Word: canonization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Some may argue that British literature is the logical foundation for study of any literature written in English, and that reading such a canon will inform the way concentrators approach other literature. While a thorough study of a particular country or region’s literature no doubt broadly prepares concentrators to study that of other countries, there is no reason that only the West’s English-language literature should be able to provide that larger context...
...setting up widely agreed upon “classics,” (“Beowulf,” “Paradise Lost,” and “Pride and Prejudice”) as an entrenched canon, the English department takes a political stance: It suggests that Western English-language literature is the foundation of all English-language literature, and upholds the West’s cultural output as a standard against which all English literature should be measured...
...disservice by setting them up to measure a Gish Jen or Toni Morrison against the cultural standards of a Marlow or a Swift—while some Western European standards may inform their writing, the same literary tradition does not wholly apply to these authors, who descend from a canon remarkably distinct from that of old European or English works. Students will be even less equipped to approach works of authors such as Tsitsi Dangarembga, who writes in English, but whose national and cultural experiences are informed by situations far different from those of canonical writers...
...department needs to shake off its narrow perspective, and allow for a broader definition of the canon and its place in undergraduate education. Not only would this move it away from an old-fashioned, West-centric viewpoint; it would also teach English concentrators to think critically about the canon itself as a cultural artifact, rather than a set of literary scriptures...
Islamic history will remember Osama bin Laden as a bad Muslim. Islamic canon is formal: a Muslim leader must do everything he can within his power to prevent fitna - civil war between Muslims. And that is exactly what bin Laden has done in Iraq, drawing us into a war and creating the circumstances for Shi'a and Sunni to kill each other. Whether or not al-Qaeda is responsible for every market truck bomb in Iraq, it will be laid at bin Laden's feet...