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Canon (fiction).
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In the following essay, West discusses some of the factors that have influenced the Afro-American literary canon since the 1960s, noting that many of the works included actually reproduce and reinforc...
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In the following essay, Parker recounts his own attempts to enlarge and expand the American literature canon to include more nontraditional works, but cautions that mainstream authors should continue ...
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In the following essay, Mulford surveys some recent studies regarding the early American literature canon and concludes that not only its works, but even the type of textual analysis used on those wor...
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In the following excerpt, Winders discusses the influence of gender and theory on canon formation, suggesting that canonical works should be read by the postmodern critic in terms of history, culture,...
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In the following essay, Bieder examines some reasons for the shrinking role of women, as both authors and protagonists, in the twentieth-century Spanish literary canon.
To observe that female protagon...
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In the following essay, Williams discusses approaches to the work of Black women poets in Britain and the possibility of including them in the British literary canon.
How many people today live in a l...
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In the following essay, Gugelberger seeks to identify some common traits of “Third World Literature” and comments that, rather than being integrated into the traditional literary canon, ...
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In the following essay, Wilentz examines the writings of Caribbean authors who write in English in relation to the British canon.
You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to cu...
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In the following essay, Weixlmann argues for a balanced approach to curriculum planning—one which combines canonical, “high culture” works with multi-ethnic, noncanonical ones.
Un...
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In the following essay, Adams sets out the theoretical bases for the debate between historical and aesthetic approaches to literary canon formation.
Introduction
W. B. Yeats' poem “Polit...
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In the following excerpt, Lindenberger studies three separate instances of canon change, noting that the process is a continual one in the humanities and commenting on some circumstances that drive ca...
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In the following essay, Lawrence discusses some of the sociological, cultural, literary, historical, and political currents at play in determining and changing the literary canon.
It seems that everyo...
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In the following essay, Baumlin explores Harold Bloom's landmark work Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages, criticizing Bloom for deliberately obfuscating the difference between reli...
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In the following excerpt, Hubbell questions the reasoning behind some academic reassessments of the literary canon, as well as the results of a New York Times poll on the subject, noting the absence o...
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In the following essay, Lauter suggests that the very idea of a mainstream literary canon is not appropriate to the heterogeneous society of the United States, and that a comparative approach is more ...
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In the following essay, Hemenway calls for broader criteria for the inclusion of African American literature into the canon of American literature.
Once upon a time I was asked to speak at a summer me...
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Critical Essay by Cornel West
