Paradise Lost (The Norton Library)

by John Milton, Stephen B. Dobranski (Editor)

Overview

Part of the Norton Library series

The Norton Library edition of Paradise Lost features the complete text of the second (1674) edition, the last published during Milton’s lifetime, edited for the modern reader by Stephen B. Dobranski. An introduction by Dobranski discusses the epic’s innovations and its historical and religious contexts, illuminating for a new generation of readers the author’s radically ambitious undertaking to “justify the ways of God to men.”

The Norton Library is a growing collection of high-quality texts and translations—influential works of literature and philosophy—introduced and edited by leading scholars. Norton Library editions prepare readers for their first encounter with the works that they’ll re-read over a lifetime.

• Inviting introductions highlight the work’s significance and influence, providing the historical and literary context students need to dive in with confidence.
• Endnotes and an easy-to-read design deliver an uninterrupted reading experience, encouraging students to read the text first and refer to endnotes for more information as needed.
• An affordable price (most $10 or less) encourages students to buy the book and to come to class with the assigned edition.

About the Editor: Stephen B. Dobranski is Distinguished University Professor of English at Georgia State University and the editor of the journal Milton Studies. He has published nine books including Readers and Authorship in Early Modern England (2005); The Cambridge Introduction to Milton 2012); and?Milton’s Visual Imagination: Imagery in “Paradise Lost” (2015).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393870879
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Series:	The Norton Library
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Stephen B. Dobranski is Distinguished University Professor of English at Georgia State University and the editor of the journal Milton Studies. He has published nine books including The Cambridge Introduction to Milton; Readers and Authorship in Early Modern England; and Milton’s Visual Imagination: Imagery in “Paradise Lost.” He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Shannon Dobranski, and their daughter, Audrey.

Read an Excerpt

PARADISE LOST the printer to the reader
(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Paradise Lost"
by .
Copyright © 2003 John Milton.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction by Philip Pullman
Paradise Lost
Book I
Book II
Book III
Book IV
Book V
Book VI
Book VII
Book VIII
Book IX
Book X
Book XI
Book XII
Afterword
A Note on the Illustrations

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Barbara Lewalski is the doyenne of the community of Milton scholars, but she also remains committed to the enterprise of teaching. In this exemplary edition of Paradise Lost both qualities are in evidence: the text is scrupulous and the scholarship rigorous, but both the introduction and the notes are accommodated to the needs of students who will be coming to the poem for the first time. This is an edition that will please students and professors alike, and its sheer quality is a tribute to Barbara Lewalski's passion to provide readers with all the help they need to understand the greatest of all English poems."
–Gordon Campbell, University of Leicester

"Teachers and scholars will welcome Barbara Lewalski’s Blackwell edition of Paradise Lost, one not only informed by the erudition of a prominent and highly respected Miltonist but advantaged by her sound decision to reproduce the original language, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and italics of the 1674 text."
–Edward Jones, Editor, Milton Quarterly

"For the student or general reader, looking for an old-spelling edition that is faithful to the original punctuation, this edition has much to recommend it. Its annotation is crisp, purposeful and well-judged."
–Thomas N. Corns, University of Wales, Bangor

"A superb teaching text. Lewalski’s edition respects Milton’s original poem and offers supremely clear introductions, bibliography and special material to guide the student reader and educated lay person alike to new discoveries in a work that, quite simply, has it all: good, evil, God, Satan, humans, angels, love, despair, war, politics, sex, duty, and sublime poetry—set in a cosmic landscape that inspires wonder and seduces new readers in every generation."
–Sharon Achinstein, Oxford University

Editorial Reviews

Even a dozen critical essays, representative of the postmodern wave that has largely displaced liberal humanism in English studies in the years in which they were written (1970-96), do not dethrone Satan as the flawed hero of Milton's masterwork. Contributors vivisect, yet manage to convey, the contemporary relevance of the seminal 17th century epic poem with interpretations from Marxist/ historicist, feminist, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist approaches. The editor provides a concisely informative introduction to the English Revolution and modern contexts for deconstructing . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

In this landmark edition, teachers will discover a powerful ally in bringing the excitement of Milton’s poetry and prose to new generations of students.”—William C. Dowling, Rutgers University
 
“This magnificent edition gives us everything we need to read Milton intelligently and with fresh perception.”—William H. Pritchard, Amherst College

From the Publisher