Deconstructing the Canon: Unseen Narratives in Classic Literary Criticism
The Canon as a Construct: Why We Must Question What We ReadIn my 20 years of teaching and researching literary criticism, I've come to see the canon not as a timeless collection of masterpieces but as a carefully curated construct shaped by power, privilege, and prejudice. The works we call 'classics' were not chosen solely for their artistic merit; they were selected by gatekeepers—predominantly white, male, and Western—who reinforced their own cultural values. My journey began in graduate school when I discovered a 19th-century novel by a Black female author that had been excluded from every syllabus I encountered. That discovery ignited my commitment to deconstructing the canon. In this article, I'll share what I've learned about the unseen narratives