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Summary Of Graham Holderness's An Arabian In My Room : Shakespeare And The Canon

Decent Essays

Focusing not on just genre, Graham Holderness explores the canon from critics and in relation to Shakespeare in his essay “’An Arabian in My Room’: Shakespeare and the Canon”. He defines the canon as writers of universally acclaimed classics with such names as Shakespeare, Dante, Jane Austen, and Milton. From this definition, he states that although the canon seems to have always been there, it did not appear until the 18th century. The canon during that time consisted only of poetry and playwrights and novelists were excluded. As times changed many different authors have been under debate on whether they should be in the canon or not. He argues that the only author that is not under debate is Shakespeare, “Shakespeare is the canon. He sets the standards and the limits of literature’” (Holderness 74). Jane Austen for example was not included in the canon until the late 20th century. From this he argues that the canon is not as set in stone as believed. Holderness then attempts to explain how an author is put in the canon. The article argues that in order for a book to be canonical it has to go from “opinion to knowledge” (75). Popularity also plays a role because it should be universally known like Austen. Another facet is through literary merit, something most classics have. Critics play a large role in this decision as they decide which book is best. Time element is important as well because a novel must remain popular rather than dying in popularity to stay in the canon.

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