Read by millions of students over seven editions, The Norton Anthology of English Literature remains the most trusted undergraduate survey of English literature available and one of the most successful college texts ever published.

Firmly grounded by the hallmark strengths of all Norton Anthologies — thorough and helpful introductory matter, judicious annotation, complete texts wherever possible —The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Major Authors has been revitalized in this Eighth Edition through the collaboration between six new editors and six seasoned ones. Under the direction of Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor, the editors have reconsidered all aspects of the anthology to make it an even better teaching tool.

Returnable review copies are available for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Please contact school@emp.ca for more information.

Applicable Courses

English, English Literature

• Trusted Editorial Apparatus
  Norton Anthologies set the standard for editorial help that is right for undergraduate readers. The Major Authors Edition demonstrates why this is so. Through the collaboration of new and seasoned editors, all apparatus have been freshly considered — period introductions and headnotes judiciously recast, thousands of annotations and glosses fine-tuned, timelines and bibliographies carefully updated, and appendixes and maps reconceived and rewritten — all with the goal of making these aids to reading and understanding as helpful as possible.
• Writers in Depth/Complete Works
  The Eighth Edition carries on the editors' commitment to represent major figures in sufficient depth for students to gain a full appreciation of the writers and their work. Newly included are complete texts of the York Crucifixion play, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Haywood's Fantomina, Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, and Friel's Translations. These important additions join Heaney's award-winning translation of Beowulf, Behn's Oroonoko, Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and many others.
• Color Plates
  Forty-eight pages of beautiful color plates featuring more than seventy works of art provide students with visual counterpoints to the literary works and further expand students' appreciation of the cultural milieu surrounding the literature. Captions draw attention to important details and cross-references related to literary works in the anthology. In addition to the color plates, black-and-white engravings and illustrations by Hogarth, Blake, and Rossetti provide examples of the hybrid art of the "visual narrative."
• Global Literature in English
  Building on the boundary-breaking Seventh Edition, the Eighth Edition reflects the editors' continued commitment to give full voice to global literature in English. Joining such writers as Heaney, Gordimer, Coetzee, and Rushdie are four new globally diverse writers: Irish playwright Brian Friel, West Indies-born novelist Jean Rhys, and celebrated Canadian authors Alice Munro and Anne Carson.
• Reading Chaucer
  Designed as a way into the original language of Chaucer's writings, this pamphlet offers students a modern English translation of all Chaucer selections in the Anthology. The translation, by Larry D. Benson (Professor, Harvard University, emeritus), is interlineated with the Middle English text; a brief introduction to reading Chaucer in the original, by Alfred David and James Simpson, is also included. The pamphlet may be packaged without charge with The Norton Anthology of English Literature upon instructor's request.

Table of Contents

• Course Guide
• Instructor Image Disk

For more information about the Teacher's Resources or other formats of this text, please contact your regional sales representative.