Some people hold too tight to the Canon

So, reading the article by James Black "The Monuments of a Culture" has made feel a need to respond in the written word. His love of the canon and hatred of "garbage" literature is a little infuriating. Maybe my literature classes have just been better then his instruction. But with many of the books studied in literature courses, a discussion has always been attached to the contemporary culture's response to the publication.

I am first reminded of James Joyce's Ulysses. I recall it being banned in America and being considered garbage literature. But now, we look at it as one of the best examples of Modern Literature and experimental in and even grand in its use of Stream of Consciousness (a favorite of mine).

Black's article is focused a lot of the need to continue teaching traditional and canonized literature. As an English major, I am always asked who my favorite authors are and or my favorite books. While I struggle to respond to that question every time, I usually go into a short speech about my preferences in reading 18th and 19th century British literature and predominantly literature written by female authors.

Many of these female authors were traditionally left out of the canon because their opinions were unnecessary in the very male dominated genre of literature. Jane Austen novels were considered pop culture and trivial in their time of publication. But now they are somewhat included in that 'canon' of literature. If we did not open and expand the literary canon, I doubt that I would be ever have become an English major in college.

While I enjoy many of the traditional and 'expected' literary works in the English classrooms, I do so with a love of using it to analyze and think about culture. I read Shakespeare because the female characters and the portrayal of women's roles interest me when I compare them to contemporary literature.

I feel like the move toward comparative literature is the right move for English professors. The meaning of literature depends on the cultural lens you are using. What Shakespeare means today will be a different story in future classrooms. While I enjoy the traditional literary texts in classrooms, I enjoy them most when I think about what it says about culture.

I think the new emerging 'point' of a college education is the ability to understand and analyze culture. Before becoming an English major, I was left with a semester of the undecided declaration at Columbia College. I decided to take a variety of classes and apply to transfer to a university (mostly because I felt surround by students who did not take school seriously, that's only an opinion).

I had a cultural studies class and an Irish Literature course that semester, and it did not take very long for me to realize I was bound to be an English major. The cultural studies class included looking at many different things from films to books to corporate logos.

I think I could continue on and talk about this all day. But I guess I'll save the rest for class discussion tomorrow. End Rant.