This Norton Critical Edition of Gaskell's first novel is based on the 1854 Fifth Edition, the last edition corrected by the author.

"Contexts" includes letters related to Mary Barton's publication as well as Gaskell's reaction to her harshest critics. Ten contemporary reviews reflect the dual nature of the novel's critical reception: one group valuing its eye-opening moral energy and concern for the suffering of the working classes and the other group taking Gaskell to task for the deceptive implications of her perceived flawed reasoning. A section featuring fifteen illustrations...

His biting satire, witty dialogue, and irreverent staging have made him a favorite with theatergoers for four centuries. This Norton Critical Edition of Moliere's most controversial and most often-performed play is based on Constance Congdon's acclaimed new verse translation. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations and nine illustrations of the seventeenth-century farce.

"Backgrounds and Sources" draws readers' attention to the real-life controversy Moliere faced following the opening of Tartuffe, which was immediately banned by the Church. Both sides of the argument...

Richard Wilbur praises Palma's translation as "accurate as to sense, fully rhymed, and easy, as a rule, in its movement through the tercets. Readers will find it admirably clear and readable." The text is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. Also included in this edition are an illuminating introduction by Giuseppe Mazzotta, a Translator's Note, The Plan of Dante's Hell, and six maps and illustrations. "Criticism" provides twelve interpretations by, among others, John Freccero, Robert M. Durling, Alison Cornish, Teodolinda Barolini, Giuseppe Mazzotta, and Robert Hollander. A...

"Sources" considers the probable, primary, and analogous sources Shakespeare drew upon while composingMeasure for Measure, including excerpts from G. B. Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi and The Tragedy of Epitia, King James I's Basilikon Doron, and--most directly--George Whetstone's The History of Promos and Cassandra. "Criticism" collects seventeen important commentaries onMeasure for Measure spanning four centuries, including, among others, those by Alexander Pope, Charlotte Lennox, Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Inchbald, A. C. Bradley, G....

The Consolation of Philosophy occupies a central place in the history of Western thought. Its author, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (ca. 476-526 c.e.), was a Roman philosopher, scholar, and statesman who wrote The Consolation of Philosophy while in a remote prison awaiting his execution on dubious political charges. The text of this Norton Critical Edition is based on the translation by Richard H. Green. It is accompanied by the editor's preface and full-scale introduction to the work, the translator's preface, and explanatory annotations. "Contexts" reprints selections...

* The first edition of the score with Brahm's corrections incorporate * Historical backgroun * Correspondence before publicatio * Reviews of first and early performance * Analysis and criticism by music scholars, including: Hugo Riemann, "Johannes Brahms, Fourth Symphony in E-minor" (1897); Heinrich Schenker, fromFree Composition (1935); Rene Leibowitz, "Aimez-vous Brahms?" (1971); Walter Frisch, from Brahms: The Four Symphonies (1996); Raymond Knapp, from Brahms and the Cahllenge of the Symphony (1997).

"Backgrounds" collects a wealth of source material, much of it new to the Fourth Edition. New material includes Austen's correspondence with her publisher about the business of writing, revealing Austen's view of her own writing and career. In addition, there are two sets of verses--"Kitty, A Fair But Frozen Maid" and "Robin Adair"--referenced inEmma as well as responses (1815-1950) to Austen and her writing from, among others, Charlotte Bronte, Juliet Pollock, Virginia Woolf, D. W. Harding, and Edmund Wilson. "Reviews and Criticism" includes twelve major interpretations of the...

The Norton Critical Edition ofA Clockwork Orange is based on the first British edition and includes Burgess's original final chapter. It is accompanied by Mark Rawlinson's preface, explanatory annotations, and textual notes. A glossary of the Russian-origin terms that inspired Alex's dialect is provided to illustrate the process by which Burgess arrived at the distinctive style of this novel. "Backgrounds and Contexts" presents a wealth of materials chosen by the editor to enrich the reader's understanding of this unforgettable work, many of them by Burgess himself. Burgess's views...

Judicious and economical, the introductions and annotations to the Old Testament give readers without Hebrew an entry into complexities of biblical literature, reconstructing its original contexts, tracing its evolution, and pointing out productive strategies of reading. Incorporating the insights of modern biblical scholarship as well as centuries of precritical interpretation, they offer essential guidance to a labyrinthine world, while respecting the text's integrity The historical and critical appendix comprises three distinct collections. A section on ancient Near Eastern backgrounds...

"Contexts" presents a broader view of Franklin's life with a journal entry from a 1726 voyage, correspondence, aPoor Richard piece on ambition and fame, Franklin's views on self-improvement, and his last will (and codicil). "Criticism" draws on a wealth of material that reflects both the wide range of Franklin's achievements and the global impact of his life and memoirs. New international voices in "Contemporary Opinions" include Immanuel Kant, Honore Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, Jose Antonio de Alzate y Ramirez, and Jose Francisco Correia da Serra. "Nineteenth-Century...