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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Contents
li
ll
PREFACE xvii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxvii
Beginnings to 1700
INTRODUCTION 3
TII\1ELINE 19
STORIES OF THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD
21
The Iroquois Creation Story 21
The Navajo Creation Story 25
Hajffner (The Emergence) 26
CHRISTOPHER CoLUMBUS
(1451-1506)
34
From Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage
(February 15, 1493) 35
From Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding the Fourth Voyage
(July 7, 1503) 36
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS
(1474-1566)
38
The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies 39
From Hispaniola 39
From The Coast of Pearls, Paria, and the Island of Trinidad 41
ALvAR NuNEZ CABEZA DE VAcA
(c. 1490-1558)
43
The Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca H
[Dedication) 44
[The l\lalhado Way of Life) 45
[Our Life among the Avavares and Arbadaos) 4i
[Pushing On) 48
[Customs of That Region] 48
[The First Confrontation) 49
[The Falling-Out with Our Countrymen] 50
vii
I
CONTENTS
viii
FIRST ENCOUNTERS: EARLY EUROPEAN ACCOUNTS OF
NATIVE AMERICA
HERNAN CORTES: Second Letter to the Spanish Crown
{Description ofTenochtitlan] 54
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN: The Voyages of Sieur de Champlain
[The Iroquois) 59
ROBERT JUET: From The Third Voyage of Master Henry Hudson
JOHN HECKEWELDER: History, Manners, and Customs
of the Indian Nations
[Delaware Legend of Hudson's Arrival) 6H
52
54
59
64
68
WILLIAM BRADFORD AND EDWARD WINSLOW:
Mourt's Relation
[Cape Cod Forays) i2
JOHN UNDERHILL: News from America
[The Attack on Pequot Fort) 75
joHN SMITH
(158o-I63I)
71
81
The General History of Virginia, New England, and the
Summer Isles 83
The Third Book. From Chapter 2. What Happened till the
First Supply 83
The Fourth Book. [Smith's Farewell to Virginia) 93
From A Description of New England 93
From New England's Trials 96
NATIVE AMERICAN TRICKSTER TALES
WINNEBAGO
100
101
Felix White Sr.'s Introduction to Wakjankaga 102
(transcribed and translated by Kathleen Dunker and Felix White)
From The Winnebago Trickster Cycle (edited by Paul Radin) 105
SIOUX
Ill
Ikto Conquers lya, the Eater (transcribed and edited
by Ella C. Deloria) 112
NAVAJO
Coyote, Skunk, and the Prairie Dogs (performed by Hugh Yellowman;
recorded and translated by Barre Toelken) 115
114
CONTENTS
WILLIAM BRADFORD
(1590-1657)
lx
121
Of Plymouth Plantation 122
Book I 122
From Chapter I [The English Reformation] 122
Chapter IV. Showing the Reasons and Causes or"I'heir
Removal 124
From Chapter VII. Of Their Departure from Leyden 127
Chapter IX. Of Their Voyage, and How They Passed the Sea; and
of Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod 131
Chapter X. Showing How They Sought Out a Place of Habitation;
and What Befell Them Thereabout 134
Book II 138
Chapter XI. The Remainder of Anno 1620 138
[Difficult Beginnings) 139
[Dealings with the Natives) 140
Chapter XII. Anno 1621 [The First Thanksgiving) 144
Chapter XIX. Anno 162H [Mr. Morton of Merrymount) 144
Chapter XXIII. Anno 1632 [Prosperity Weakens Community) 147
Chapter XXV. Anno 1634 [Troubles to the West] 148
Chapter XXVII. Anno 1636 [War Threats) 150
Chapter XXVIII. Anno 1637 [War with the Pequots) 152
Chapter XXXII. Anno 1642 [A Horrible Truth) 154
Chapter XXXIV. Anno 1644 [Proposed Removal to Nauset) 1%
THOMAS MORTON (c.
1579-1647)
157
New English Canaan 158
The Third Book [The Incident at Merry Mount) 158
Chapter XIV. Of the Revels of New Canaan 158
Chapter XV. Of a Great Monster Supposed to Be
at 1\la-re Mount 161
Chapter XVI. How the Nine Worthies Put Mine Host of Ma-re
Mount into the Enchanted Castle at Plymouth 164
jOHN WINTHROP
(1588-1649)
165
A Model of Christian Charity 166
From The Journal of John Winthrop 177
THE BAY PsALM BooK
Psalm
Psalm
Psalm
Psalm
Psalm
Psalm
2 ["Why rage the Heathen furiously?"] 188
19 ['The heavens do declare"] 189
23 ("The Lord to me a shepherd is"] 190
24 ('The earth Jehovah's is"] 190
100 ["i\lake yea joyful sounding noise") 191
120 ("Unto the Lord. in my distress"] 192
186
x
CONTENTS
193
A Key into the Language of America 194
'Jo l\ly Dear and Well-Beloved Friends and Countrymen, in Old and
New England 194
Directions for the Use of Language 198
An Help to the Nati\•e Language 198
From Chapter I. Of Salutation 198
From Chapter II. Of Eating and Entertainment 199
From Chapter VI. Of the Family and Business of the
House 199
From Chapter XI. Of Travel 199
From Chapter XVIII. Of the Sea 200
From XXI. Of Religion, the Soul, etc. 200
Poem ("Two sorts of men shall naked stand"! 203
From Chapter XXX. Of Their Paintings 204
From The Bloody Tenet of Persecution 204
A Letter to the Town of Providence 206
ANNE BRADSTREET
(c.
1612-1672)
207
The Prologue 208
In Honor of that High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of
Happy Memory 209
To the Memory of My Dear and Ever Honored Father Thomas
Dudley Esq. 213
To Her Father with Some Verses 215
Contemplations 215
The Flesh and the Spirit 222
The Author to Her Book 225
Before the Birth of One of Her Children 225
To My Dear and LO\·ing Husband 226
A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment 226
Another [Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment I 227
In Reference to Her Children, 23 June 1659 228
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet 230
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet 230
On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet 231
For Deliverance from a Fever 231
Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House 232
As Weary Pilgrim 233
To l\'ly Dear Children 235
MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH (1631-1705)
From The Day of Doom 239
MARY ROWLANDSON
(c.
1637-1711)
A Narrative of the Capth•ity and Restoration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson 257
238
CONTENTS
xl
EDWARD TAYLOR (c. 1642-1729)
Psalm Two (First Version) 290
Preparatory Meditations 291
Prologue 291
Meditation 8 (First Series) 292
i\leditation 16 (first Series) 293
i\leditation 22 (first Series) 294
i\leditation 38 (First Series) 295
Meditation 26 (Second Series) 297
God's Determinations 298
The Preface 298
The Soul's Groan to Christ for Succor 299
Christ's Reply 300
Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children 303
Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold 304
Huswifery 305
A Fig for Thee, Oh! Death 306
289
SAMUEL SEWALL (1652-1730)
From The Diary of Samuel Sewall 309
The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial 323
307
327
CoTTON MATHER (1663-1728)
The Wonders of the Invisible World 328
[A People of God in the Devil's Territories) 328
[The Trial of Martha Carrier) 330
Magnalia Christi Americana 333
Galeacius Secuudus: The Life of William Bradford Esq., Governor of
Plymouth Colony 333
Nelremias Americcmus: The Life of John Winthrop, Esq., Go\·ernor of
the Massachusetts Colony 340
A Notable Exploit: Dux Fremiua Facti 354
Bonifacius 356
From Essays to Do Good 356
xll
CONTENTS
American Literature 1700-1820
INTRODUCTION 365
TIMELJNf. 3ii
SARAH KEMBLE KNJGtiT (1666-1727)
.~i9
The Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York 380
From Tuesday, October the Third 380
Friday, October the Sixth 3!B
Saturday, October the Seventh 3H4
From December the Sixth 387
January the Sixth 389
vVILLIAi\1 BYRD
(•6 74 -. 744 )
39o
From The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1710-12 391
jONATHAN EDWAHDS (1703-1758)
396
Personal Narrati\'e 398
On Sarah Pierpont 409
Sarah Edwards's Narrati\'e 409
A Di\'ine and Supernatural Light 416
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God 430
NATIVE AMERICANS: CONTACT AND CONFLICT
Speech at Detroit
SAMSON OCCOM: From A Short Narrative of My Life
THOI\IAS JEFFERSON: Chief Logan's Speech, from
Notes 011 the State ofVirRiuia
HED JACKET: Reply to the lVIissionary Jacob Cram
TECUMSEH: Speech to the Osages
PONTIAC:
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)
The Way to Wealth 45i
The Speech of .Miss Polly llaker 463
Rules hy Which a Great Empire i\hty Be Heduced to a Small One 465
Information to Those \Vho Would Hemo\'e to America 4il
Remarks Concerning the S~tvages of North America 4i6
The Autobiography 480
joHN WooLMAN (1720-1772)
The Journal of John Woolman 'i97
[Early Life and Vocation! 'i97
442
44.~
44'i
448
4'i0
4'i3
4'i5
CONTENTS
j. HECTOR ST. jOHN DE CREVECOEUR (I735-I8I3)
XIII
604
Letters from an American Farmer 605
From Letter Ill. What Is an American 605
From Letter IX. Description of Charles-Town; Thoughts on Slavery;
on Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene 614
From Letter X. On Snakes; and on the Humming Bird 619
From Letter XII. Distresses of a Frontier J\lan 620
jOHN ADAMS (I735-I826) AND ABIGAIL ADAMS (I744-I818)
625
The Letters 626
Abigail Adams to John Adams (Aug. 19, 1774)
[Classical Parallels] 626
John Adams to Abigail Adams (Sept. 16, 1774)
[Prayers at the Congress] 628
John Adams to Abigail Adams (July 23, 1775)
[Dr. Franklin] 629
John Adams to Abigail Adams (Oct. 29, 1775)
[Prejudice in Favor of New England] 630
Abigail Adams to John Adams (Nov. 27, 1775)
[The Building Up a Great Empire] 631
John Adams to Abigail Adams (July 3, 1776)
[These colonies are free and independent states] 632
John Adams to Abigail Adams (July 3, 1776)
[Reflections on the Declaration of Independence) 634
Abigail Adams to John Adams (July 14, 1776)
[The Declaration. Smallpox. The Grey Horse) 635
John Adams to Abigail Adams (July 20, 1776)
[Do My Friends Think I Have Forgotten My Wife and Children?) 63i
Abigail Adams to John Adams (july 21, 1776)
[Smallpox. The Proclamation for Independence Read Aloud) 63i
THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809)
639
Common Sense 641
Introduction 641
From Ill. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs 641
The Crisis, No. I 64i
The Age of Reason 653
Chapter I. The Author's Profession of Faith 653
Chapter II. Of J\lissions and Re\·elations 654
Chapter XI. Of the Theology of the Christians,
and the True Theology 656
THOMAS jEFFERSON (I743-I826)
The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson 661
From The Declaration of Independence 661
Notes on the State of Virginia 668
Query V. Cascades [Natural Bridge] 668
659
xlv
CONTENTS
Query XIV. Laws [Slavery) 669
Query XVII. [Religion) 6i3
Query XIX [Manufactures) 676
677
THE FEDERALIST
No. I [Alexander Hamilton) 679
No. 10 [James Madison] 681
0LAUDAH EQUIANO
(174;?-1797)
687
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,
or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself 688
From Chapter I 688
Chapter II 690
From Chapter III 699
From Chapter IV 702
From Chapter V 706
From Chapter VI 709
From Chapter VII 718
WOMEN'S POETRY: FROI\I MANUSCRIPT TO PRINT
JANE COLMAN TURELL
722
723
To l\Ir l\luse, December 29, 1725 723
[Lines on Childbirth] 724
ANNIS BOUDINOT STOCKTON
725
To My Burrissa- 725
An Ode on the Birth Day ... of George Washington i26
SARAH WENTWORTH i\IORTON
727
The African Chief 728
Stanzas to a Husband Recently United 730
MERCY OTIS WARREN
731
A Thought on the Inestimable Blessing of Reason 731
[Prologue for Lines] To a Patriotic Gentleman 732
ANN ELIZA BLEECKER
733
On the Immensity of Creation 734
To l\liss l\1. V. W. 734
MARGARETTA FAUGERES
736
To Aribert. October, 1790 736
jUDITH SARGENT MuRRAY (r7;r-182o)
On the Equality of the Sexes 739
The Gleaner 747
Chapter XI 747
[History of Miss Wellwoodl 747
737
CONTENTS
PHILIP fRENEAU
(1752-1832)
xv
756
The Wild Honey Suckle 7';7
The Indian Burying Ground 758
To Sir Toby 759
On i\lr. Paine's Bights of Man 760
On the Religion of N<1ture 762
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
(c. 1753-1784)
763
On Being Brought from t\rrica to America 764
To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth 765
To the Uni\'ersity of Cambridge, in New England 766
On the Death of the Re\'. 1\lr. George Whitefield, liiO 767
Thoughts on the Works of Prm·idence 76R
To S. 1\1., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works 771
To His Excellency General Washington 772
Letters 773
To John Thornton (Ailr· 21, 1772) 773
To He\'. Samson Occom (Feb. II, li74) 774
RoYALL TYLER
(1757-1826)
775
The Contrast 776
HANNAH WERSTEn FosTEn
(1758-J84o)
817
The Coc1uette; or, The History of Elizn Wharton 818
CuAnLES BnocKDEN BnowN (1771-181o)
Edgar Huntly 91H
Chapter IV 91H
Chapter V 923
Chapter VI 9.H
Ch<~pter VII 934
Chapter V Ill 939
SEI.ECTED IIInLIOGitt\I'IIIES t\1
BEGINNINGS TO 1700 AI
1700-1820 t\7
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All
INDEX t\12
916
Preface to the Eighth Edition
This edition of The Norton Antltology of American Literature is the last for
me as General Editor, and I am delighted to announce that Robert S. Levine,
the editor of Volume B, will take over as General Editor for the next and subsequent editions. Here he joins me as Associate Editor; together we have
continued the work for which Norton has achieved its leading position among
American literature anthologies. It has been a great pleasure to work on this
anthology, to make contact with teachers and students around the countryindeed around the world. I know I leave Tlte Norton Anthology of American
Literature in immensely capable hands.
From the anthology's inception in 1979, the editors have had three main
aims: first, to present a rich and substantial enough variety of works to enable
teachers to build courses according to their own ideals (thus, teachers arc
offered more authors and more selections than they will probably use in any
one course); second, to make the anthology self-sufficient by featuring many
works in their entirety along with extensive selections for individual authors;
third, to balance traditional interests with developing critical concerns in a
way that points to a coherent American literary history. As early as 1979, we
anthologized work by Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson, Sarah Kemble
Knight, Phillis Wheatley, Margaret Fuller, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick
Douglass, Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Chopin, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman,
Booker T. Washington, Charles Chesnutt, Edith Wharton, W. E. B. Du Bois,
and other writers who were not yet part of a standard canon. Yet we never
shortchanged writers like Franklin, Emerson, Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, whose work students
expected to read in their American literature courses, and whom teachers
then and now would not think of doing without.
Although the so-called canon wars of the 1980s and 1990s have subsided,
they initiated a review of our understanding of American literature that has
enlarged the number and diversity of authors now recognized as contributors to the totality of American literature. The traditional writers, who look
different in this expanded context, also appear different according to which
of their works are selected. Teachers and students remain committed to the
idea of the literary-that writers strive to produce artifacts that are both
intellectually serious and formally skillful-but believe more than ever that
writers should also be understood in relation to their cultural and historical
situations. In endeavoring to do justice to these complex realities, we have
worked, as in previous editions, with detailed suggestions from many teachers and, through those teachers, the students who use the anthology. Thanks
XVII
xvlll
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
to questionnaires, comment cards, face-to-face and phone discussions, letters,
and email, we have been able to listen to those for whom this book is intended.
For this Eighth Edition, we have drawn on the careful commentary of over
200 reviewers.
Our new materials continue the work of broadening the canon by representing J3 new writers in depth, without sacrificing widely assigned writers,
many of whose selections have been reconsidered, reselected, and expanded.
Our aim is always to provide extensive enough selections to do the writers
justice, including complete works wherever possible. To the 34 complete
longer texts already in the anthology-among them Hawthorne's The Scar·
let Letter and Kate Chopin's Tlze Awakening-we have added Margaret
Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit,'' August Wilsons Fences, and Katherine Anne
Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider. Two complete works-Eugene O'Neill's Long
Days )ounzey into Night and Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desireare exclusive to The Norton Anthology of American Litemture. Charles Brockden Brown, Louisa May Alcott, Upton Sinclair, Mourning Dove, Martin
Luther King Jr., and Junot Dfaz are among more than a dozen writers new
to the Eighth Edition, which has expanded and in some cases reconfigured
such central figures as Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and Twain,
offering new approaches in the headnotes and section introductions. In fact,
over the last two editions, the headnotes and, in many cases, selections for
such frequently assigned authors as Benjamin Franklin, Washington Irving,
James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, Lydia Maria Child, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Henry James, Kate Chopin, W. E. B.
Du Bois, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and William Faulkner have been
revised, updated, and in some cases entirely rewritten in light of recent
scholarship. The Eighth Edition further expands its selections of women
writers and writers from diverse ethnic, racial, and regional backgroundsalways with attention to the critical acclaim that recognizes their contributions to the American literary record. New and recently added writers such
as Sarah Winnemucca and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, more selections from
writers such as Zit kala Sa, and a cluster on "The Ghost Dance and Wounded
Knee," all introduced and annotated by Native American specialist Arnold
Krupat, enable teachers to bring early Native American writing and oratory
into their syllabuses, or should they prefer, to focus on these selections as a
free-standing unit leading toward the moment after 194; when Native writers
fully entered the mainstream of literary activity.
We are pleased to continue our popular innovation of topical gatherings
of short texts that illuminate the cultural, historical, intellectual, and literary
concerns of their respective periods. Designed to be taught in a class period
or two, or used as background, each of the 14 clusters consists of brief,
carefully excerpted primary and (in one case) secondary texts, about 6-10
per cluster, and an introduction. Diverse voices-many new to the
anthology-highlight a range of views current when writers of a particular
time period were active, and thus allow students better to understand some
of the large issues that were being debated at particular historical moments.
For example, in "Slavery. Race, and the Making of American Literature,"
texts by David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimke, Sojourner
Truth, and Martin R. Delany speak to the great paradox of pre-Civil War
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
ulll
for the first time Pietro Di Donato's "Christ in Concrete," one of the most
popular works of the period, which helps to bring a new ethnic and class
perspective into Volume D.
Volume E, American Literature since 1945. Volume E, jointly edited by
Jerome Klinkowitz and Patricia B. Wallace, features a period introduction
in which prose and poetry intermingle and for which "Postwar" no longer
explains a period that grows longer with every edition. The result is a rich
representation of the period's literary acth•ity, and a more accurate presentation of the writers themselves, many of whom write in multiple genres. The
volume continues to offer the complete texts of Tennessee Williams's A
Streetcar Named Desire (exclusive to this anthology), Arthur Miller's Death
of a Salesman, David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, Allen Ginsberg's Howl,
Sam Shepard's True West, and Louise Gliick's long poem October, and we
have added the complete text of August Wilson's play Fences. Introduced in
the Seventh Edition, Art Spiegelman's prize-winning MatiS opens possibilities for teaching the graphic novel. Another innovation from the Seventh
Edition was the inclusion of teachable stand-alone segments from important
novels by Saul Bellow (The Adventures of Augie March), Kurt Vonnegut
(Slaugltterhouse-Five), Rudolfo Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima), and Jack Kerouac
(Big Sur), and we continue to print those chapters. Newly anthologized
writers include Stephen Dixon, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas McGuane,
Kay Ryan, and the Dominican-American fiction writer Junot Diaz, whose
2008 novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, won the Pulitzer Prize
and was an international sensation. We have also added new selections for
Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Powers, Grace Paley, Robert Haas, and a number
of other writers. Two clusters, one entirely new, add literary and topical context to this diverse volume. "Postmodernist Manifestos," with texts by Ronald Sukenick, William H. Gass, HunterS. Thompson, Charles Olson, Frank
O'Hara, Elizabeth Bishop, A. R. Ammons, and Audre Lorde, shows how
many literary artists saw experimentation in poetry and fiction as the best
way to register politics and culture in the postwar era. The cluster pairs
nicely with "Modernist Manifestos" in Volume D. New to the Eighth Edition
is a cluster on "Creative Nonfiction." Here students are introduced to writers
such as Joan Didion and Edward Abbey who self-consciously blend fiction
and nonfiction, creating works that over the past few decades have become
enormously popular and influential.
In all, we are delighted to offer this revised Eighth Edition to teachers and
students, and we welcome your comments.
Additional Resources from the Publisher
The Eighth Edition retains the paperback splits format that has been welcomed by instructors and students for its flexibility and portability. This
format accommodates the many instructors who use the anthology in a twosemester survey, but allows for mixing and matching the five volumes in a
variety of courses organized by period or topic, at levels from introductory
to advanced. To give instructors even more flexibility, the publisher is
making available the full list of 220 Norton Critical Editions, including such
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PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
frequently assigned novels as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Toms Cabin,
Herman Melville's lHoby-Dick, Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, and
William Faulkner's Tire Souncl ancl tlte Fury, among many others. A Norton
Critical Editiori can be included with either package or any individual
paperback-split volume for free. Each Norton Critical Edition gives students
an authoritative, carefully annotated text accompanied by rich contextual
and critical materials prepared by an expert in the subject.
For students using Tire Norton Autlrology of American Literature, the publisher provides a wealth of resources on the free StudySpace website
(wwnorton.com/naal). Students who activate the password included in each
new copy of the anthology gain access to more than iO reading-comprehension
quizzes with extensive feedback; bulleted period summaries and period
review quizzes with feedback; timelines; maps; audio readings of public
domain texts; Literary Workshops that show students step-by-step how to
read, analyze, and respond in writing to a work of literature; and a new
"Literary Places" feature that uses Google Tours tools to let students (virtually) visit Thoreau's Walden Pond, Faulkner's Oxford, Mississippi, home,
Cather's Nebraska plains, and other literary places. The rich gathering of
content on StudySpace is designed to help students understand individual
works and appreciate the places, sounds, and sights of literature.
The publisher also provides extensive instructor-support materials.
Designed to enhance large or small lecture environments, the Instructor
Resource Disc, expanded for the Eighth Edition, features more than 300
images with explanatory captions; lecture PowerPoint slides for each period
introduction and for most topic clusters; and audio recordings (MP3). i\luch
praised by both new and experienced instructors, Teaclriug with The Norton
Anthology of American Litemture: A Guide for lnstn.ctors by Edward Whitley,
Lehigh University, and Bruce Michelson, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, provides detailed reading lists for a variety of approaches-the
historical approach, the "major authors" approach, the literary traditions
approach, and the approach by genre or theme. Each author/work entry offers
teaching suggestions, discussion questions, and suggestions for incorporating
multimedia from the Instructor Resource Disc, the American Passages website, as well as other outside resources. The Guide is available both in print
and in a searchable online format. Finally, Norton Coursepacks bring highquality digital media into a new or existing online course. The Coursepacks
include all content from the StudySpace website, short-answer questions
with suggested answers, and a hank of discussion questions adapted from the
Guide. Norton's Coursepacks arc available in a variety of formats, including
Blackhoard/WebCT, Dcsire2Learn, Angel, and Moodie, at no cost to instructors or students.
Instructors who adopt Tlze Nortou Autlwlogy of American Literature have
access to an extensive array of films and videos. In addition to videos of the
plays by O'Neill, Williams, Miller, Mamet, and Shepard in the anthology,
segments of the award-winning video series American Passages: A Literary·
Sun'try' are available without charge on orders of specified quantities of
the Norton Anthology. Funded by Annenberg/CPB, produced by Oregon
Public Broadcasting, and developed with the Norton Anthology as its exclusive companion anthology, 1\merican Passages contains sixteen segments,
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
xxv
each covering a literary movement or period by exploring two or three
authors in depth. The videos are supported by the American Passages
Archive, a searchable online archive of over 3,000 items, including visual
art, audio files, primary-source materials, and additional texts, which may
be accessed through the link on the StudySpace student website. A print
instructor's guide and student guide are also available. For information
about the videos, contact your Norton representative.
Editorial Procedures
As in past editions, editorial features-period introductions, headnotes,
annotations, and bibliographies-are designed to be concise yet full and to
give students necessary information without imposing an interpretation.
The editors have updated all apparatus in response to new scholarship:
period introductions have been entirely or substantially rewritten, as have
many headnotes. All Selected Bibliographies and each period's generalresources bibliographies categorized by Reference Works, Histories, and
Literary Criticism have been thoroughly updated. The Eighth Edition
retains three editorial features that help students place their reading in
historical and cultural context-a Texts/Contexts timeline following each
period introduction, a map on the front endpaper of each volume, and a
chronological chart, on the back endpaper, showing the lifespans of many
of the writers anthologized.
Our policy has been to reprint each text in the form that accords, as far as
it is possible to determine, to the intention of its author. There is one exception: we have modernized most spellings and (very sparingly) the punctuation in Volume A on the principle that archaic spellings and typography pose
unnecessary problems for beginning students. We have used square brackets to indicate titles supplied by the editors for the convenience of students.
Whenever a portion of a text has been omitted, we have indicated that
omission with three asterisks. If the omitted portion is important for following the plot or argument, we give a brief summary within the text or in
a footnote. After each work, we cite (when known} the date of composition
on the left and the date of first publication on the right; in some instances,
the latter is followed by the date of a revised edition for which the author
was responsible.
The editors have benefited from commentary offered by hundreds of
teachers throughout the country. Those teachers who prepared detailed cri·
tiques, or who offered special help in preparing texts, are listed under Acknow·
ledgments, on a separate page. We also thank the many people at Norton
who contributed to the Eighth Edition: Julia Reidhead, who supervised the
Eighth Edition; Marian Johnson, managing editor, college; Carly Fraser
Doria, associate editor; Eileen Connell, electronic media editor; Michael
Fleming, Candace Levy, Katharine lngs, and Susan Joseph, manuscript editors; Pam Lawson, Jack Borrebach, Sophie Hagen, Diane Cipollone, project
editors; Hannah Blaisdell, editorial assistant; Benjamin Reynolds, production manager; JoAnne Metsch, designer; Trish Marx, manager, photo depart·
ment; Stephanie Romeo, photo editor; Jane Sanders Miller, photo researcher
Debra Morton Hoyt, art director; Megan Jackson, permissions manager; and
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PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
Margaret Gorenstein, who cleared permissions. We also wish to acknowledge
our debt to the late George P. Brockway, former president and chairman at
Norton, who invented this anthology, and to M. H. Abrams, Norton's advisor
on English texts. All have helped us to create an anthology that, more than
ever, is testimony to the continuing richness of American literary traditions.
NtNA BAYM, General Editor
RoBERT
S.
LEVINE,
Associate General Editor
Acknowledgments
Among our many critics, advisors, and friends, the following were of especial
help toward the preparation of the Eighth Edition, either with advice or by
providing critiques of particular periods of the anthology: David L. Anderson
(Butler County Community College); Booker T. Anthony (Fayetteville State
University); George Bailey (Northern Essex Community College); Anne Baker
(North Carolina State University); Jack Barbera (University of Mississippi);
Philip Barnard (University of Kansas); Brian Bartlett (Saint Mary's University); Richard Baskin (Gordon College); John Battenburg (California Polytechnic State University); Geraldine Cannon Becker (University of Maine-Fort
Kent); Carolyn Bergonzo; Laura Bloxham (Whitworth College Spokane);
Hester Blum (Penn State); Andrew Bodenrader (Manhattanville College);
Constance Bracewell (University of Arizona); Norton Bradley Christie (Erskine College); David Brottman (Iowa State University); Adam Burkey (Miami
University Oxford); Jill Hunter Burrill (Bunker Hill Community College);
Dan Butcher (University of Alabama); Gina Caison (University of Alabama at
Birmingham); Linda Camarasana (Queens College); Pat Campbell (Lake
Sumter Community College); Marci Carrasquillo (Simpson College); Vincent
Casaregola (Saint Louis University); Karen Chandler (University of Louisville); Wayne Chandler (Northwest Missouri State University); Chiung-huei
Chang (National Taiwan Normal Uni\•ersity); Kathryn Chittick (Trent University); Deborah Christie (University of Miama); Paul Colby (North Carolina State University); Brian Condrey (Yuba Community College); Ken Cox
(Florence-Darlington Technical College); Kristine Dassinger (Genesee Community College); Clark David (University of Denver); Cynthia Davis (UCSB);
Marybeth Davis (Liberty University); Laura Dawkins (Murray State University); Bruce Degi (Metropolitan State College of Denver); Regina Dilgen
(Palm Beach Community College); Christine Doyle (Central Connecticut
State University); Michael Drexler (Bucknell University); Robert Dunne
(Central Connecticut State University); Gregory Eiselein (Kansas State University); Monika Elbert (Montclair State University); Hilary Emmett (University of Queensland, Australia); Lise Esch (Trident Technical College);
Duncan Flaherty (Queens College); Seth Frechie (Cabrini College); Paul
Gallipeo (Adirondack Community College); Granville Ganter (St. John's University); Jared Gardner (Ohio State University); Sarah Garland (University of
East Anglia); Jerry Gibbens (Williams Baptist College); Marivel GonzalesHerna (Del Mar College); Mary Goodwin (National Taiwan Normal University); Carey Goyette (Clinton Community College); Paul Grant (Sir Wilfred
Grenfell College); Mark Graves (Morehead State University); Beth Gray
XXVII