An anthology that recognizes the challenges of teaching and taking this course -- and then does something about them.
--Handsome 2-color design with an unsurpassed collection of maps and images -- including fine art, photographs, frontispieces, cartoons, and cultural artifacts -- helps students see where the great literatures of the world came from.
--Over 30 unique "In the World" clusters bring together writings around a single theme and from different countries and cultural traditions. Topics include "Muslim and Christian at War"; "Love, Marriage, and the Education of Women"; and "Imagining Africa."
An expanded canon for the twenty-first century includes the best literature in English or English translation, with texts from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, India, Persia, China, Japan, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean.
--35 complete, longer works include Homer's Odyssey, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
--Several hundred lyric poems -- more than any other anthology -- organized by author or by poetic tradition. Unique clusters, "In the Tradition," trace poetic traditions across cultures and include poetry about love; Tang Dynasty poetry; Indian devotional poetry; and poetry on war.
--Important texts and writers not frequently anthologized. These include Hammurabi's Code, Lao Tzu, the Upanishads, Imru' Al-Quays, Ibn Battuta, Mary Rowlandson, George Eliot, Emilia Pardo Bazan, Harriet Jacobs, The Declaration of Independence, Swami Vivekananda, Higuchi Ichiyo, Black Elk, Aime Cesaire, and Salman Rushdie.
The help students need. This anthology offers a compact library of world literature -- but unlike other books, it's a library that comes with a reference section. Helpful tools include comprehensive overviews for each period and author, maps and timelines, phonetic pronounciations, and a glossary of terms.
This new way to teach world literature doesn't stop with the printed page. Marginal links throughout the anthology direct student to World Literature Online -- at bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit -- where they'll find an unprecedented collection of additional resources.