World of Literature, The

A core text for undergraduate-level courses in Introduction to World Literature. Unique in perspective and content, this one-volume anthology provides a coherent, manageable selection of major works of world literature. Genuinely global in balance, it embeds familiar great works of the Western or European tradition within the wider literary history that begins in ancient Sumer four thousand years ago. By tracing thematic connections and contrasts among works from differing traditions, it helps students put world literature into cultural, social, and historical perspective.