The two-volume Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Edition provides an attractive alternative to the full six-volume anthology. Though much more compact, the Concise Edition nevertheless provides instructors with substantial choice, offering both a strong selection of canonical authors and a sampling of lesser-known works. With an unparalleled number of illustrations and contextual materials, accessible and engaging introductions, and full explanatory annotations, this edition of the acclaimed Broadview Anthology provides concise yet wide-ranging coverage for British literature survey courses.
The second edition of this popular volume will include several new "Contexts" sections on subjects ranging from "The Natural, the Human, the Supernatural, and the Sublime" to "The New Art of Photography"; work by Charles Darwin and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and updated selections from contemporary writers such as Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, and Zadie Smith. Authors who will appear in the anthology for the first time include Sylvia Townsend Warner and J.M. Coetzee.
"I have been delighted to discover The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. It offers a series of unexpected but welcome gems … set here and there among a fine collection of the usual suspects. Its stunning combination of breadth and depth allows that most welcome of qualities in a survey class—flexibility.… The anthology is a real pleasure to use."
"The Broadview Anthology of British Literature is a marvelously rich anthology with many complete, well-annotated works, a better representation of important figures than any of its competitors, fascinating 'cultural portfolios,' real attention to book- and print-culture, and great examples of transatlantic and postcolonialist literatures."
"With the publication of The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, teachers and students in survey and upper-level undergraduate courses have a compelling alternative to the established anthologies from Norton and Longman. Having adopted the first two volumes for an early period survey course last year, I had no hesitation in repeating the experience this year. The medieval volume, in particular, is superb, with its generous representation of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman literary culture, as well as its growing collection of texts from the too little-known fifteenth century. This is a very real intellectual, as well as pedagogical, achievement."
"Broadview's recent Anthology of British Literature is an exciting achievement. Broadview has accomplished what no other anthology to date has been able to do. In its selection of materials, the anthology successfully integrates significant but only recently acknowledged works alongside more familiar greats. Its introductory essays and useful appendices successfully reflect current scholarship while remaining student centered. ... With an impressive selection of literary works, an equally impressive collection of visual images, and an exemplary emphasis on print culture and history of the language, The Broadview Anthology not only rivals the Norton and the Longman, it sets a new standard by which all other anthologies of British literature will now have to be measured."
"The simple fact is that a major work of student-centered scholarship has arrived in the field of English studies, and The Broadview Anthology of British Literature is no mere pretender to the throne long held by the Norton: it is the new standard."