Compact Anthology of World Literature

Reviewed by Matthew Shand, Adjunct Instructor, English, Westfield State University on 6/7/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Anthologies, by nature, will omit important texts. That said, the omission of the continent of Africa from the early readings seems glaring. That said, the text is remarkably comprehensive given the breadth and scope of the available field. I have used it for a survey course in World Literature several times and have been able to alternate or introduce new texts across sections with relative ease. Some of the inclusions, like the Hebrew Bible, seem somewhat arbitrary. The anthology could just as easily included the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, or Romans to good effect. Furthermore, the anthology includes some early Native American folklore and cosmologies and again could have included African folklore and cosmologies, especially around "the trickster," for better inclusion of early African literature.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content for the material I have used is accurate, error-free, and seemingly unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The included texts constitute much of the current canon in world literature. The organization by geographical region and chronology is useful and effective. The included texts remain relevant and timely no matter how they are approached in a given class.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is well-written. It uses language easily accessible to an undergraduate student and is free of jargon and technical language. While it does come at the cost of losing the poetic balance of the original, the use of modern English prose translations of works like the selections from The Canterbury Tales is particularly helpful to undergraduate students who often struggle to connect with Middle English. This is easily rectified with comparative readings and/or lecture.

Consistency rating: 5

The framework of the anthology is consistent throughout. The inclusion of short introductions before each text is one of the best features of the anthology and is carried throughout each volume/part.

Modularity rating: 4

The anthology itself is easily divisible into smaller reading sections. I have used these anthologies in sections of World Literature that were organized by themes, and the framework of the anthologies and their selections makes it easy to skip across time and geographical locations without losing the important cultural and literary significance of the texts. Moreover, longer texts like the Divine Comedy are easily broken up and parsed.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The first three parts of anthologies use a system of organization based on region for each part. This is logical and clear--but not the only way the anthology could be organized or even used in a class. The second anthology (parts four through six) shifts from region to literary era/movement (i.e. Age of Reason, Realism, Romanticism, etc). This type of organization is useful but it affects the way the selections are gathered in a way that leads to more omissions of non-western writers/literature. Western writers become the dominant selections in these parts. Why not include Zitkala-Ša in either the "Realism" or "Postcolonial" sections? Or find a place for writers as important to World Literature as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa or Lafcadio Hearn in the Long Nineteenth or 20th Century?

Interface rating: 5

Neither volume of the compact anthology contains any significant navigation problems. Moreover, none of the images or links contained within them are unclear or difficult to display.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The anthology contained no grammatical errors in the material I have used.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Along with the aforementioned gap in literature from the continent of Africa, more space could be given to early and contemporary Native American or First Nations literature. On a positive note, I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of selections from Korean and Middle Eastern literature. Overall, the material is fairly inclusive of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Comments

The editors of the compact anthologies have done a great job compiling these open-source texts. While there are noticeable gaps, I have and will continue to use these as the primary texts in my World Literature surveys. While I hope that my and the comments of others can lead to meaningful edits and revisions to the anthologies, I am certain that what the anthologies lack can easily be accounted for with supplementation from an instructor. I am sincerely grateful for the work done with these.

Reviewed by Rosina Catalan, Adjunct Professor, Butler University on 12/6/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The Compact Anthology of World Literature is comprehensive. It could be use for a general world literature course. I used it for a Greek literature course and found it served most of my needs. While students mainly read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, they could easily access other epic poems like Gilgamesh and the Aeneid for supplementary reading. Each work is well-chosen and they compliment each other. The only thing that would improve the comprehensiveness of this text would the addition of literature from Africa.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is error-free, unbiased, and accurate in regards to the texts I use in class.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of this anthology has already endured for millennia and it is unlikely to become obsolete. I have assigned this textbook in my classes and have also used it for ad hoc references in various classes. The contents continue to be relevant.

Clarity rating: 4

The translations used specifically for the Iliad and the Odyssey use Roman names instead of Greek names (yet they are listed under Greek literature). This is easy to address in the classroom but an instructor will need to note the Roman/Greek name equivalents early and often.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is a straightforward anthology of world literature. Its framework and terminology are predictable throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

The books of the Iliad and the Odyssey are easily found and are consistent with other publications of the same texts. Students who prefer to use their own printed versions of the text can do so easily because the organization by books is maintained in the same manner.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization of the Iliad and the Odyssey are pretty straightforward - each epic poem is set up by books. Like chapters, these books are noted by a subheading. Locating them takes quite a bit of scrolling in the pdf version of the text.

Interface rating: 4

In the pdf version of the text some books in the Iliad and the Odyssey begin with the subheading as the last line of one page and the text of the book (of the poem itself) on the next page. It takes a little extra effort to figure out where to start.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The texts I used were free from grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

While the Anthology includes literature from around the world it would better to have included literature from the continent of Africa to make it more culturally inclusive.

Comments

Because students so often access this text for class I hope they explore it and find more literature to read and enjoy. I plan on using this textbook again and when I do, I plan on encouraging the students to read more from different areas of the world.

Reviewed by Donna Nelson, Adjunct Instructor, MassBay Community College on 6/30/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Although the Compact Anthology of World Literature does not represent literature from
all around the world, Parts 1-6 offer an instructor a good selection of works for World
Literature and for introduction to humanities and literature courses. The anthology also
offers selections that would enhance other courses such as history or philosophy.
Introductions are short and interesting; they offer information useful to help understand
the text, time, and culture. Questions allow students to engage with the text and
promote class discussion of the work if a teacher chooses to use them. Instructors will
have to provide other materials to include writers from areas not covered in the
anthology or from areas barely represented. Instructors also will need to provide
selections by writers of all genders to augment the representation of gender found in the
anthology. There is a bibliography and an appendix. I did not find an index or glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

I did not find any content errors in the many introductions to sections and to individual
authors and works that I read. Including works throughout the anthology from all areas
of the world and including writers of all genders would provide an accurate
representation of authors and works from around the world. The anthology presents
prose versions of some work originally written in verse. The introductions are interesting
and informative. My students appreciated them and engaged in conversation about
them.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Several pieces I wished to use had older translations or a translation put together from a
combination of versions: it was not clear if the person creating the anthology’s version
understood the original language(s) in which a text was written. Some works such as
The Epic of Gilgamesh do not reflect recent scholarship. Fragments of The Epic of
Gilgamesh were found in 2015; they add significant information to the story. Instructors,
if they use the anthology’s version of Gilgamesh, will have to provide information
regarding the new findings until the anthology is updated. Discussing the finding in the
introduction would be easy: adding the new lines to the text also is possible.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the introductions work are clear and accessible. I also appreciate that the
anthology indicates which editor wrote which introductions.

Consistency rating: 4

Although I have looked through much of Parts 1-4, I have assigned readings mainly
from Part 5 & 6 in my courses. I have found the work consistent in the sections I have
used.

Modularity rating: 4

I have found it easy to assign individual selections from the text. Students who wish to
purchase the material can purchase Parts 1, 2, & 3. It is difficult to read lengthy texts;
providing links to move through sections of the text would help.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The organization of the material does not follow an exact chronological pattern which
could be misleading to students. For instance, The Epic of Gilgamesh chronologically
would come before the excerpts from the Hebrew Bible.

Interface rating: 4

The anthology provides links to some works not in the public domain. During the Spring
2021 term, some of the links were not available due to copyright issues. I was able to
find them using OER. Other than having work no longer available, I found no other
interface issue.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I found no major issues in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Revising the anthology to represent writers from around the whole world and of all genders is necessary.

Comments

While I have not assigned work only from the anthology, I have assigned a good
number of readings from Parts 5 & 6 for World Literature II and for introduction to
humanities and literature courses. The introductions to the work provide excellent
information about the writer and their works and promote discussion of the text and
author. I will use selections from Parts 5 & 6 again. I am grateful that Compact
Anthology of World Literature Parts 1-6 are available as an OER.

Reviewed by Vance Westgate, Instructor, Bristol Community College on 6/22/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

There is an enormous amount of material from those areas named in the tables of content. However, the entire continent of Africa seems to have been omitted. It's interesting that the reviews as far back as 2017 have called attention to this oversight but no update has been implemented. Nor do indices or glossaries seem evident.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I assume the content is accurate. However, it is almost impossible to critique the accuracy of translations unless one is fluent in the original languages.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

As long as human nature remains constant, great literature from any culture, like that found in this anthology, will be relevant. Advanced or graduate courses may relish the text, but community college students may see the material as arcane or inaccessible while the instructor might face a herculean challenge to extract and impart the hidden relevance.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is in standard written English without any confusing jargon or technical language.

Consistency rating: 3

There seems to be some inconsistency in the editors' use of the term "world literature." The emphasis, they say, "is on non-Western and European works." To omit literature from the West or the Western hemisphere would seem to exclude major contributions to world literature. In fact, the United States, as "the melting pot of the nations" has generated literature from writers who represent cultures around the world.

Modularity rating: 4

Excerpts from the Bible's Old Testament sometimes seem arbitrary: all 40 chapter of Exodus are included, but only 9 chapters of the 50 chapters of Genesis appear. Furthermore, the captions at the tops of pages in the King James version, like "The first sabbath" or "The Garden of Eden," etc., are omitted. These headings would be helpful in dividing large blocks of text into workable units.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Generally well organized. However, the first "Table of Contents" given fails to include "Part One: The Ancient World" from which the chapters listed are taken.

Interface rating: 4

In the PDF version of the text, navigating to Parts 4, 5, and 6 was particularly complicated, requiring apps called Readium, Lithium, and iBooks depending on the particular device in use. Also, the first graphic displayed in "The Ancient World" appears to be a colorful Indian goddess holding symbolic objects and surrounded by others, but there are no marginal notes to identify her or to explain her significance.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text appears virtually free of grammatical flaws, but I couldn't resist questioning the use of a colon in the following passage from the Introduction to Part I: "It is a nice addition to the experience if the students like the works, but we can read and analyze texts that we do not enjoy just as effectively as the ones we do: In some cases, it is actually easier." The grammar might better be served by replacing the colon after "the ones we do" with a semi-colon followed by lowercase "i" since the clause that follows does not list, summarize, explain or identify anything. The comma after "cases" also seems superfluous.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The absence of African contributions might be perceived as a slight.

Comments

I believe the Western World contains literature that reflects a diversity of cultural backgrounds and warrants a place in a world literature anthology.

Reviewed by Barbara Stachniewicz, Professor of English, Northern Essex Community College on 6/19/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This anthology of world literature contains much terrific material. However, it misses some important pieces like The Popol Vuh. I misses important areas; there is no literature from Africa, like The Epic of Son Jara.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The introduction is very good and accurate. They provide important background material that is important to students.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is relevant and, because of the time periods covered, will stay relevant. I still wish there was more from Africa.

Clarity rating: 5

The introductions are well written and will be helpful to students new to this subject.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The modularity makes this book easy to include in an online course. I can arrange the material to fit the themes I am focusing on in my course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The texts are arranged chronologically and by geographic region. This make is easy to select the pieces that work best,

Interface rating: 5

I see no problems with the interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I see few problems with grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not offensive, but, again, I wish it included some other texts.

Comments

I plan to use this book.

Reviewed by Junjie Luo, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies, Gettysburg College on 4/22/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This anthology is comprehensive, and offers a nice overview of different literary traditions. I wish that it could include more texts so that the instructor could have more freedom to select what to teach, but the anthology is still useful for and pertinent to world literature survey courses.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate, and the introduction is succinct.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is relevant. I do not think that it will become obsolete within a short period time. If the authors plan to update it, more coverage of contemporary, experimental, writings could be helpful.

Clarity rating: 5

The introduction to the text is written clearly. The translations of non-English texts are approachable, which is a plus for survey classes.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology used in this anthology is consistent.

Modularity rating: 4

The text can be easily divided into smaller reading sections. The editors' introduction to each period or text is concise, which is a strength. However, it would be helpful if the anthology could provide additional guidance for more in-depth discussion and analysis of texts.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The first three volumes of this anthology are organized chronologically and geographically, which is the common practice for world literature anthologies.

Interface rating: 5

I think the interface of this anthology is good. It is easy to navigate through the text. I hope that the last three volumes can be available in pdf format in the future.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I think the editors did a good job to cover a variety of cultural traditions, both Western and non-Western. They also selected texts that do not often appear in other world literature anthologies. All these help both instructors and students broaden their horizons.

Comments

Overall, this is a successful open textbook for a world literature survey class. It also offers materials that can be used for other types of literature classes.

Reviewed by Tammy Jabin, English Instructor, Chemeketa Community College on 5/23/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a fairly comprehensive overview of major influential works of World literature in translation from the non-Western World. It includes maps of the areas the works are from, illustrations, an introduction to each work, and helpful questions for students to consider as they read each work. Especially helpful are a general introduction to the cultures in each region, and a bit of historical background that students need for context. Significant works seem well represented

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not notice any inaccuracies

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text treats each culture with respect, and the focus on non-Western literatures (only including Western Literature only where the works' impact and been exceptionally significant on the World stage) contribute to the texts' relevance. These are the same factors that should keep the text relevant well into the future.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clear and lucid. The materials are clearly written to be engaging and clear to a undergraduate audience.

Consistency rating: 5

The introductions and theme are consistent across works and sections of the book. I noticed no inconsistencies

Modularity rating: 4

It is easily divided into three sections that could be used individually. I wish there was a fourth, more contemporary section, as this ends at the renaissance.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Clearly organized both chronologically and by region.

Interface rating: 5

I noticed no interface issues

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I noticed no grammar errors. The writing was polished and the style was professional

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I noticed no cultural insensitivities. This is an important issue and one I pay close attention to. Part of why this text is relevant is because of its sensitive handled of cultures that students may be unfamiliar with. It even specifically addresses culture shock in the introduction

Reviewed by Naiad Wong, History faculty, Leeward Community College on 3/8/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The anthology organizes some of the most essential pieces of world literature into one convenient and concise collection. The index and general format are easy to use. I particularly like that some of the readings are famous but contain sections which are harder to find and would be extremely expensive as individual books. I was pleased to see much longer passages related to Columbus and the Mongols. In fact, most world literature readers I have used contain two to five pages of such passages and these are too short to be very useful. I will likely incorporate the Columbus reading into my world history survey course for next semester. Some reviews have pointed out that the passages are too heavy for a freshman level course. Yes, some of the readings, like Dante’s Inferno, are too extensive and challenging for most introductory courses but one could also opt to shorten the readings if they are too long. I do teach European History and I find that these passages would be appropriate for a higher level course. The individual teacher can decide on how to present the readings to the students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Yes, the content is accurate and the introductions are unbiased though the authors offer some unique ideas used in their own courses on comparative literature. I found those activity suggestions quite interesting and thoughtful as they will appeal to modern students.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up-to-date. There are almost no comprehensive OER sources for European history which makes this anthology very relevant to those teaching the Medieval period or the Renaissance. The authors have also chosen classic passages from various cultures which will always be relevant to history, religion and literature classes so the content is not in danger of becoming obsolete.

Clarity rating: 5

The authors write clearly and have good explanations of how to approach the readings. Of course, this is an anthology of ancient writings so each passage is different. The Greek selections, like Oedipus, and selections from Shakespeare will not contain easy prose and will be extremely challenging for the average student but this is part of the learning experience. Students should be exposed to ancient texts and languages. As many words will be unfamiliar to students, I would like to see the addition of footnotes explaining select vocabulary terms which are no longer used in modern English.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, the text is consistent. I did not find any issues or inconsistencies.

Modularity rating: 4

There are huge blocks of text which will definitely be problematic especially for students with reading disabilities. The larger blocks of text need to be broken into a more readable form. Still, I may begin to assign small passages in my online course because the authors have done the harder work of making the passages easy to incorporate into a regular or online class. In addition, in comparison to other free source sites like Project Guttenberg, the text in these volumes is more pleasing and is much easier to read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics are presented in a very logical fashion and many of the introductions provide important context for the passages which are being introduced. There were a few introductions which could be much more substantial. This was particularly true in the case of The Prince introduction. The introduction had almost no historical background which is key to understanding why Machiavelli is writing The Prince and whom he is addressing. I was surprised that there was no mention of Florence or the Medici family. I do feel that Florence and the Medicis must be mentioned in conjunction with the Prince to truly understand Machiavelli.

Interface rating: 5

The photos and charts are well-placed and I found the selections relevant to the text included. There is no distracting layout and the charts and photos enhance the information. I did not see any distorted images.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no significant grammar errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The anthologies do focus on mostly Europe and Asia and are deliberately organized to promote cultural and racial understanding. Of course, it would be nice to have individual anthologies added to the collection which focus on other world literature and particularly the Americas, Polynesia, or Africa which are not represented at all in the selections. I would like to see all world literature and history source books focus much more on Polynesia which is consistently left out.

Comments

The three volumes contain a wide enough range of material to be relevant to three different courses I teach.

Reviewed by JoAnne Knowles, Instructor, Portland Community College on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The content is too much for an undergraduate class during a quarter or even a semester. Some selections are too extensive, like the Divine Comedy, and some important materials have been left out entirely, like Beowulf, which is a major contribution to the beginnings of English language and literature. Students may be exposed to poor translations or incorrect teaching of Beowulf, or dreadful movie interpretations, so it’s important for capable instructors to bring it to students. I would much rather see some other important texts than The Parliament of Birds or Gargantua and Pantagruel. I do like the editors’ introductions, and I appreciate the effort they make to facilitate comparisons of texts and themes between texts and cultures. The study questions are appropriate for an undergrad class. I was glad to see that the editors included the Lais of Marie de France, but although they include several short works by her and also by Chretien de Troyes, they don’t introduce the historical importance of French language and literature in the Early Middle English period before Chaucer.
Oddly, the Table of Contents at the beginning doesn’t include all the sections, so the reader has to go to the section to see the contents. I did not see a glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I worry that older translations, especially prose translations when good verse translation are available, may limit students’ ability to understand the materials. For the most part I liked the editors’ introductions, but I might provide more historical relevance in some places.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I think the most readable and most popular of old texts are ones that will stick best in undergraduates’ minds. On the other hand, perhaps editors and instructors should try to bring less frequently read materials to students. Editors should look carefully at texts to make sure they are not "obsolete" for the modern world.

Clarity rating: 4

The editors’ comments are generally clear and appropriate for undergraduate readers. However, some texts (as I have pointed out) may require more historical context.

Consistency rating: 4

The editors’ efforts to suggest comparisons between texts of different cultures, plus the editors’ comments contribute to the clarity of the book.

Modularity rating: 3

I want the longer selections to be shorter and, if not, then divided into accessible portions. Long selections are too much to ingest for students and too much for instructors to teach. Some texts may need notes or even questions for students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

I am troubled by the organization of some sections. Gilgamesh predates the Biblical selections, so it should be inserted first. Is the organization intended to be most chronological, or mostly thematic? I didn’t understand why Genesis was followed by Exodus. The Flood Myth would be a better choice after Genesis, and would allow students to see the similarities and differences between flood myths in different cultures. I was bothered by the Native American selections being left at the end. Native stories of the beginnings of life and then the flood offer a lot of richness for students to see how differently cultures see these important myths.

Interface rating: 3

The visual materials are beautiful. They add to the book. I do have navigation problems, because the reader has to scroll through long selections in order to get to the next selection. Of course, it’s not a physical “book,” so I can’t just flip through it to find the pages I want.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I saw no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

I am concerned that I only saw one female author. I am glad to see Marie de France represented, but there are other gifted women writers from the Medieval and Renaissance period who could have been included.

Comments

Other than the book trying to present too many long sections from many texts, I was unhappy about the lack of attention to translations. Materials such as The Odyssey were originally oral, and were sung or chanted. There are many excellent verse translations of The Odyssey; students need to get the beauty of the poem’s original method of presentation. Marie de France is available in many good verse translations—I like the older edition by Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante. Although this prose translation does retain some of the charm of the Lais, they were intended to be poetry. And Chaucer! Undergraduates can read Chaucer in the original, with notes, of course, especially if they take turns reading short sections aloud in class. It is unnecessary to offer The Canterbury Tales in a prose translation. I was also surprised to see that the bibliographies often relied on Encyclopaedia Brittanica or even Wikipedia. Students need to become familiar with the concept of academic sources.

Reviewed by Jeff Johnson, English Instructor, Central Lakes College on 5/21/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

It is way too much!

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Yes.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Pretty standard choices.

Clarity rating: 5

Too lucid, in that some of the choices were in prose, when it should have been in verse.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, it is consistent.

Modularity rating: 4

These are mostly primary texts in translation, so this is fine.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Standard, historical, and linear.

Interface rating: 4

Decent

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None that I could see.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This gear is timeless.

Comments

I can't imagine such an anthology without Plato, and Aeschylus. Also, Homer must be read in verse only.

Reviewed by Cheryl Huff, Associate Professor of English and Humanities; Chair VCCS OER Consortium, Germanna Community College on 8/15/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text has an overall introduction which addresses both students as to why we study literature, and instructors as to options of how to approach teaching the works inside. Each reading has a useful introduction that gives a concise overview, which can effectively lead students to do more research on the history and context. The readings were deliberately chosen by the authors to be thematic and to allow comparisons, and this works well both as is, and as a springboard to adding other open source readings, including more contemporary ones. There are useful illustrations, both charts and images, which help students with context in a visual sense. There are also reading questions to invoke critical thinking and close reading.

This text works alone or as a substantive base to add to. I'm already using this in a World Literature I course, supplemented with additions, and plan to expand and enhance how I use it next.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This text is primarily works of literature, which appear error-free, and the additional content is accurate and unbiased. The authors are not presenting this as the only way to anthologize and teach literature; they are presenting a model and an overview as a base to build on. There is a bibliography and appendix for more clarification of source materials and images.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Like most anthologies of literature, only the context and introductions might need to be changed, and not the works themselves. It is hard to imagine this going out-of-date. Any updates needed would be easy to make if necessary.

Clarity rating: 5

This text presents the ideas with a welcoming tone, devoid of excess jargon or "academese" and it is written to be readily accessible to a variety of students at different levels. It could use a glossary of terms.

Consistency rating: 5

I did not find any inconsistencies in the text in terms of its terminology or structure. It is consistently straightforward.

Modularity rating: 5

This text can be broken down into smaller sections, using fewer readings in each chapter or removing any introductory materials if necessary or desired. I can well imagine taking sections out of the chapters to use in a class with a different focus, like a survey of the humanities. The charts and images in particular could be useful in a number of contexts. Again, a glossary would be useful.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text presents the works chosen chronologically, though there is no imperative that they be taught in that order. As this is an open text, editing, revising and reorganizing the material for different purposes is always an option.

Interface rating: 3

I have generally found the text easy to navigate, and all the images and charts/maps display well in Adobe pdf reader. Double spacing the text would make it less dense. I am not sure how accessible or ADA compliant this text would be with a screen reader, particularly with this font.

What would really improve this would be to have it in an electronic format that allowed navigation from the table of contents, from the text to a glossary, and annotation software within the text. (It may be possible to make this happen with compatible software, but I haven't explored this yet.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no glaring grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found nothing offensive or culturally inappropriate; in fact the text clarifies some the cultural differences that help make better sense of the readings, especially the ancient works. The book is written for a North American audience, but shows no exclusivity of cultures or races. The overall theme of heroes, and the emphasis on the epic, make it relevant to any cultural context.

Comments

I'm currently using this text to supplement a World LIterature survey course at a community college. I used the various versions of the Norton Anthology previously, and find that in many ways this works better for this 200 level course and students. I appreciate the ability to edit and supplement this to be exactly what I need for my course, and look forward to using it in other contexts, too, in my various humanities courses. Like all OER I use in my classes, students are grateful not to have to lug giant anthologies to school or home, and have access to the readings pulled directly into the LMS, all for free!

Reviewed by Marianna Kunow, Instructor, Southeastern Louisiana University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This is a huge subject indeed! The authors gamely attempt to cover literature from all different time periods and many parts of the world. I find much that will be useful to me in teaching classes in both Greco-Roman Mythology and World Mythology. The biggest obstacle to using this text is the lack of an effective index and glossary. As another reviewer has already pointed out, the organization is hard to understand. When you go to the website (http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=410), it does look as though the complete Table of Contents is what turns out to be only the Table of Contents for Part One: The Ancient World. Opening the (huge) PDF reveals Part Two: The Middle Ages, and Part Three: The Renaissance. Simply inserting the whole Table of Contents for all parts of the book would be an easy way to address this. Perhaps having a separate PDF for each section would be useful.

Part Two: The Middle Ages, which features the same Introduction as Part One, deals with literature from some of the same parts of the world, but is arranged in a somewhat different sequence. Part Three: The Renaissance, has some interesting selections from Korea and also Native America. For my purposes, the latter subject seems to be rather short. One wonders how the selections were chosen.

The Appendices, containing many links to original works, are a great feature.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

In Part One, Chapter One: Middle East, Near East, Greece, there are two versions of Genesis and Exodus presented for comparison, which is great. However, the section is somewhat confusingly called, Hebrew Bible, “Genesis“and “Exodus” and yet the sources are The King James Bible and The American Standard Bible. Why not use the Torah for one of these comparisons?

In Part Three (p.401), Chapter Twelve has an introduction to the topic of Native American literature that states, “With the exception of a few pictographic systems, literature was transmitted orally in the Americas prior to the European arrival.” It is not accurate to describe Mayan hieroglyphs or literacy in this way. As to the Incas, their manner of literacy is a matter of ongoing scholarly debate. The introductory comments to this section appear twice.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The works included are going to live forever. Quite a number of them already have. The relevance is beyond question.

Clarity rating: 5

A glossary would be useful. Although it is not the authors’ job to convert the selected works into modern English, much of what appears here would be difficult for lower-level undergraduate students to comprehend fully without substantial assistance.

Consistency rating: 4

Not sure what to say here. Consistent in terms of temporal sequence? Or is the intention to be consistent in terms of geographical/cultural areas?

Modularity rating: 5

There is much that is really useful here, but I had to work to find it. I do find that individual sections can be utilized in a ‘stand-alone’ fashion.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

I am not sure that I understand the organization of the text. It would seem that the authors intended a chronological sequence, given the titles of Parts One, Two, and Three. But in Part One, the versions of Genesis and Exodus do not come from the Torah, which predates the sources utilized, and the Gilgamesh story should properly start the section as it predates the biblical material. In general, I remain very curious as to how the selections were chosen.

Interface rating: 3

The images are great, and provide a much needed visual break from rather long chunks of text. The obvious comment is that more would be better.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text seems to be free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book is culturally relevant. Many readers have favorite geographical or cultural areas, as do I. So, fairly or not, I would prefer more attention to be given to the literature of the Americas, more specifically to that of Mesoamerica and the Maya culture which has been literate for a very long time. Especially since the authors mention the Popol Vuh in the introduction to Part Three. In the same introduction, the authors reference an African work, the Epic of Sundiata/ Sonjara, although it is not included either. Where are the Russians? I am least familiar with the literature from Korea, India, and Persia, and believe that the inclusion of works from these areas of the world is a valuable contribution.

Comments

Creating an anthology of this kind is an enormous undertaking!

Reviewed by Natasha Whitton, Freshman English Coordinator, Southeastern Louisiana University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The Compact Anthology of World Literature is three volumes, totally nearly 2000 pages. In 12 chapters, it covers World Literature from Asia to Europe and the Americas. It does not cover African literature. The bulk of the anthology centers on early western (Greek/Roman) and eastern (Indian/Chinese) civilizations with 800 pages focused on the early epics of Gilgamesh, the Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, Oedipus, the Analects, the Art of War, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Aeneid, among others. Later sections on Korea and Native American literature are comparatively short. The text also includes British texts which might not be included in a World Literature course focused on texts beyond American and British. Preference is given to full text works rather than excerpts. Coverage is thematic with the position of the hero as a primary focus.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is well-written and engaging. When possible, the editors have introduced sections with maps and other visuals. I did not find textual errors or biased interpretations of movements within world literature. The bulk of the text represents the literary works, rather than commentary of those works. Short frames introduce readings.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text does not treat contemporary World Literature, so I do not imagine that it will require updating. It provides a clear foundation in the major ideas of Western and Eastern thought. Since the introductory material in each section is brief, any updates would be here, but not in the bulk of the anthology which represents the works, sometimes in translation.

Clarity rating: 4

The introductions to the readings are clear and written in lucid prose. The individual texts, however, may need supplementation. The texts stand alone without footnotes or additional explanation. Those would need to be provided by the classroom teacher. The introductions do provide a brief historical context for each work of literature.

Consistency rating: 4

The terminology is consistent throughout the text. The framework as relates to the introduction of each piece of literature could be more consistent. In some cases, maps and pictures provided a visual introduction to the period, ending with questions for consideration. In other cases, the introductions were text-only without additional questions for framing or consideration. Vocabulary introductions would also be helpful at the start of each new work of literature.

Modularity rating: 3

Modularity is not a strength of this text. It does contain large blocks of texts without subheadings because it contains long original works, which is not necessarily a negative. In a teacher wants to use full texts in the classroom without having to link the students to multiple open source locations, this anthology would work well. The text is not overly self-referential, again, because the focus is the texts which can stand alone. The anthology is, itself, divided into three volumes. Each volume contains chapter and then individual work divisions. Each table of contents is linked. Faculty should note the page numbers for the table of contents in each volume and send students there to link to other sections of each book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The editors note that they are interested in presenting works of thematic focus in non-Western literature to supplement a student who has a fair understanding of American and British literature. The organization of the text is primarily chronological. The comparative work would need to take place in the classroom. The table of contents are laid out clearly and hyperlinked for navigation.

Interface rating: 5

I see no interface issues. The text fonts are consistent and not distracting. Headers are used with consistency throughout the text. Images and charts are in high resolution and clear. I tried multiple browsers and settings, and the text adjusted appropriately. I opened the textbook on a smart phone and a tablet without issue.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I saw no grammatical errors in the introductions to the texts that I read. I also reviewed several of the readings, which were taken from open source documents available in other areas of the internet. I did not see any errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

My only question in terms of cultural relevance would be the decision to avoid coverage of South America and Africa. I expected to see a note in the introduction to the anthology justifying this decision, but I did not. The chapters are on the Middle East, China, India, Rome, Europe, Japan, South Asia, Korea, and Native America. I would be interested in a revision that also treated South America, perhaps in conjunction with Native American literature, along with African literature and mythology.

Comments

This three volume text would be particularly useful in a course on the origins of Western culture and the canon, as well as a comparative course on early Eastern and Western literature in its infancy.

Reviewed by Suzanne Bessenger, Associate Professor, Randolph College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book provides an impressive and truly global breadth of translations of major texts from what it calls "The Ancient World" and "The Middle Ages." The organization of the text leaves something to be desired: while the Table of Contents visible on the Open Text Library page says that the text contains four "chapters" of translations, upon opening the pdf and selecting the toggle side bar, the reader can see that the text is actually broken into two parts. Part One "The Ancient World" includes the four chapters, but there is also a Part Two entitled "The Middle Ages" that includes an additional five chapters of translations. There appears to be no index, and the side toggle bar is difficult to navigate.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Such a breadth of material is bound to feature errors and inaccuracies, and this text is no exception. For example, in the "Ancient World" section on Indian literature, features of Hinduism are misrepresented. The schematic of relationship of the early abstract divine principle of Brahman and its relationship to later anthropomorphic manifestations of the divine (Brahman, Vishnu, and Shiva) is not quite accurate. I suppose there are contemporary Hindus who would give this explanation as a way to retroactively explain the relationships between ideas about divinity that were developed at different historical moments, but this text's explanation unnecessarily collapses chronological development of these ideas in a way that does an injustice to their complex individual histories, and that does not allow the reader access to the religious worlds of the texts presented in this volume. Another example is the authors' collapse of the two distinct but intertwining categories of varna (class) and jati (caste) into one, which is inaccurate. In fact, author never defines the term "jati" or explain how it is distinct from varna. (An aside: The editors' areas of academic training and research ought to be included in the PDF text to enable the readers/students to judge the quality of the contents.)

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Because of the breadth of the selection of translations, all of which had to be open-access, the editors largely rely on accurate but extremely dated translations. For example, in the case of the Asian texts, most of the translations are from Victorian-era Christian missionaries.

Clarity rating: 4

While sometimes inaccurate, the editors provide introductions to basic concepts needed to understand the cultural worlds of the translated texts provided in the book. Again, it seems a Herculean task for two academics to accurately provide contextual material for such a breadth of texts. Perhaps the addition of more editors, with training specific to these different regions and languages of the world, would improve the work.

Consistency rating: 3

Part of the challenge of dealing with texts in translation is the variety of transliteration systems used over time to render said texts into English. This volume does not standardize the transliteration systems used for each language featured; the result is a single person, such as the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi for instance, will be spelled Zhuangzi in one paragraph, and Chuang Tzu in the next. For undergraduates who have a difficult time grasping non-English names and terminology, this added layer of complexity could potentially be very confusing.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is nicely broken down into small units. See comments above about the difficult navigability of the present electronic format.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The texts are grouped by chronology and cultural region, which is an easy-to-understand method of organization.

Interface rating: 3

Please see comments above about the difficult and confusing interface for the text, which makes it difficult to move about within the PDF document.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Given the antiquity of some of the translations featured in this text, differing and/or arcane spelling and grammatical usages are found throughout the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

A cursory glance over the translations of Asian texts provided by Victorian-era Christian missionaries did not reveal any culturally or religiously offensive language, but I would certainly scrutinize these translations much more carefully before assigning this book to a class.

Comments

Given the breadth of the project and the dearth of high quality open access translations of primary texts, the text represents an admirable collection of an impressive array of significant texts from different cultures and historical periods.

Reviewed by Ranada Richars, Adjunct Faculty, Chemeketa Community College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text covers all areas and ideas--especially focusing on some of the lesser-represented literature from non-Anglo locales. The index is confusing because on the Open Textbook webpage, it indicates that this text is just the four chapters of Middle East, Near East, Greece; China; India; and Rome. However, the PDF file includes TWO volumes of this text and includes other literature. This was quite confusing at first. There is no glossary of terms.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Introductions to the content indicate editing and/or source. Topics are treated without bias. When appropriate, pictures, charts, maps and graphs are included to add to background knowledge of the topic.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Because this book focuses on the theme of heroes and heroism, as well as the Epic, the longevity of the book is great in the world of academia. The literature used could be modified in multiple ways because the focus is on the timelessness of themes instead of specific works.

Clarity rating: 2

The organization of the text is laborious--both for student and instructor. The texts are included in their entirety with no breaks for questions, clarifications, etc. This makes the educator using this text responsible for breaking up the texts into digestible chunks, and, for struggling readers, include explanations and definitions, etc. for difficult language or vocabulary.

Consistency rating: 3

It is consistent in its sparseness of any in-text helps or questions.

Modularity rating: 5

The text could be easily broken up by sections, chapters, etc. I would anticipate including questions or writing prompts to be included when I use this text so that the students wouldn't feel overwhelmed with the volume of reading before analyzing, etc.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The topics are logically ordered, but presentation on the page is sometimes overwhelming with single-spacing and few graphics, photos, etc.

Interface rating: 4

Except for having the PDF include BOTH volumes, navigation is smooth.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Very few grammatical errors; most would not be noticeable at all.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I appreciated the inclusion of non-Anglo texts. Most anthologies consider Greek, European and possibly Chinese texts as "classical". This has much more depth of culture by including text from India as well. In most anthologies I've used, this is sorely lacking.

Comments

I would be very interested in using sections of this text for a high school-level World Literature course. It would need to include more assistance for students than it contains, but the content is a comprehensive starting point.

Reviewed by Rick Williams, Humanities Instructor, Rogue Community College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The Compact Anthology of World Literature is about as comprehensive as Norton’s comparable “shorter edition” anthologies which I’ve used, to good effect, the past five years.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is accurate and error-free from what I can make out though I haven’t read each and every page. The content does “read” as evenhanded as far as the provenance of the various translations. Editors Kyounghye Kwon and Laura Getty do a fine job in introducing each reading or set of readings with concise and unbiased headnotes.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Ah, here, we run into preferences, and so you may want to supplement here and there with your favorite works if you don’t care for the “public domain” version. I’m no fan, for example, of Samuel Butler’s rendering of The Odyssey, but, then again, I’d say the same for Stanley Lombardo’s version in the current Norton World Literature anthology. I’m much more inclined to use Robert Fagles’ or, especially, Robert Fitzgerald’s translation; compare the following:

“Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenius hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy”—Butler

“Speak, Memory— / Of the cunning hero, / The wanderer, blown off course time and again / After he plundered Troy’s sacred heights”—Lombardo

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns . . . / driven time and again off course, once he had plundered / the hallowed heights of Troy”—Fagles

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story / of that man skilled in all ways of contending, / the wanderer, harried for years on end, / after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy”—Fitzgerald

Again, it's a matter of personal preference.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written lucidly, and, when necessary, explanatory bits are used here and there—see, for instance, the section on China on page 1334 which pithily introduces the Tang and other dynasties but doesn’t overdo it.

Consistency rating: 5

The framework is very much like what you’d expect in a Prentice Hall or Norton anthology, replete with headnotes before each reading or set of readings.

Modularity rating: 5

I like the layout here insofar as my college, like many, is on the quarter system. Most textbooks, as instructors know, are designed for the semester system. Parts I, II, and II of the Compact Anthology of World Literature, in fact, is about as comprehensive as Norton’s comparable “shorter edition” text, volumes I and II, and is even better in its organization vis-à-vis those colleges and universities on the quarter system.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in the Kwon and Getty’s text are arranged comparably to the coherent, distinct approach in similar anthologies.

Interface rating: 5

The text is definitely free of display issues—I found it very coherent and easy to navigate as would, I suspect any student would do who perused it.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I saw no grammatical errors within the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Again, this is a matter of preference. I once picked up Maynard Mack’s original 1956 Norton Anthology of World Literature in City Lights Bookstore, and it read pretty much like a collection of western, not “world,” literature, so that anthology has come a long way in terms of inclusivity—and the OER version, as I say, is very comparable in its offerings.

Comments

I plan to use this excellent OER version of world literature and am grateful for its affordability (i.e., it’s free!). My students will love it.