Canons: The Paradox of Hegemony
Canons: The Paradox of Hegemony

Summary/Abstract: Once established, literary canons are often supposed to transcend history and set a timeless standard for genuine literature. They exercise a hegemonic, or some might even say petrifying and suppressive power over creative literary production and reception. However, the hegemonic canonicity that compartmentalizes the universe of literature as good and bad, high and low literature is conditioned by some blind spots. In the very definition of canonicity and the description of canons they occur as a number of paradoxes that constitute the very dynamics of canons, making them relevant for the study of literature in a dynamical, cultural perspective.[...]

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