2452 Pages of Literature by Women

I write in praise of “The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Tradition in English” (Norton), edited by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. I bought, dipped into, marveled at, enjoyed, and then taught from the first edition (1985) and second edition (1996); it is now in its third edition (2007). It is hard to remember now what a thrilling breakthrough it was for women (and men!) readers to have new access to so many women writers starting in the 1970s, and then to have this magnificent collection of those writers' works all in one place. Granted it is incomplete: no book can cover all the great women writers, and choices had to be made about which of each writer's works to include. The book is bulky, the pages are tissue thin, and the print is small, but all in service of cramming more writers (almost 200) into those 2452 pages! And granted the collection is limited to literature in English, but it is very diverse geographically and ethnically, and it is a glorious precedent for other collections that have been published since, including those of literature in other languages or translated from other languages. Whose work do we find in the Norton Anthology? Everyone from Margery Kempe in the Middle Ages through many living writers such as Jamaica Kincaid and Eavan Boland. There are stories, poems, plays, and even a few whole novels, including (in my battered 2nd edition) "Jane Eyre," "The Awakening," and "Sula." The book also includes good introductory material for each time period, and useful informational headnotes as well as "selected bibliographies" for each author. This book is a wonderful addition for anyone's bookshelf!