November 19, 1999

Editors of 2 Anthologies Engage in War of Words; Norton's Coup Is a Translation of 'Beowulf'; Ex-President of Stanford Named Editor of 'Science'

David Damrosch, general editor of The Longman Anthology of British Literature, expected to see many changes in the latest edition of the competing volume put out by W.W. Norton, the leader in the field. But he says he is shocked by the "wholesale lifting" from his book in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, which came out this month.

"It looks more like theft than flattery," says Mr. Damrosch, a professor of English and comparative literature at