Does a Literary Canon Matter?

Invalid Argument

• Used too many opinionated statements, including "I suppose" and "I dislike"
• Made references to students who did not like reading because of literary canons
• Very little concrete argument

Discussion!

• What was wrong with Pollitt's argument?
• What could she have done better?
• What would have made her argument valid?

Author's Background

• Born October 14, 1949
• Born in Brooklyn, New York
• Studied at Columbus University and Radcliffe College
• Earned a B.A. in philosophy
• Earned a M.F.A. in writing
• Well known public speaker
• Lectured at dozens of colleges including: -Harvard

-Yale

-Princeton

-Brooklyn College

-UCLA

-University of Missi.

-Cornell

Articles

Source C

Source A

• Harold Bloom ideas on the canon were extremely flawed in many ways
• Good, consistent on sharing Blooms good side and flawed sides of his book "The Western Canon"
• Stated examples of critics on the behavior of literary canons
• Bloom contradicting himself
• Easy to follow

• Good voice to the article, defending what was believed
• Very opinionated , but still was able to back up certain information that was given
• A lot of rhetorical question to get the reader thinking
• fights for both sides of a literary canon

Source B

Source D

• Good on supporting why there should be more diverse literature
• Good connections
• Beings talking about more than one literature, but later is only concerned with the one topic of literature, not consistent
• Gives good background info. with what is being argued

• Gives a literary canon that can be used by all in different ways, and supports the believe of why
• Very accurate
• Could have given more information instead of just stating
• It looks at the whole picture
• opinionated with factual information

Topic Background

• a list of books and artworks that are the most influential and important in molding western culture
• "greatest works of artistic merit”
• a cornerstone of western universities, a handing down of western knowledge and cultural heritage.
• According to canon supporters, works in the canon are those without which scholarship would have no context.
• The canon debate is an ongoing conflict between literary scholars. Some believe that the canon should be ever changing, with new works from different cultures being added to the list all the time.
• Others believe that the canon is filled with a group of "timeless" works that cannot be changed

Does a Literary Canon Matter?

Katha Pollitt

Ashvini Krishnan, Aryana Garrott,

Henry Zehnal, Katie Stack