[RED indicates NEW to the Shorter Fourth Edition]
VOLUME
1
I. ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN AND NEAR EASTERN
LITERATURE
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (ca. 1900–250 B.C.E.)
(Translated
by Benjamin R. Foster)
THE HEBREW BIBLE (ca. 1000–300 B.C.E.)
Genesis
1–4 [From Creation to the Murder of
Abel]
6–9 [Noah and the Flood]
11 [The Tower of Babel]
12, 17, 18 [God’s Promise to Abraham]
21, 22 [Abraham and Isaac]
Exodus 19–20
[Moses Receives the Law]
From Job
(Translated
by Robert Alter)
Psalm 8
Psalm 19
Psalm 23
Psalm 104
Psalm 137
(The
King James Version)
HOMER (eighth century B.C.E.)
The Iliad
Book
I [The Rage of Achilles]
Book XVIII [The
Shield of Achilles]
Book
XXII [The Death of Hector]
Book
XXIV [Achilles and Priam]
(Translated by
Caroline Alexander)
The Odyssey
Book 1 [The Boy and
the Goddess]
Book 5 [From the
Goddess to the Storm]
Book 6 [A Princess
and Her Laundry]
Book 7 [A Magical
Kingdom]
Book 8 [The Songs
of a Poet]
Book 9 [A Pirate in
a Shepherd’s Cave]
Book 10 [The Winds
and the Witch]
Book 11 [The Dead]
Book 12 [Difficult
Choices]
Book 16 [Father and
Son]
Book 17 [Insults
and Abuse]
Book 19 [The Queen
and the Beggar]
Book 21 [An Archery
Contest]
Book 22 [Bloodshed]
Book 23 [The Olive
Tree Bed]
Book 24 [Restless
Spirits]
(Translated by Emily Wilson)
SAPPHO (born ca. 630 B.C.E.)
Poems and Fragments
1. [Deathless Aphrodite of the
spangled mind]
(Translated
by Anne Carson)
2. [Come to me here from Crete]
16.
[Some Say an Army of Horsemen]
17. [Come close to me, I
pray]
(Translated by Philip Freeman)
31 [He seems to me equal to gods]
(Translated
by Anne Carson)
44.
[Cyprus…]
47.[Love
shook my heart]
48.
[You came and I was longing for you]
51. [I
don’t know what I should do]
55.
[But when you die]
58. […I pray]
94. [“I
honestly wish I were dead”]
102.
[Truly, sweet mother]
104A. [Evening, you gather
together]
104B. […most beautiful of
all the stars]
105A. [..like the sweet
apple]
105B. […like the hyacinth]
111. [Raise high the roof]
112. [Blessed bridegroom]
114. [“Virginity,
virginity..]
130.
[Once again limb-loosening Love makes me tremble]
132. [I have a beautiful
child who is like golden flowers]
168B.
[The moon has set]
[The Brother Poem]
[The Cypris Poem]
(Translated by Philip
Freeman)
SOPHOCLES (ca. 496–406 B.C.E.)
Oedipus the King
(Translated by David Grene)
EURIPIDES (ca. 480–406 B.C.E.)
Medea
(Translated by Sheila H. Murnaghan)
VIRGIL (70–19 B.C.E.)
The Aeneid
Book I [Safe Haven after Storm]
Book II [The Final Hours of Troy]
Book IV [The Tragic Queen of
Carthage]
Book VI [The Kingdom of the Dead]
Book VIII, selection [The Shield of Aeneas]
Book XII, selection [The Sword Decides All]
(Translated
by Robert Fagles)
OVID (43 B.C.E.–17 C.E.)
Metamorphoses
Book I
[Proem]
[The Creation]
[Apollo and Daphne]
[Jove and Io]
Book II
[Jove and Europa]
Book V
[Ceres and Proserpina]
Book IX
[Iphis and Isis]
Book X
[Pygmalion]
[Venus and Adonis]
(Translated
by Charles Martin)
II. ANCIENT INDIA
THE RĀMĀYAṆA OF VĀLMĪKI (ca. 550
B.C.E.)
Book 2. Ayodhyā (15–31)
Book 3. Āraṇya
(14–18, 32–37, 42–68)
Book 6. Yuddha
(109–13, 115–23, 130–31)
(Translated
by Swami Venkatesananda)
THE BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ (ca. 400 B.C.E.–400 C.E.)
From
Chapter One
From Chapter Two
From Chapter Three
From Chapter Six
From Chapter Eleven
(Translated
by Gavin Flood and Charles Martin)
III. EARLY CHINESE LITERATURE AND THOUGHT
CLASSIC OF POETRY (ca. 1000-600 B.C.E)
I. Fishhawk
VI. Peach Tree Soft and Tender
XX. Plums Are Falling
XXIII. Dead Roe Deer
XXVI. Boat of Cypress
XLII. Gentle Girl
LXIV. Quince
LXXVI. Zhongzi, Please
XCV. Zhen and Wei
CXIII. Huge Rat
CCXLV. She Bore the Folk
From The Great Preface
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
CONFUCIUS (551–479 B.C.E.)
From Analects
(Translated by Simon Leys)
LAOZI (sixth–third centuries B.C.E.)
From
Daodejing
(Translated by D. C. Lau)
IV.
CIRCLING THE MEDITERRANEAN: EUROPE AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD
THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE:
THE NEW TESTAMENT
GOSPELS (ca. first century C.E.)
Luke 2
[The Birth and Youth of Jesus]
Matthew
5–7 [The Sermon on the Mount]
Luke 15
[Parables]
From Matthew 13 [Why Jesus Teaches in Parables]
Matthew
27–28 [Crucifixion and Resurrection]
John 1
[The Word]
(Translated
by Richmond Lattimore)
AUGUSTINE (354–430)
Confessions
FromBook I [Childhood]
FromBook II [The Pear Tree]
FromBook III [Student at Carthage]
FromBook V [Augustine Leaves Carthage
for Rome]
FromBook VI [Earthly Love]
FromBook VIII [Conversion]
FromBook IX [Death of His Mother]
From Book XI [Time]
(Translated
by Peter Constantine)
THE QUR’AN (610–632)
1.
The Opening
12.
Joseph
19.
Mary
24. From Light
36. Ya Sin
55.
The All-Merciful
91. The Sun
112.
Purity [of Faith]
(Translated by M. A. Rafey Habib and Bruce
Lawrence)
BEOWULF (ninth century)
(Translated
by Seamus Heaney)
MARIE DE FRANCE (1150?–1200?)
Lais
Prologue
Bisclavret
Laüstic
(Translated
by Dorothy Gilbert)
DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265–1321)
The
Divine Comedy
Inferno
(Translated by John Ciardi)
THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (fourteenth century)
Prologue [The Story of
King Shahrayar and Shahrazad,
His Vizier’s Daughter]
[The Tale of the Ox
and the Donkey]
[The Tale of the
Merchant and His Wife]
[The Story of the
Merchant and the Demon]
[The First Old Man’s
Tale]
[The Second Old Man’s
Tale]
(Translated by Husain Haddawy)
[The Third Old Man’s
Tale]
(Translated by Jerome W. Clinton)
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340?–1400)
The
Canterbury Tales
The
General Prologue
The
Wife of Bath’s Prologue
The
Wife of Bath’s Tale
(Translated
by Sheila Fisher)
CHRISTINE DE PIZAN (ca. 1364–ca. 1431)
The Book of
the City of Ladies
1. Here
begins The Book of the City of Ladies
2. The Three
Ladies
3. Christine
recounts how the lady who had spoken to her told her who she was
4. About the
city which Christine was destined to build
14. More
discussion and debate between Christine and Reason
19. About
Queen Penthesilea /
37. About
all the great good that these ladies have brought into the world
38. More on
the same topic
46. About
the good sense and cleverness of Queen Dido
48. About
Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus
(Translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant)
V. MEDIEVAL CHINA
LI BO (701–762)
The Sun Rises and Sets
South of the Walls We Fought
Bring in the Wine
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
Question and Answer in the Mountains
(Translated
by Vikram Seth)
Summer Day in the Mountains
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
Drinking Alone with the Moon
(Translated
by Vikram Seth)
The Hardships of Traveling the Road I
Seeing Off Meng Haoran at Yellow Crane
Tower,
on His Way to Guangling
(Translated
by Paul Kroll)
In
the Quiet Night
(Translated
by Vikram Seth)
Sitting Alone by Jingting Mountain
A Song on Visiting Heaven’s Crone Mountain
in a Dream: On Parting
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
DU FU (712–770)
Painted Hawk
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
Moonlight Night
Spring Prospect
(Translated
by Burton Watson)
Qiang Village I
(Translated
by Paul Kroll)
My Thatched Roof Is Ruined by the
Autumn Wind
I Stand Alone
Spending the Night in a Tower by the
River
(Translated
by Stephen Owen)
Thoughts while Travelling at
Night
(Translated
by Vikram Seth)
Ballad of the Firewood Vendors
Autumn Meditations IV
(Translated
by Burton Watson)
VI. JAPAN’S CLASSICAL AGE
SEI SHŌNAGON (ca. 966–1017)
The Pillow Book
1 In spring, the dawn
2 Times of year
4 It breaks my heart to think
6 The Emperor’s cat
20 The sliding panels that close off
the north-east corner
30 A priest who gives a sermon
should be handsome
39 Refined and elegant things
40 Insects
68 Things that can’t be
compared
71 Rare things
82 Once when her Majesty was in
residence
104 Things that are distressing to
see
144 Endearingly lovely things
257 Things that give you
pleasure
529 I have written in this book
(Translated by Meredith McKinney)
MURASAKI SHIKIBU (ca. 978–ca. 1014)
The Tale of Genji
From
Chapter I. Kiritsubo: The Lady of the Paulownia-Courtyard Chambers
From
Chapter II. Hahakigi: Broom Cypress
From
Chapter V. Wakamurasaki: Little Purple Gromwell
From
Chapter VII. Momiji no ga: An Imperial Celebration of Autumn Foliage
From
Chapter IX. Aoi: Leaves of Wild Ginger
From
Chapter X. Sakaki: A Branch of Sacred Evergreen
From
Chapter XII. Suma: Exile to Suma
From Chapter XIII. Akashi: The Lady at
Akashi
From Chapter XXV. Hotaru: Fireflies
From
Chapter XL. Minori: Rites of the Sacred Law
From
Chapter XLI. Maboroshi: Spirit Summoner
From
Chapter XLV: Hashihime: The Divine Princess at Uji Bridge
From
Chapter XLVII: Agemaki: A Bowknot Tied in Maiden’s Loops
From
Chapter XLIX: Yadoriki: Trees Encoiled in Vines of Ivy
From
Chapter LIII: Tenarai: Practicing Calligraphy
VII. ISLAM AND PRE-ISLAMIC CULTURE IN NORTH
AFRICA
SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN
EPIC OF THE MANDE
PEOPLES (late thirteenth–early fourteenth century)
(Prose translation by David C. Conrad)
VIII. EUROPE AND THE NEW WORLD
FRANCIS PETRARCH
1 [You who hear in scattered rhymes]
3 [It was the day when the sun’s rays
turned pale with grief]
34 [Apollo, if the sweet desire is still
alive that inflamed you]
(Translated
by Robert M. Durling)
62 [Father in heaven, after each lost
day]
(Translated
by Bernard Bergonzi)
126 [Clear, fresh, sweet waters]
189 [My ship laden with
forgetfulness]
(Translated
by Robert M. Durling)
333 [Go, grieving rimes of mine]
(Translated
by Morris Bishop)
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI (1469–1527)
The Prince
[New Princedoms Gained with Other
Men’s Forces and Through Fortune] Chapter 7
[Princely Virtues] Chapter 15
[On Liberality and
Parsimony] Chapter 16
From [On Cruelty and Pity] Chapter 17
[In What Ways Faith Should
Be Kept] Chapter 18
From [On Avoiding Contempt and Hatred] Chapter 19
From [The Best Defense] Chapter 20
From [Ferdinand of Spain, Exemplary Prince] Chapter 21
[Good Counsel vs. Flattery]
Chapter 23
[Why Princes Fail] Chapter
24
[“Fortune is a woman”] Chapter 25
[The Roman Dream] Chapter 26
(Translated
by Allan H. Gilbert)
MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE (1492–1549)
The Heptameron
From Prologue
Story 8
(Translated
by P. A. Chilton)
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533–1592)
Essays
To the Reader
Of Cannibals
(Translated
by Donald Frame)
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES (1547–1616)
Don Quixote
Part I
Prologue
[“I Know Who I Am, and Who I May
Be, If I Choose”]
[Fighting the Windmills and a
Choleric Biscayan]
[Of Goatherds, Roaming
Shepherdesses, and Unrequited Loves]
[Fighting the Sheep]
[“To Right Wrongs and Come to the
Aid of the Wretched”]
[A Story of Captivity in North
Africa, Told to Don Quixote at the Inn]
[“Set Free at Once That Lovely
Lady”]
Part II
Prologue
[“Put into a Book”]
[A
Victorious Duel]
[“For
I Well Know the Meaning of Valor”]
[Last
Duel]
[Homecoming
and Death]
(Translated
by Samuel Putnam)
POPOL VUH (transcribed 1554-1558)
From
Part 1 [Prologue, Creation]
From
Part 2 [The Twins Defeat Seven Macaw]
From
Part 3 [Victory over the Underworld]
From
Part 4 [Origin of Humanity, First Dawn]
From
Part 5 [Prayer for Future Generations]
(Translated
by Dennis Tedloc)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
VOLUME 2
I. LITERATURES OF EARLY MODERN EAST ASIA
WU CHENG’EN (ca. 1500–1582)
From The Journey to
the West
(Translated by Anthony Yu)
MATSUO BASHŌ (1644-1694)
From The Narrow Road
To The Deep North
(Translated by Haruo Shirane)
CHIKAMATSU MONZAEMON
(1653–1725)
From The Love Suicides
at Amijima
(Translated by Donald Keene)
II. THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN EUROPE AND THE
AMERICAS
MOLIÈRE (JEAN-BAPTISTE POQUELIN) (1622–1673)
Tartuffe
(Versification
by Constance Congdon, from a translation by Virginia Scott)
APHRA BEHN (1640?–1689)
Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave
SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ (1648–1695)
From Response of the Poet’s to the Very Eminent Sor Filotea
de la Cruz
(Translated by Edith Grossman)
VOLTAIRE (FRANÇOIS-MARIE AROUET) (1694–1778)
Candide, or Optimism
(Translated and with notes by Robert M. Adams)
III. AN AGE OF REVOLUTIONS
JEAN–JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712–1778)
Confessions
From
Part One, Book One
From Part One, Book Two
(Translated
by Angela Scholar)
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749–1832)
Faust
Prologue in Heaven
Prelude in the Theatre
Part I
(Translated
by Martin Greenberg)
FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818?–1895)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass,
An American Slave
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757–1827)
Songs of Innocence
Introduction
The Lamb
The Little Black Boy
Holy Thursday
The Chimney Sweeper
Songs of Experience
Introduction
Earth’s Answer
The Tyger
The Sick Rose
London
The Chimney Sweeper
Mock On, Mock On, Voltaire, Rousseau
And Did Those Feet
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850)
We Are Seven
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern
Abbey
Ode on Intimations of Immortality
Composed upon Westminster Bridge,
September 3, 1802
The World Is Too Much with Us
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE (1821–1867)
The Flowers of Evil
To the Reader
(Translated
by Robert Lowell)
Correspondences
(Translated
by Richard Wilbur)
Her Hair
(Translated
by Doreen Bell)
A Carcass
(Translated
by James McGowan)
Invitation to the Voyage
(Translated
by Richard Wilbur)
Song of Autumn I
(Translated
by C. F. MacIntyre)
Spleen LXXVIII
(Translated
by Kenneth O. Hanson)
Spleen LXXIX
(Translated
by Anthony Hecht)
Spleen LXXXI
(Translated
by Sir John Squire)
The Voyage
(Translated
by Charles Henri Ford)
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
258 [There’s a certain Slant of
light]
303 [The Soul selects her own
Society—]
435 [Much Madness is divinest
Sense—]
465 [I heard a Fly buzz—when I
died—]
712 [Because I could not stop for
Death—]
754 [My Life had stood—a Loaded
Gun—]
1129 [Tell all the Truth but tell it
slant—]
IV. AT THE CROSSROADS OF EMPIRE
NGUYEN DU (1765-1820)
From
The Tale of Kieu
(Translated
by Huynh Sanh Thong)
GHALIB (1797–1869)
[Now Go and Live in a Place]
[Be Merciful and Send for Me]
[Where’s the Foothold]
[I’ve Made My Home Next Door to You]
(secular)
[I’ve Made My Home Next Door to You]
(sacred)
Couplets
1 [Ghalib, it’s no use]
2 [I have hopes]
3 [Dear God]
4 [What I have isn’t a case of love]
5 [We’re monotheists]
6 [Just this]
7 [There are other poets]
8 [Tonight, somewhere, you’re
sleeping]
9 [I’ve been set free]
10 [Pulling that image from my
memory]
11 [If no one but You]
12 [The news was hot]
[It was essential]
[My tongue begs for the power of speech]
Petition: My Salary
(Translated
by Vinay Dharwadker)
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941)
Punishment
(Translated
by William Radice)
Kabuliwala
(Translated
by Madhuchhanda Karlekar)
V. REALISM ACROSS THE GLOBE
FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY (1821–1881)
Notes from Underground
(Translated
by Michael Katz)
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT (1821–1880)
A Simple Heart
(Translated
by Robert Baldick)
LEO TOLSTOY (1828–1910)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
(Translated
by Peter Carson)
HENRIK IBSEN (1828–1906)
Hedda Gabler
(Translated
by Rick Davis and Brian Johnston)
ANTON CHEKHOV (1860–1904)
The Lady with the Dog
(Translated
by Ivy Litvinov)
VI. MODERNITY AND MODERNISM, 1900-1945
JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924)
Heart of Darkness
JAMES JOYCE (1882-1941)
The Dead
FRANZ KAFKA (1883-1924)
The Metamorphosis
(Translated
by Susan Bernofsky)
LU XUN (1881-1936)
Diary of a Madman
(Translated by William A. Lyell)
LUIGI PIRANDELLO (1867-1936)
Six Characters in Search of an Author
(Translated
by Eric Bentley)
VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882-1941)
A Room of One’s Own
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
JORGE LUIS BORGES (1899-1986)
The Garden of Forking Paths
(Translated
by Donald A. Yates)
The Library of
Babel
(Translated
by James E. Irby)
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS (1865-1939)
Easter 1916
The Second Coming
Leda and the Swan
Sailing to Byzantium
Among School Children
Byzantium
RAINER MARIA RILKE (1875-1926)
Archaic Torso of Apollo
Archaïscher Torso Apollos
The Panther
The Swan
Spanish Dancer
(Translated
by M. D. Herder Norton)
T. S. ELIOT (1888-1965)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Waste Land
ANNA AKHMATOVA (1889-1966)
Requiem
(Translated
by Judith Hemschemeyer)
PABLO NERUDA (1904-1973)
Tonight I Can Write…
Walking Around
(Translated
by W. S. Merwin)
I’m Explaining a Few Things
(Translated
by Nathaniel Tarn)
General Song (Canto
General)
(Translated by Jack Schmitt)
Ode to the Tomato
(Translated by Nathaniel Tarn)
VII. POSTWAR AND POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE,
1945-1968
TADEUSZ BOROWSKI (1922-1951)
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and
Gentlemen
(Translated
by Barbara Vedder)
DORIS LESSING (1919-2013)
The Old Chief Mshlanga
JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987)
Notes of a Native Son
ALBERT CAMUS (1913-1960)
The Guest
(Translated
by Justin O’Brien)
CHINUA ACHEBE (1930-2013)
Chike’s School Days
NAGUIB MAHFOUZ (1911-2006)
Zaabalawi
(Translated
by Denys Johnson-Davies)
VIII. CONTEMPORARY WORLD LITERATURE
DEREK WALCOTT (b. 1930)
Omeros
Book One
From Chapter I
Book Seven
From Chapter LXIV
SEAMUS HEANEY (1939-2013)
Digging
The Tollund Man
Punishment
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (1928-2014)
Death Constant Beyond Love
(Translated
by Gregory Rabassa)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO (b. 1948)
Yellow Woman
WOLE SOYINKA (b. 1934)
Death and the King’s Horseman
NAWAL EL SAADAWI (b. 1931)
In Camera
(Translated by Shirley Eber)
SALMAN RUSHDIE (b. 1947)
The Perforated Sheet
JAMAICA KINCAID (b. 1949)
Girl
HANAN AL-SHAYKH (b. 1945)
The Women’s Swimming Pool
(Translated
by Denys Johnson-Davies)
MO YAN (b. 1955)
The Old Gun
(Translated
by Janice Wickeri)
ORHAN PAMUK (b. 1952)
To Look Out the Window
(Translated
by Maureen French)
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE (b. 1977)
The Headstrong Historian