Back to School

Back in the 1980s, the Campbell Soup Company developed an ad campaign to introduce “Prego,” a mass-produced spaghetti sauce in a jar that could match the rich, thick texture and flavor of homemade sauce.  The now-classic commercials featured a skeptical Italian family member (often a husband, father, or grandmother) who realized that the pasta sauce for a meal was to come from a jar.  The disgruntled skeptic would then question whether real ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, basil, and oregano could possibly be inside a store-bought jar, and the response delivered with absolute conviction was always “It’s in there!”

​Watch one of the commercials HERE. 

Flash forward to today.  Let’s say you’ve enrolled in an advanced-level college course in American Literature, and Professor Prego has required the purchase of the Norton Anthology of American Literature.  You’re a bit skeptical about which authors and poets might be in there, so you have a conversation for Professor Prego. 

It goes something like this:

You:      “Roethke, Cheever, Baldwin?"

Professor Prego:          “It’s in there!”

You:      “Lowell, Cummings, Dos Passos?”

Professor Prego:         “It’s in there!”

You:      “Whitman, Lazarus, Dickinson?”

Professor Prego:         “It’s in there!”

You:      “Thompson, Aldrich, Lang?”

Professor Prego:         “HUH?”

You:        “You know, Maurice Thompson, Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Andrew Lang, the priggish 19th century poets and literary critics who trashed the works of Emily Dickinson.  Well, Lang was British, so yeah – I wasn’t expecting him to be in there – but Thompson and Aldrich –who predicted 'oblivion' for Dickinson – and the others who panned her poetry as chaotic, spasmodic, and quixotic."

Professor Prego:          "And bromidic and prosaic?"

You:      “YEAH – those guys.”

Professor Prego:         “No – not one of them is ‘in there.’” 

That's right, folks, none of those poem-ier-than-thou anti-Dickinson snobs have any of their works featured in the upcoming, eleventh edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature.

It did get a little confusing when I checked this out because there are five volumes:  volumes A & B with literature up to 1865, and  volumes C, D, and E from 1865 to present.  As a result, both volumes B and C -- at the pivotal year of 1865 -- include works by Dickinson, Whitman, and other Civil War era writers. 

The Norton site is HERE, and you can check the contents for each volume. 

​Just FYI:  I wrote about some of the early reviews of Dickinson's poetry -- those written between 1890 and 1900 -- HERE.   Also, in another recent post, I discussed a poem by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, HERE.

To be honest, as years have passed and styles, methods, and manners of poetry have evolved, I wasn't expecting  to find too much in the way of grandiloquent poetry from the 19th century  – with its pompous diction, exaggerated aural density, and over-the-top melodrama; however, I wondered what might have been included in the very FIRST Norton Anthology of American Literature -- after all, that compilation of works would have been closer in years to when such works were written and read.

Of course that begged the question, "When was the first Norton Anthology of American Literature published?   Well, turns out that was in 1979, forty-seven years ago (and for what its worth, seventy-two years after the death of Aldrich, ninety-three years after the death of Dickinson, and 161 years after the volume's  "pivotal year" of 1865). 

Below left, center and right:  Dickinson's works included in the first-ever edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature published in 1979.

None of Dickinson's nay-sayers were represented.  However, two selections were included by William Dean Howells, a writer and critic who spoke (somewhat) highly of Dickinson:  an essay, "Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading, An Impersonal Explanation" (HERE), and one chapter from his book A Boy's Town, Chapter IX, "Circuses and Shows" (HERE). 

By the way, Howells is also represented in the coming edition of the anthology with one short story, "Editha" (HERE), and something "from the 'Editor's Study,'" a monthly literary and cultural criticism column Howells wrote for Harper's New Monthly Magazine from September 1885 to March 1892.

So that's a wrap on our "back to school" edition featuring info on the Norton Anthology of American Literature. 

Now, I’m not saying that I plan to check for understanding with a quick, unannounced quiz in the next day or so to see who’s been paying attention – but I’m not NOT saying it either. Just remember that surprise quizzes are a possibility any time to encourage steady reading my posts over last-minute cramming.

Thank you for rapt attention -- and for reading the words I have flashed upon your screen. ; )