Literary History, Criticism and Canon

Abstract

Depending on perspective, the trajectory of twentieth-century canon-formative criticism in English is bound to look widely different to different observers. From one angle there seems to be a succession of defenders of relatively narrow codices of texts, in which the titles selected for inclusion may vary, but not the underlying principle of fastidiousness. From another there seems to be a growing inclusiveness of titles, even to the point where there is no longer any sense in applying any notion of literary canon whatsoever. What unites the spokespersons of either effort, however, is the centrality of the canon discussion for the general agenda of literary criticism.

[T]o transform the canon and the surveys in response to changing constituencies has less to do with rewriting the story than with reinterpreting it (Fox-Genovese 1986:136).

[A]ttempts to revise or reconstitute literary canons rest upon prior — though often tacit — interpretive acts of rendering a canonical historical reading of the crisis that in part authorizes literary canons (West 1987:193).