What is Anthology:
Anthology refers to a collection of works chosen and edited in a single book, volume or medium, which are of particular interest among their peers. They can be selected based on their author, style, genre, theme or historical context.
The word comes from Greek anthoswhich means ‘flower’, and legein, which means ‘to choose’. Thus, originally the word was used to designate a selection of flowers for a bouquet.
The term is commonly applied in the publishing world to refer to compilations of literary texts in a single volume. For example, an anthology of poems by Pablo Neruda, made up of the author’s most emblematic poems; or an anthology of Latin American fantastic stories from the 20th century by different authors.
By extension, this term also applies to refer to collections or selections of musical or cinematographic classics. In any case, there are as many types of anthologies as there are interests in bringing together different content in a single piece. For example, joke anthologies, academic anthologies, etc.
Function of an anthology
The function of the anthology is to provide a representative sample of works by a specific author, style, themes or periods, in order to provide the reader with more or less comprehensive and clear knowledge of the subject. They constitute, in some way, a kind of guide and introduction to the fundamental classics, always under the editor’s discretion.
From this it follows that an anthology always has a didactic purpose, although it is not necessarily aimed at a student audience.
In figurative language, the word anthology is used to note the extraordinary and outstanding character of some thing, phenomenon or person. For example: “The expression on his face was incredible.”
See also Compilation.
Characteristics of an anthology
They have a didactic or guiding purpose. They are based on a unified criterion to establish the corpus. The selection process must be based on prior consultation of other sources. They contain notes from the editor, such as clarifications, explanations, relevant dates, sources, etc. They are intended be as comprehensive and exhaustive as possible. They allow us to build an overall vision of the topic addressed, be it an author, theme, genre, style or context. The selected pieces are edited according to a common format.
Academic anthologies
Within the academic world, it is common to create anthologies as a teaching resource to facilitate access to fundamental reference sources on a given topic. These anthologies function as a minimum guide of fundamental reference texts for the student. They may be theoretical anthologiesaimed at understanding complex concepts; practical anthologiesaimed at solving problems, and theoretical-practical anthologiesin which both aspects are combined.
See also Literature.