[The editors's] practice is to place [nontraditional or contemporary] works where they belong, alongside the "classics": to integrate new with old, familiar with unfamiliar, inviting students to discover new works and to see familiar works in new contexts. Thus, [their] goal in this anthology remains what is has been from the start: not just to expand the literary canon, but also to expand the personal canons of both students and instructors ... [The goal is] to encourage students both to appreciate works representing diverse literary subjects, styles, and perspectives and to recognize their own roles in bringing these diverse works into their personal literary canons by reading, reacting to, and writing about them.-Pref