A literary genre can motivate an anthology.
An anthology is a collection of pieces selected for their value or quality . The anthology, therefore, can consist of a compilation of stories , poems , songs , records , etc.
For example: “My wife gave me an anthology of Latin American poetry for my birthday,” “The Chilean writer is the only South American novelist who was selected to be part of the new literary anthology edited by El Bosque,” “The singer reported that he will edit “a bossa nova anthology, with its own interpretations of the genre's greatest hits.”
The term anthology comes from Greek. More precisely, it is the result of the sum of two components: anthos , which can be translated as "flower" , and the verb legein , which means "to choose" .
A compilation
An anthology is generally understood to be a collection of notable artistic works . This compilation gives the public the possibility of accessing pieces of great individual value within the same set or package.
In this way, if a person buys an anthology of Swedish poetry from the 20th century , for example, they will be able to read the best poems produced in Sweden in that historical period in the same book (or in several volumes, but belonging to the same publication. ).
An anthology of Brazilian abstract painting , for its part, can consist of an exhibition held in a museum that brings together paintings of said style and origin selected by experts.
An anthology usually includes comments from the anthologist.
Types of anthology
Anthologies are usually classified according to their content or the type of topic or area they address. In this sense, we can distinguish between two main types of anthologies: the fiction anthology and the non-fiction anthology .
The fiction anthology, in turn, can be an anthology of classical literature , an anthology of contemporary literature , an anthology of national literature , etc. You can also differentiate between a narrative anthology or a poetry anthology , or even focus on genres or styles: short novel anthology , historical novel anthology , horror anthology , fantasy anthology ...
As for non-fiction anthologies, we can find essay anthologies , chronicle anthologies , interview anthologies and others.
There are anthologies of a single volume and others that are developed in several volumes.
Other features
It is common for an anthology to be made up of the following parts: cover , presentation or introduction , prologue and review .
Beyond the structure, it should be noted that an anthology is always arbitrary and partial . It is arbitrary since they are based on certain writings that the editor or publisher considers, by his or her own decision or personal taste, necessary to include in the compilation. At the same time, it is partial because it presents sets of texts that share several common links but does not include all existing works on its subject.
In short, in a poetry anthology, how do you determine which poems will be part of the selection? The same can be said of a painting exhibition: should twenty, thirty or more paintings be exhibited?
Anthology Examples
The "Anthology of Fantastic Literature" by Adolfo Bioy Casares, Jorge Luis Borges and Silvina Ocampo is an example of an anthology. It presents a prologue that helps understand how the genre evolved in different cultures and then includes fantastic stories from different eras by references such as Edgar Allan Poe , Franz Kafka and James Joyce , among others.
Poe himself motivated an "Anthology of Dark Tales" that brings together dark stories of his authorship. This literary work presents works such as "The Black Cat" , "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Oval Portrait" .
The "Great Anthology of Love Poetry" is another example of an anthology. In this case, poems by writers such as Pablo Neruda , Federico García Lorca , Amado Nervo and Mario Benedetti appear. The "Anthology of Greek Lyrical Poetry" , meanwhile, includes offerings from the archaic and classical periods. The translation and selection was carried out by Carlos García Gual .
"A Christmas Like This" , on the other hand, is an anthology that compiles contemporary Christmas stories. Julia Viejo , Daniel Ruiz and Marta Jiménez Serrano are among the writers who contributed their texts.
There are also anthologies that bring together distinguished works in literary competitions. An example of an anthology of this type is the "Mujica Láinez Prize Anthology" , with several editions according to the year of the contest.
an expression
The expression “anthology” , on the other hand, allows us to refer to something out of the ordinary and, therefore, worthy of being highlighted .
“The English striker scored another epic goal to give his team another victory” is a phrase that uses this use of the concept.
Book «Anthology of nonsense»
There is a very fun and unique work titled “Anthology of Nonsense.” As its name indicates, this work, carried out by Julio Reboredo Pazos and Javier Serrano Palacio , is a compendium of the biggest errors and absurdities that students have written in exams.
Thus, among the most unique nonsense are those that say that the Eiffel Tower was invented by the Egyptians, that Plato studied with the Jesuits or that Christ died with two people at his side who were his bodyguards.