Critical Theory: Canon & Counter-Canon

Of all the literature that an era produces, only a tiny sliver makes it into the "canon" – the informal, ever-evolving group of texts that we consider to be the best or most important. These are the texts students read in school, scholars write about, and Hollywood, sometimes, turns into period pieces. But who decides what goes in the canon – and are those texts really the best and most important? To what extent do contemporary biases, values, and fads determine which texts we remember, and which we forget? These questions will guide us as we embark on a tour of the British canon from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. Like other Critical Theory courses, this class encourages students to challenge big, easy explanations for things, and to ask how we know what we (think we) know. Our investigation will unfold as a series of paired readings. Each unit, focused on a particular historical period, will feature a canonical text that is widely studied, and a non-canonical text that students rarely encounter, but that has the potential to challenge the "standard" narrative of that period. Ultimately, students will leave class not only with a better understanding of the British canon as it is currently comprised, but with the critical and methodological tools to question the values and priorities that underlie it.