“I'm always a little amused by the failure of many to see the circularity of the arguments in regards to "the canon." Of course these authors "continue to appeal across generations" -- they're taught in English classes beginning in grade school and continuing through college and grad school. What opportunity do more contemporary -- I'm talking mid-to-late 20th century here -- writers have to become part of the canon if their works aren't studied and taught?”
I agree with this comment that nothing new can become a canon if they are not introduced into the school texts. If new texts are slowly brought into the education text then over time they too could become a canon. This is not to say that I don’t believe the books that are presently studied at schools are not valuable but then there are some modern books that could have a place in English classes and could themselves become over time canons.
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Yes, can't disagree at all. This leads to more difficult questions though, of what the canon is for, and on what basis should it change over time. I will tackle these in a separate post.
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