What is an ANTHOLOGY and what are its characteristics?

the anthology It is a set of works by one or more authors, chosen and edited, to form a single piece, a single book. Each of these works are usually of interest separately, but take on a much greater meaning when the reader can enjoy them together.

In this lesson from a PROFESSOR we want to explain what is an anthology and what are its characteristics, so that you recognize one as soon as you have it in front of you.

The word anthology It has its origin in Greek and is composed of the two parts "anthos", which means flower, and "legein", which means to choose. That is why the meaning makes us understand, in a beautiful way, that each of the pieces that make up part of an anthology are as beautiful as a flower and that have been previously selected and prepared.

An anthology is a ordered collection of different works of the same artistic genre. These compilations have a central axis that unites them all and have been highlighted and carefully chosen by the author who carries out the anthology. The person who dedicates himself to making anthologies is called anthologist or anthologist

Usually, the works that make up an anthology have to do with the same topic they are written in the same historical moment or share the same author. In this way, the reader gets to have a much broader vision about the literary genre in which he is interested.

An example of an anthology would be the compilation of the best poems of the 20th century. It is a set of works that share the same literary genre and the same period. Separately, each of them has a complete meaning and a particular artistic beauty, but together they can impact the reader much more.

The author of the anthology writes a brief introduction in which he explains what is the thread of thought that has made him unite these works, to form part of a much larger whole. Anthologies are ideal for all those readers who want to have a general view about a topic, period, author or style of writing.

All the literary genres and the types of writing have specific characteristics that make them part of the group in which they are found. We are going to explain the characteristics of an anthology, so that you know how to recognize it at a glance or so that you have the tools to create your own anthology:

• they have only one anthologist who is the one who has made the selection of the works, although the writings may be by very different writers.
• They are based on a central criterion which is what has made the author of the anthology decide on those specific works: the theme of the work, the time, the author, etc.
• They are made up of a only literary genre, that is, in the same anthology you will not be able to find a story and a poem, but they would belong to different anthologies.
• They can include the complete work of the initial author or only those fragments that are representative for the anthology.
• The anthologist can write notes, make comments or give his opinion, throughout the entire work.
• An anthology will depend solely on the criterion that the professional had when joining them. In other words, you can find many anthologies of the best medieval poetry, but none of them will be the same as the other, since the anthologist's criteria comes into play.
• They are not closed, but there may be reviews of the anthology and new works that the author considers appropriate can be added later. Therefore, an anthology it is not a definitive work.
• Anthologies have didactic purpose, in which the author is instructing the reader about a specific topic.

Seeing an example can help you better understand the concept of the anthology. In this section we will leave you some anthology titles who are famous in the world of literature. You can go to your nearest library and see how they are structured, to better understand this lesson:

• Anthology of Fantastic Literature: It was compiled in 1940 by the writers Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares.
• Navigation of three centuries: Basic Anthology of Venezuelan Poetry 1826-2013, compiled in 2003 by the poet Joaquín Marta Sosa.
• personal anthology, a book by the author Ricardo Piglia in which he brings together fictions, essays and other materials of his own authorship.
• Anthology of Spanish poetry (20th century): It is a compilation in which you will find the best poetic works of the 20th century in Spain.

Now you know what an anthology is and you know what its characteristics are. If you want to go deeper into this topic or learn to write other types of texts, don't Do not hesitate to consult our writing section, where you will find all the tools that you need.