Title: The Elements in Construction of Literary Canon and Their Inter-relations
Abstract: Literary canon or the canonization of literary works is a very important topic, which is relevant to the resolution of a series of problems such as the writing of literary history and literary education. Literary canon is not something permanent and is in a process of construction. The following are some basic elements in the formation of literary canon, artistic value, interpretation, variation of ideological and cultural authority, values of literary theory and critique, the reader, and the patron. The first two elements are innate parts of a literary work. The third and fourth elements are exterior elements in which the heteronomy works. The last two elements connect the interior and the exterior, it is impossible to construct a canon without those two elements. The artistic value is the basis and can never be ignored as some scholars have stated. A work can never be canonized no matter how ideological or cultural authority operates, if it does not have artistic value, if the world it describes and the feelings it depicts could not arouse readers' interest and their psychological resonance, and if it could not fulfill readers' expectations. Canonized works are always artistic, can arouse readers' interest and psychological resonance, and satisfy readers' expectations. Changes of political ideology and cultural authority are not “decisive in the construction of literary canon, and, not all ideological influence is “manipulation and therefore negative.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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