The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism
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List Price: $71.25
Our Price: $51.97
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Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 801.95
EAN: 9780393974294
ISBN: 0393974294
Label: W. W. Norton
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 2624
Publication Date: 2001-06
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Studio: W. W. Norton
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Criticism-It's what you'll wish you could be dreaming about at 3am
Comment: The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism offers students a comprehensive introduction to theory and criticism. The student will also be pleased with the biography section before each critic's essay. However, I did find that it did not provide adequate supplemental material that could further assist comprehension.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Typically Norton--Mostly Good
Comment: If one had to choose only one text to study literary theory, that would certainly be THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM. Its more than 2,500 pages cover the complete spectum of western literary theory from Plato to the present day. The editors Leitch, Cain, Finke, Johnson, McGowan, and Williams are both competent and lucid in their choices of authors and their introductions thereto. The Norton anthologies in general are written in the same massive style, which accentuates comprehensiveness at the cost of occasional lapses in structural integrity and reader involvement. This Norton is no different. First the good news. Whether a college professor wishes to cover the vast range of theory over the last two millennia, he has the option of selecting targeted theorists from classical antiquity to modern day. Now this is a good news bad news dilemma. The typical college theory course lasts but one semester of perhaps fifteen sessions. The vastness of this text is an illusion that dares the instructor to cover even a fraction of its contents. How does this instructor choose from such a bewildering array? Does he totally ignore the ancients like Plato, Aristotle, and Horace (which by the way occupy nearly the first 400 pages) or does he by necessity focus on 19th and 20th century theorists? This is no nitpicking question. Part of the problem in deciding how to structure a semester's syllabus lies in the typical strategy that most Norton editors follow. They try to include nearly everyone and everything with minimal follow up activities. The preliminary introductions are comprehensive although in this Norton, the editors chose to present a chronological listing of theorists. One simply follows the other with no attempt to place him in a cultural or paradigmatic context. By contrast, the Norton's chief anthology rival, LITERARY THEORY: AN ANTHOLOGY by Rivkin and Ryan arranges its selections by logical groupings based on their relevant school of criticism. Leitch et al clearly recognize this by trying to compensate by creating a multi-index approach. The first is a chronological listing of theorist, followed by an alternative table of contents, which is further subdivided by school, by genre, by historical period, and by issue and topic. The problem with this alternative index is that it is awkward to use in that one has to continually flip back and forth to track a targeted theorist or school of theory. There are other problems that I saw in this Norton. In my earlier review of THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE I lamented the omission of follow up questions and student-directed prompts that would facilitate their grasp of an arcane subject. The Norton editors seem unwilling to do what high school editors of literary texts have no problem doing--following each selection with thought-provoking essay questions that would require students to make a transcendental leap from abstractness to concretization. The reason for this lack is clear. Once the editors include their vast corpus of writer and work, there is no room remaining for follow-up topics. Now given that this text is designed (I think) mostly for a one semester course in theory, was it really necessary to include a wide range of ancient theorists like Quintilian, Augustine of Hippo, Macrobius, Hugh of St. Victor, Moses Maimonides, Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Christine de Pizan, Giambattista Giraldi, and Giacopo Mazzoni? Now I can just hear professors of Greek, Roman, and Renaissance literature rushing to defend these insertions, but my point is one of priorities. To include these lesser lights is to exclude commentary and follow up questions on all others, including those classic writers with whom I have no objection.
There is plenty I like about this Norton. The Introduction to Theory and Criticism is exactly what the novice needs to self-acclimatize. The concluding Selected Bibliography of Theory and Criticism is enormously useful--probably more so for the graduate student than the undergraduate. I suspect that the text mirrors the field of literary theory itself; its vastness precludes anyone from a comprehensive ingestion of a complex web of vocabulary and an abstruseness of thought. When that course of literary theory is over, the real education of a student will begin when that student now has the basics straight and wishes to plow ahead on his own. For such a student, THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM will be an invaluable and lifelong companion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just some technical issues...
Comment: I'm not commenting on the content, just the book itself. The pages are so thin that when you read you can actually see the type on the opposite side of the page through the paper... I don't know about anybody else, but I personally find this incredibly distracting, especially since the font is already very small. I suppose it would have been too hard to make the book a little thicker so that it would actually be readable? If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, this is a great anthology.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Incredulous Omissions
Comment: Norton anthologies are typically criticized for their omissions, rarely for their inclusions. But by their nature, anthology editors must be selective, because not every representation can be accommodated. Frequently, these omissions center on an obscure, parochial, or provincial interest that the editors choose, often rightly, to omit.
Here's a case where criticism of both inclusion and omission are justified, if only because over-sampling of one representation must be compensated by elimination of other eminently more valuable contenders. The representative scope, here, is quite broad, and for the most part, well-chosen. But the preponderance, even redundancy, of Marxist criticism, while not in itself objectionable, becomes objectionable because it "forces" out other worthy candidates.
How many variants of Marxist and neo-Marxist criticism compensates for the exclusion of L. Wittgenstein, I. A. Richards, H. G. Gadamer, and P. Ricoeur? Providing well over twenty, perhaps thirty, examples of the former at the expense of the latter simply cannot be justified. The latter are too important. Even if Wittgenstein, particularly, does not "fit" strict criteria for inclusion, numerous devotees of his do, e.g., Charles Altieri, but aren't.
Otherwise, this collection could not be much improved. I would have made room E. Auerbach, again, because the over-sampling of Marxist criticism would have allowed it. While heavily Francophilic, Americans are well-represented, e.g., Emerson, Burke, Frye, Hirsch, Bloom, H. White, H. L. Gates, Jr., etc. I might have chosen different pericopes, greatly abbreviated some of the biographical data, and emphasized the methods more, but these are really minor criticisms.
As positive as I am about the overall effort, these four omissions are troublesome, and do devalue the volume. In particular, Wittgenstein's enormous influence over the entire century makes his omission both incredulous and inexplicable. Otherwise, a very good collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An essential textbook for literary theorists
Comment: This massive volume encloses most of the major theorists in criticsm and theory, this book is essential reading for Literary theorists and those people who are interested in reading the original texts of the greatest thinkers in history.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Criticism-It's what you'll wish you could be dreaming about at 3am
Comment: The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism offers students a comprehensive introduction to theory and criticism. The student will also be pleased with the biography section before each critic's essay. However, I did find that it did not provide adequate supplemental material that could further assist comprehension.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Typically Norton--Mostly Good
Comment: If one had to choose only one text to study literary theory, that would certainly be THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM. Its more than 2,500 pages cover the complete spectum of western literary theory from Plato to the present day. The editors Leitch, Cain, Finke, Johnson, McGowan, and Williams are both competent and lucid in their choices of authors and their introductions thereto. The Norton anthologies in general are written in the same massive style, which accentuates comprehensiveness at the cost of occasional lapses in structural integrity and reader involvement. This Norton is no different. First the good news. Whether a college professor wishes to cover the vast range of theory over the last two millennia, he has the option of selecting targeted theorists from classical antiquity to modern day. Now this is a good news bad news dilemma. The typical college theory course lasts but one semester of perhaps fifteen sessions. The vastness of this text is an illusion that dares the instructor to cover even a fraction of its contents. How does this instructor choose from such a bewildering array? Does he totally ignore the ancients like Plato, Aristotle, and Horace (which by the way occupy nearly the first 400 pages) or does he by necessity focus on 19th and 20th century theorists? This is no nitpicking question. Part of the problem in deciding how to structure a semester's syllabus lies in the typical strategy that most Norton editors follow. They try to include nearly everyone and everything with minimal follow up activities. The preliminary introductions are comprehensive although in this Norton, the editors chose to present a chronological listing of theorists. One simply follows the other with no attempt to place him in a cultural or paradigmatic context. By contrast, the Norton's chief anthology rival, LITERARY THEORY: AN ANTHOLOGY by Rivkin and Ryan arranges its selections by logical groupings based on their relevant school of criticism. Leitch et al clearly recognize this by trying to compensate by creating a multi-index approach. The first is a chronological listing of theorist, followed by an alternative table of contents, which is further subdivided by school, by genre, by historical period, and by issue and topic. The problem with this alternative index is that it is awkward to use in that one has to continually flip back and forth to track a targeted theorist or school of theory. There are other problems that I saw in this Norton. In my earlier review of THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE I lamented the omission of follow up questions and student-directed prompts that would facilitate their grasp of an arcane subject. The Norton editors seem unwilling to do what high school editors of literary texts have no problem doing--following each selection with thought-provoking essay questions that would require students to make a transcendental leap from abstractness to concretization. The reason for this lack is clear. Once the editors include their vast corpus of writer and work, there is no room remaining for follow-up topics. Now given that this text is designed (I think) mostly for a one semester course in theory, was it really necessary to include a wide range of ancient theorists like Quintilian, Augustine of Hippo, Macrobius, Hugh of St. Victor, Moses Maimonides, Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Christine de Pizan, Giambattista Giraldi, and Giacopo Mazzoni? Now I can just hear professors of Greek, Roman, and Renaissance literature rushing to defend these insertions, but my point is one of priorities. To include these lesser lights is to exclude commentary and follow up questions on all others, including those classic writers with whom I have no objection.
There is plenty I like about this Norton. The Introduction to Theory and Criticism is exactly what the novice needs to self-acclimatize. The concluding Selected Bibliography of Theory and Criticism is enormously useful--probably more so for the graduate student than the undergraduate. I suspect that the text mirrors the field of literary theory itself; its vastness precludes anyone from a comprehensive ingestion of a complex web of vocabulary and an abstruseness of thought. When that course of literary theory is over, the real education of a student will begin when that student now has the basics straight and wishes to plow ahead on his own. For such a student, THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM will be an invaluable and lifelong companion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just some technical issues...
Comment: I'm not commenting on the content, just the book itself. The pages are so thin that when you read you can actually see the type on the opposite side of the page through the paper... I don't know about anybody else, but I personally find this incredibly distracting, especially since the font is already very small. I suppose it would have been too hard to make the book a little thicker so that it would actually be readable? If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, this is a great anthology.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Incredulous Omissions
Comment: Norton anthologies are typically criticized for their omissions, rarely for their inclusions. But by their nature, anthology editors must be selective, because not every representation can be accommodated. Frequently, these omissions center on an obscure, parochial, or provincial interest that the editors choose, often rightly, to omit.
Here's a case where criticism of both inclusion and omission are justified, if only because over-sampling of one representation must be compensated by elimination of other eminently more valuable contenders. The representative scope, here, is quite broad, and for the most part, well-chosen. But the preponderance, even redundancy, of Marxist criticism, while not in itself objectionable, becomes objectionable because it "forces" out other worthy candidates.
How many variants of Marxist and neo-Marxist criticism compensates for the exclusion of L. Wittgenstein, I. A. Richards, H. G. Gadamer, and P. Ricoeur? Providing well over twenty, perhaps thirty, examples of the former at the expense of the latter simply cannot be justified. The latter are too important. Even if Wittgenstein, particularly, does not "fit" strict criteria for inclusion, numerous devotees of his do, e.g., Charles Altieri, but aren't.
Otherwise, this collection could not be much improved. I would have made room E. Auerbach, again, because the over-sampling of Marxist criticism would have allowed it. While heavily Francophilic, Americans are well-represented, e.g., Emerson, Burke, Frye, Hirsch, Bloom, H. White, H. L. Gates, Jr., etc. I might have chosen different pericopes, greatly abbreviated some of the biographical data, and emphasized the methods more, but these are really minor criticisms.
As positive as I am about the overall effort, these four omissions are troublesome, and do devalue the volume. In particular, Wittgenstein's enormous influence over the entire century makes his omission both incredulous and inexplicable. Otherwise, a very good collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An essential textbook for literary theorists
Comment: This massive volume encloses most of the major theorists in criticsm and theory, this book is essential reading for Literary theorists and those people who are interested in reading the original texts of the greatest thinkers in history.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism presents a staggeringly varied collection of the most influential critical statements from the classical era to the present day. Edited by scholars and teachers whose interests range from the history of poetics to postmodernism, from classical rhetoric to ériture féminine, and from the social construction of gender to the machinery of academic superstardom, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism promises to become the standard anthology in its field. An Unrivaled Collection: The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism offers nearly twice the number of selections in other leading anthologies and more twentieth-century selections than any other text (including anthologies devoted solely to the twentieth century). This historical breadth of coverage and depth of selection—especially within the twentieth century—make The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism the perfect choice for nearly any theory and criticism course. Continuity and Connections: The works in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism have been chosen not only because they are individually important but also because they speak to each other, providing students with a rich portrait of the ongoing "critical conversation." Where appropriate, the editors link classical, medieval, and early modern critics to contemporary theorists and movements as well as to other classical, medieval, and early modern critics. Throughout the twentieth-century selections, the editors trace the complex web of interrelated ideas and explicit influences. Helpful Apparatus: • General Introduction: A 30-page introduction surveys the history of criticism and theory and provides an overview of the many schools and movements that make up the contemporary theoretical landscape. • Headnotes: Each of the 169 figures represented in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism is treated in an informative headnote that not only introduces the writer's life and thought but also connects the writer to other critics, theorists, and movements. • Bibliographies: Each author headnote is followed by a selected bibliography. A detailed, annotated general bibliography at the end of the volume is divided into historical periods and major schools and movements. This material makes The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism a valuable reference for scholars as well as a useful teaching anthology. • Annotations: In the Norton tradition, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism's annotations are extensive, helpful, and as unobtrusive to students' own interpretive work as possible.
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