Canonizing the Canonizer: A Short History of The Norton Anthology of English Literature

• Published in: Critical inquiry 2009, Vol.35 (2), p.293-318
• Main Author: Shesgreen, Sean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abrams, M H; Anthologies; Donaldson, E Talbot; English literature; History; Literary canon; Literary criticism; Monk, Samuel; Publishing
• ISSN: 0093-1896; 1539-7858
• DOI: 10.1086/596644

In Nov 1962, Samuel Monk of the University of Minnesota received the first check for his labors as a period editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature. As Monk's midwestern rhetoric about slicing melons and E. Talbot Donaldson's New England language about sinning and repenting show, the NAEL success was instant; a few years after its debut it had become the dominant anthology of English literature. Forty-four years later, in 2006, the New York Times Book Review dubbed Abrams the holder of "one of the most powerful posts in the world of letters" and called the anthology "the sine qua non of college textbooks, setting the agenda for the study of English literature in this country and beyond. Here, Shesgreen recounts the publishing history of NAEL. He discusses the anthology's origins and further cites three factors that contributed to the rise of the NAEL. One is technological and concerns bookmaking. The second is commercial and involves one Ohioan's tiny but aggressive publishing house, the communist-sounding People's Institute Publishing Company. The third is Professor M. H. Abrams, whose brilliance has been largely responsible for the work's triumph.