[Publib] reference weeding

[Judith Turner]

Hi, Rita --

I'd compare the 1968 and 1972 editions since you've got both on hand and see what changes were made in that period. Are plots given for the same titles or have new ones been added? Are the critical essays by the same authors?  How much updating was done?  If it's not a significant amount, then I'd save the bother of removing the old edition and adding the new one and opt for purchasing the current edition as soon as your budget permits.

By the early 1970's feminist criticism was beginning to appear, followed by criticism of the literary canon as too Euro-centric.  Deconstructionism and post-modern literary criticism are very different from the biographical-historical or textual criticism popular in the 1950's and 1960's.  The books plotted and discussed in the new Masterplots should be more in line with what today's students, educators and the public are reading or hearing about.  Literary criticism has changed dramatically in the intervening decades so the expert commentators will be different, bibliographical references and further reading will reflect newer trends, and the significance of the works will be placed in a more modern context (hopefully!)


Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI 
Blogging at: http://alms-jact.blogspot.com/
and
http://judyct.wordpress.com/

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved." ---- "Silence in the Library"  (Doctor Who, Season 4, Ep. 8)