CANON QUESTIONS
JOHN ATHERTON*
My subject is the canon with particular reference to the canon in American literature studies in the university. Before launching into the subject let me point out that in picking such a topic our energies are directed towards grappling with why we read what we read -rather than reading it -whatever it might be. This is in itself is significant. Canon debate has, mor-ever, become to such an extent canonical that one critic has even suggested that conflicts about the canon should them¬ selves be the focus of literature courses. . . .
Recent interest in the subject can at least spare us two types of repetition: first, concerning the origin of the term derived from “straight rod” with all that that implies of unwelcome rigidity (if not more), from “artillery piece” with all that that implies of raw domination -and from “sacred text” with all that that implies of sanctimoniousness about to be debunked. Second, the stock of usable plays-on-words (canon fire, canon fodder, canon war) is well-nigh totally exhausted. Hence the low-key title, “Canon Questions”. Of course it is somewhat difficult to cast one's remarks in a low key given the passions that canon questions have aroused; hyperbole is the order of the day. “I don't mean to mince words” wrote Babara Herrnstein
Professeur de civilisation américaine à l’Université Paris VII -Denis Diderot, membre du C.I.R.N.A., Institut d'Anglais Charles V, 10 rue Charles V, 75004 Paris.
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