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Canon The Origins of The Canon

The canon refers to authoritative lists of important works within a certain field such as literature or religion. The idea of a canon originated from the Christian church which established authoritative lists of texts about Jesus and early Christianity. Over time, the concept of a canon expanded to other fields and served to distinguish important, high quality works from others. However, the contents of various canons have changed over time as perspectives have shifted to include more diverse authors and traditions. While still influential today in determining what is considered important or "classic" works, the canon is increasingly recognized as inherently biased and in need of expansion.

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144 views2 pages

Canon The Origins of The Canon

The canon refers to authoritative lists of important works within a certain field such as literature or religion. The idea of a canon originated from the Christian church which established authoritative lists of texts about Jesus and early Christianity. Over time, the concept of a canon expanded to other fields and served to distinguish important, high quality works from others. However, the contents of various canons have changed over time as perspectives have shifted to include more diverse authors and traditions. While still influential today in determining what is considered important or "classic" works, the canon is increasingly recognized as inherently biased and in need of expansion.

Uploaded by

Bilal Bilal
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Canon

The Origins of the Canon


Where the idea came from is unclear; the term itself comes from the Christian church. Faced with a number of
texts about Jesus and the early Christians and with the Hebrew Scriptures, and also with disputes about which
ones to trust, the Catholic Church decided at the Council of Trent in 1546 which of the texts were true sources
of divine revelation and so were canonical and which were not. The aim was to create a list of religious texts
that everybody would accept as authentic and authoritative.
According to the American heritage dictionary, Canon is "an authoritative list, as of the works of an author"
and "a basis for judgment; standard; criterion. Originated from the Greek term “kanon,” canon means “a yard
stick,” or “a measuring rod.” Generally, it is defined as a traditional collection of writings, against which other
writings are evaluated. In other words, it means “a long list of works taken as authentic.”

Belonging to the canon confers status, social, political, economic, aesthetic, none of which can easily be
removed from the others. Belonging to the canon is a guarantee of quality, and that guarantee of high aesthetic
quality serves as a promise, a contract, that announces to the viewer, "Here is something to be enjoyed as an
artistic object. Complex, difficult, privileged, the object before you has been examined by the sensitive few
and the not-so-sensitive many, and it will repay your attention. Such an announcement of status by the poem,
painting, or building, masterpiece, or dance that has appeared concealed within a canon serves a powerful
separating purpose: it immediately stands forth, different, better, to be valued, loved, and enjoyed. It is the
wheat sorted from the chaff, the rare survivor, and it has all the privileges of such survival.
It means that the works in the canon get read, read by neophyte students and supposedly expert teachers. It
also means that to read these privileged works is a privilege and a sign of privilege. It is also a sign that one
has been canonized oneself -- blessed by the experience of being introduced to beauty, admitted to the ranks
of those of the inner circle who are acquainted with the canon and can judge what belongs and does not.
Students of literature use it to refer to the writings included in anthologies (compilations, collections) or
textbooks under certain genres, and thus are evaluated according to the genre under which they are placed.
Furthermore the term indicates the literary writings of a particular author, which are considered by scholars
and critics in general to be the genuine creations of that particular author. This is based on some already
presumed rules intended to be applied on the future pieces in the same genre. 
Thus the canon is originally, a religious code of law or standard of judgment, later any standard of judgment,
usually based upon determinate set of authorized texts, like the canonical books of the Bible, Torah, Qur’an,
or Sutras. 

In fiction and literature, the canon is the collection of works considered representative of a period or
genre. The collected works of William Shakespeare, for instance, would be part of the canon of
western literature, since his writing and writing style has had a significant impact on nearly all aspects
of that genre.
How the Canon Changes

Since the 1960s though there has been a shift in opinion towards the canon.Postmodern studies in particular
have argued that canon is inherently biased as traditionally the main focus of the academic studies of history
and Western culture has been primarily on Europe and men. 

Significantly, the canon also expanded to include literature from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Awards of
the highest level, such as the Nobel Prize for Literature, track this shift in the 20th century. The accepted body
of work that comprises the canon of Western literature has evolved and changed over the years, however.
For centuries, it was populated primarily by white men and was not representative of Western culture as a
whole. 
Over time, some works become less pertinent in the canon as they're replaced by more modern counterparts.
For instance, the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer are still considered significant. But lesser-known writers
of the past, such as William Blake and Matthew Arnold, have faded in relevance, replaced by modern
counterparts like Ernest Hemingway ("The Sun Also Rises"), Langston Hughes ("Harlem"), and Toni
Morrison ("Beloved").

The canon today

The canon is still with us today. It is deeply woven into the fabric not just of English as a subject but into all
forms of culture. TV and film adaptations tend to be of canonical novels; publishers print ‘classics’; to count
as educated you are supposed to have read a bit of canonical novels. However, even those who make and
publish actual lists of ‘great books’ admit that sometimes the list can change, as certain books come into and
out of favour. The canon is so powerful that it creates the criteria by which the text is judged. Even when, for
example, A Level exam board choose books from a wider selection of texts than normal, they first ask if the
book has ‘universal significance’, ‘positive values’ or ‘human significance’.

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