The present thesis focuses on the critical dialogues on the literary canon developed between 1970 and 2000 in the United States as a crucial juncture for the consolidation of the notion of canon as a scholarly subject matter within the field of literary studies. By taking stock of the abundance of scholarly contributions on the literary canon produced at this time, this thesis pursues two aims: first, it initiates a process of systematisation of the scholarly material on the canon produced during the last thirty years of the twentieth century; second, it focuses on a selection of particularly influential works that have furthered the understanding of specific aspects of the notion of canon. Two introductory chapters outline respectively the historical and the theoretical background of this research. Chapter One explores the historical framework within which the canon started to receive increasing critical attention inside and outside U.S. academia. In particular, it observes how the historical and cultural phenomenon known as the Culture Wars came to bear upon the way in which the notion of canon was perceived and treated by critics and scholars. Early and later examples of canonical criticism are juxtaposed so as to argue that the absorption of debates about the definition of national cultural heritage within U.S. academia influenced the terms in which the canon was being discussed, privileging oppositional rhetorical strategies over the more moderate tones of early theoretical approaches. Chapter Two draws on Jan Gorak’s work in The Making of The Modern Canon: Genesis and Crisis of a Literary Idea (1991) to explore the history of the concept of canon and of its associations with the diverging attitudes adopted by critics in relation to the canon in the period in exam. The second part of this thesis constitutes of three case studies that illustrate the significance for our understanding of the concepts of canon, canonicity and canon formation, of three texts published in the 1990s by Harold Bloom, John Guillory and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Each chapter observes how these studies contributed to clarify the relationship between the idea of canon and that of tradition, between canon and ideology and, finally, between the canon and the anthology, respectively. Chapter Three locates Bloom’s The Western Canon: The Books and Schools of Ages (1994) in relation to his earlier theory of the anxiety of influence and argues that Bloom’s account of canon formation relies on his definition of tradition as the agonistic struggle between poets and their predecessors. Chapter Four is a close reading of John Guillory’s Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation (1993) and explores the political ideology underlying its selective use of the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Antonio Gramsci and T.S.Eliot. Finally, Chapter Five engages with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s attempt to establish a canon of African American Literature through his role as editor of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature (1996).

This essay examines how female authors are described in the literary canon of two different editions of the Swedish education material on the history of literature: Svenska Timmar – litteraturen. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the depiction of female authors has changed from the first edition (1991) to the last edition (2012), and how these changes correspond with the curriculums Lgy70 and Lgy11. The study is quantitative as well as qualitative. The quantitative part of the study shows that the percentage of female authors has increased in the 2012 edition. A greater number of female authors are also portrayed with pictures and headings. This increase is partly explained by the new curriculum, Lgy11, which demands that female authors should be included in the history of literature. This was not the case with Lgy70. The qualitative part of the study contains a feminist and gender analysis, examining how a “gender system” produces and reproduces a dichotomy and hierarchy between the sexes, where the male is norm and the female deviates from this norm. This section shows that, despite the increased number of female authors, their portrayal still differs from that of the male authors. For example, the literary work of women is likely to be categorized as “female literature”, which signals that it is not considered as general as the men’s work. This is, in my conclusion, a way to reproduce the gender system of the literary canon.

This paper investigates the historical development of the social functions of laughter in literature using linguistic analysis. Many previous studies have analyzed the connection between humor and laughter, but very few have looked at laughter in literature. In this paper, using the eight social functions of laughter defined by Foot and McCreaddie (2007), instances of the word laugh and its variants were analyzed in canonical British literature from the 14th century to the 21st and then compared. In the literature investigated, derision laughter was the most common function during the 15th through 17th centuries. In the centuries to follow humorous laughter took that position. An explanation for this could be that there was no clear division between derision laughter and humorous laughter until the 18th century (Classen, 2010). Also noted was an increase in the frequency of instances of laughter per 1000 words since the 17th century in the investigated literature, as well as an increase in variation of social functions used. The low frequency of laughter in the past may have been a result of the teachings of the church in England. The increased variation in functions of laughter could indicate that the pragmatic feature of laughter has acquired new functions, or that some functions were not depicted in the older literature of this study.

<p>Purpose/Aim: The aim is to study the critics own views upon their profession and upon the development of criticism, and to thereafter set this in relation to contemporary theory and debates.</p><p>Material/Method: A qualitative study pursued through personal interviews. The results are categorized and split into different themes.</p><p>Main Results: Through media convergence and a changed media culture the conditions for criticism have also been altered. But in spite of various negative prophecies, these changes cause no serious threat to criticism. New forums and new forms of criticism actually increase the importance of the traditional ditto as the authoritative voice that holds the field together. Still, there are questions and fears about a future seemingly less and less predictable. The pace of these changes and the increased influence of the market can pose a threat unless the leadership doesn’t actively choose to uphold and protect traditional criticism.</p>

Purpose/Aim: The aim is to study the critics own views upon their profession and upon the development of criticism, and to thereafter set this in relation to contemporary theory and debates. Material/Method: A qualitative study pursued through personal interviews. The results are categorized and split into different themes. Main Results: Through media convergence and a changed media culture the conditions for criticism have also been altered. But in spite of various negative prophecies, these changes cause no serious threat to criticism. New forums and new forms of criticism actually increase the importance of the traditional ditto as the authoritative voice that holds the field together. Still, there are questions and fears about a future seemingly less and less predictable. The pace of these changes and the increased influence of the market can pose a threat unless the leadership doesn’t actively choose to uphold and protect traditional criticism.

By using Austen’s and Bushnell’s two novels as my primary sources I hope to find out whether what has been seen as typically female themes, plots and settings are perceived as less important from a canonical viewpoint. Do the terms “chick-lit” and “women’s literature” determine the status of a novel? I hope to find out what made Austen an esteemed writer and if the same criteria of evaluation can be applied to Bushnell. Are there any similarities between today’ most famous “chick-lit” author who gained her fame by writing about women and their sex lives in an unromantic and shocking fashion, and a pre-Victorian author whose works are part of the literary canon?

My thesis grows out of a reflection on Cuban literature, race, and national identity within the broader framework of the canon and its marginal literature. It explores the dynamics of the Cuban canon and specific visions of race and nation, and studies one play, two novels, a book of poems and a radio script from four different moments in Cuban history. Fernández Vilarós´s play Los negros catedráticos (1868) sets for the first time the topic of race at the center of the national debate, immediately before the first and longest Cuban independence war. The play contrasts with Cecilia Valdés (1882), arguably the most canonical Cuban novel, with its subversive remake, Sofía (1891) and analyzes how the former seeks to conceal the nation’s racially-mixed character and present the mulata condition as a mere border-line. Sofía, however, erases this line and expands the mulata condition to everyone. Following this reading, it seeks to identify a set of markers that configures a mulato discourse in Regino Boti´s Arabescos mentales (1913). It proposes that the characteristic tendency toward elitism in Latin American Modernismo is actually a racial device to accomplish racial equality. And so language (and poetry) emerges in Boti as the most efficient vehicle to resolve racial deficiency. Finally, the thesis studies the script of the most successful Latino American soap opera ever, El derecho de nacer (1948), by Félix B. Caignet. Here Caignet converges the Villaverde´s idea of race as an objective value with Boti’s White idealization. He also proposes symbolic or cultural whitening as the only vehicle of social improvement. In conclusion, the common denominator of all four works is the representation of mulatez as an absolute and objective fact, as opposed to the marginal Sofía, which presents it as relative and subjective. Therefore, despite the traditional national discourse of Cuba as a racially-mixed country, the canon has banned those works that actually support this postulate.

This essay examines how female authors are described in the literary canon of two different editions of the Swedish education material on the history of literature: Svenska Timmar – litteraturen. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the depiction of female authors has changed from the first edition (1991) to the last edition (2012), and how these changes correspond with the curriculums Lgy70 and Lgy11. The study is quantitative as well as qualitative. The quantitative part of the study shows that the percentage of female authors has increased in the 2012 edition. A greater number of female authors are also portrayed with pictures and headings. This increase is partly explained by the new curriculum, Lgy11, which demands that female authors should be included in the history of literature. This was not the case with Lgy70. The qualitative part of the study contains a feminist and gender analysis, examining how a “gender system” produces and reproduces a dichotomy and hierarchy between the sexes, where the male is norm and the female deviates from this norm. This section shows that, despite the increased number of female authors, their portrayal still differs from that of the male authors. For example, the literary work of women is likely to be categorized as “female literature”, which signals that it is not considered as general as the men’s work. This is, in my conclusion, a way to reproduce the gender system of the literary canon. / Denna uppsats undersöker i vilken omfattning och på vilket sätt kvinnliga författare framställs i den litterära kanon som förmedlas i två olika upplagor av ett läromedel i litteraturhistoria för gymnasieskolans högskoleförberedande program: Svenska Timmar – litteraturen. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka om det sker någon förändring mellan den första upplagan 1991 och den senaste upplagan 2012, och hur dessa förändringar förhåller sig till läroplanerna Lgy70 och Lgy11. Målet har varit att blottlägga några eventuella värdeförskjutningar kring kvinnliga författarskap som har ägt rum i gymnasieskolan inofficiella litterära kanon. För att undersöka detta har antalet kvinnliga författare i Svenska Timmar – litteraturen dels beräknats kvantitativt, dels studerats kvalitativt. Den kvantitativa delen av studien visar att andelen kvinnliga författare, och textutrymmet som de upptar, har ökat i upplagan från 2012. Fler kvinnliga författarskap porträtteras också med en egen bild och rubrik jämfört med 1991. Skillnaden beror förmodligen på att läroplanen Lgy11 – till skillnad från Lgy70 – innehåller krav på att kvinnliga författare ska inkluderas i litteraturundervisningen. Den kvalitativa analysen har inneburit att de två upplagorna har lästs från en feministisk och genusteoretisk horisont, med huvudsaklig utgångpunkt i Yvonne Hirdmans teori om hur ett genussystem skapas och upprätthålls genom en dikotomi och en hierarki mellan könen, där mannen uppfattas som norm och kvinnan som avvikande. Den kvalitativa delen av studien visar att även om antalet kvinnliga författare är fler, existerar fortfarande skillnader mellan hur kvinnliga och manliga författare framställs. Kvinnornas civilstånd fokuseras i större utsträckning än männens i båda upplagorna. Kvinnorna föses också ihop i särskilda delar, under rubriker som antyder att det handlar om ”kvinnolitteratur” och inte om allmängiltig litteratur. Sådana strategier bekräftar genussystemets särhållande av könen, istället för att bryta mot det, och som blivande svensklärare är det viktigt att ha insikt om hur den manliga normen fortsätter att prägla läromedel i litteraturhistoria.

In this essay, I have analyzed both the Swedish and Danish debates about the insertion of a literary canon in school’s curricula. After a description of the terms “canon” and “cultivation”, I proceed to analyze debate news articles from both Swedish and Danish media to find similarities and differences in the arguments between the two debates. I then compare the arguments between both countries to find how Denmark could be able to implement a literary canon into the curricula, but not Sweden. I find that both countries have similarities and differences regarding the debates, and that although there are implications as to say why, one can not in truth conclude why Denmark had its canon implemented.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:34:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Suely Maria Bispo dos Santos.pdf: 1189621 bytes, checksum: 82ac9253659fe541ca2c4aa850041e99 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-30 / Esta dissertação se propõe investigar um estranho silenciamento e desconhecimento em torno do nome e da obra de Solano Trindade, um dos nomes pioneiros e mais representativos da literatura afro-brasileira. A discussão acerca da emergência de uma literatura negra no Brasil, a partir da necessidade de dar voz e visibilidade a muitos escritores ignorados pelos setores dominantes são questões relevantes apontadas e analisadas ao longo de todo o trabalho. Além de conhecer e analisar a vida e a obra de Solano Trindade, este projeto ainda propõe uma reflexão sobre o processo de seleção e de exclusão dos diversos grupos sociais, étnicos e sexuais do cânone literário / This research investigates the silence and lack of acknowledgement surrounding the name and work of Solano Trindade, one of the pioneers and most important representatives of Afro-Brazilian literature. The discussions on the appearance of Black literature in Brazil, stemming from the need to give voice and visibility to the many writers ignored by dominating sectors, are relevant issues identified and analyzed throughout this study. The present project not only aims to better understand and perceive the life and work of Solano Trindade, but also reflects on the process of selection and exclusion of diverse social, ethnic and sexual groups defined by the literary canon