Rotten English: A Literary Anthology

A global anthology of fiction and poetry in vernacular English.

Rotten English spans the globe to offer an overview of the best non-standard English writing of the past two centuries, with a focus on the most recent decades. What would once have been derogatorily termed "dialect literature" has come into its own in a language known variously as slang, creole, patois, pidgin, or, in the words of Nigerian novelist Ken Saro-Wiwa, "rotten English." The first anthology of its kind, Rotten English celebrates vernacular literature from around the English-speaking world, from Robert Burns, Mark Twain, and Zora Neale Hurston to Roddy Doyle, Jonathan Safran Foer, and M. NourbeSe Philip. With concise introductions that explain the context and aesthetics of the vernacular tradition, this anthology pays tribute to the changes English has undergone as it has become a global language.

• Lucy: A Novel
• Death and the King's Horseman: A Play
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories
• A Small Place
• Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience
• Daytripper
• Global Englishes: A Resource Book for Students (Routledge English Language Introductions)
• An Introduction to Criticism: Literature - Film - Culture
• American Born Chinese
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Pantheon Graphic Library)