and their works featured in the volumes are naturally shorter than the general intro, being about a few pages. For example Shakespeare's introduction is a few pages long, and his Sonnets and plays each have separate introductions at a few pages each. While William Harvey, who only has an excerpt of one text featured in this volume, has a one page blurb. Along with the introductions, each text is annotated with footnotes and glosses that explain word meanings that have shifted, and historical or textual allusions that are important to understanding the text. This brings me to my first and only gripe with the volumes. The footnotes can feel a little haphazard, but the editors likely did their best to conserve readability. It numbers footnotes from 1 to 9, and repeats until the end of the excerpt. For example, the entirety of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night will start from footnote number 1-9 then repeating until the end of the play. Then Othello which follows will start anew at footnote 1-9 repeating itself until the end. With all that said, the footnote style is simply something one must get used to. I can't imagine how difficult it might have been to edit such vast volumes and code a consistent footnote scheme. The big advantage with this scheme is that the footnotes fit neatly in a nice two column rectangular shape at the bottom of each page. This is easier to read and search than a continuous blob of text as for example in Signet editions. It is also advantageous over endnotes, since the notes are right there at the bottom of the page without need to flip back and forth. However over it's 1600+ pages I still find myself sometimes being confused "am I looking at the right 2?" (on pages with more than 9 footnotes), or thinking "oh it's a 8 footnote, that means it must be the last" when in reality it is the first on the page since the last footnote on the previous page was a 7. That was likely more information than you could ever need to know about footnote design in this anthology. Altogether this is a fantastic collection that both general readers and students alike will find enriching. The selections are arranged and introduced in such a way that develops and contrast themes mentioned in earlier works, contrasts the different styles of authors, and reflects on important historical events when each text was written. This is all said with a footnote about the footnotes.

I had been in the process of trying to find this set a books anywhere for cheaper than $100. Luckily I came across this set on Amazon for not too much especially being a USED set. I made sure to check volume B for any missing pages as some reviews described and was happy to see all pages accounted for. As a college student these are decently priced and honestly very great condition for being used. Highly recommend!