Greenblatt To Be Next ‘Keeper of the Canon’

As the incoming general editor of “The Norton Anthology of English Literature,” the preeminent collection of the English canon used in literature survey courses across the country, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities Stephen J. Greenblatt will hold one more influential seat in his field.

“There are, by now, millions of students who have been introduced primarily to English literature by way of that anthology,” said Meyer H. Abrams ’34, a professor of English, emeritus, at Cornell, who has edited the Norton anthology since its first edition in 1962. “You have to be aware that what you do is going to have immense repercussions,” Abrams added.

In each new edition, the general editor oversees which authors or works are added to the anthology and which previously included works will fail to make the cut, Abrams said.

Because what is included in the anthology influences what is studied in English-literature courses across America and around the world, the New York Times has called the general editor of the Norton Anthology “the keeper of the canon.”

But Greenblatt and Abrams said that the Norton Anthology has been successful because editorial decisions are based on extensive communication with the professors who use the anthology for teaching.

The other key to the anthology’s popularity, Greenblatt said, is its accessibility to a wide range of students. Since a survey of English literature is required at many colleges, some students enrolling solely for academic credit begin the class expecting to be bored, Greenblatt said.

“The question is how to seduce them,” he said.

In an interview in his office Monday, Greenblatt was enthusiastic about the anthology and his opportunity to contribute to its continued success.

He said the anthology should offer its readers pleasure and interest as well as learning.

Jumping up on a chair to retrieve copies of other anthologies to compare with the Norton, Greenblatt pointed out that, from the beginning, the Norton editions emphasized readability through clear layout and by placing the definitions of obscure words in the texts’ margins.

In the interests of students, the Norton Anthology has also steered clear of academic one-upmanship, Greenblatt said. No other anthology has been able to compete commercially with the Norton, he said, in part because competitors have tended to focus on “a very highfalutin text in which professors were trying to impress other professors.”

After collaborating with Abrams on the past two editions of the Norton, Greenblatt is now assuming the full editorship.

Abrams said that Greenblatt, who is also the editor of “The Norton Shakespeare,” was the obvious choice as the next editor of the anthology.

The transition of the editorship from a Harvard graduate to a Harvard professor was not purposeful, Abrams said.

“Other things being equal, we would have preferred to look west, just to change the notion that it’s an eastern-oriented or even a Harvard-centered anthology,” he said.

But Greenblatt’s qualifications were unsurpassed, Abrams said.

“I don’t know anybody better than him in the field of literature in his generation,” Abrams said.

Professor of English and American Literature and Language Gordon Teskey, who taught the survey course English 10, “Major British Writers I” this semester, said he has used the Norton Anthology in his teaching for 24 years.

“I can testify to what a pleasurable and stimulating guide the anthology has been for generations of students, and what an invaluable resource it has been for teachers,” Teskey wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer Lois E. Beckett can be reached at lbeckett@fas.harvard.edu.