A New Canon

Literature is at the center of everything in the discipline of English. It does not matter what your area of study is in English you will be taking multiple courses covering literature. Most of the literature taught is the same books that have been taught for decades. They are part of the literary canon based upon a list of great works people should read that was made years ago, and few college classes shy away from said canon. In recent years there has been more women and minority writers added to certain classes, but for the most part the canon continues to be dominantly white male authors. The biggest question is: why not open up the canon completely? All literature can be considered good literature to someone. Why not include things such as popular literature or young adult/children’s literature to college courses? Who gets to choose what is canon, and why is the canon so important? My project will look at these questions while also making the case as to why the canon should be opened up completely