Who cares about the Canon
This morning I have been holed up in my campus library working on a commentary on an article dealing with Timothy Findley’s novel Not Wanted On The Voyage. The class in which I have to present the material is this afternoon. I am somewhat nervous, even though the topic is not difficult. It is the overall tone of the class that worries me. Never have I felt so out of place in an English class. I feel like some kind of outsider in a group of people who have studied all kinds of literary theories and are passionate about them. I am just not passionate about ‘canon issues’ or ‘reader response theory.’ I love books, and I love to talk about what they mean, and while I have understood everything we have covered so far, I just don’t feel compelled to discuss it in any meaningful way. I suppose that is at the root of my feeling of outsider-ness. Is it wrong for me not to care about the canon of literature in English (the subject of the course)? The material I tend to gravitate to usually captures my attention because of some sort of aesthetically pleasing element (now I am staring to sound like an anti-canon version of Harold Bloom), because I feel like I can connect to some aspect of the human experience that I normally would not, or because the work seems to speak directly to my experience. I suppose the canon does inform my reading choices because it informs the choices that my professors make of what to include in their courses. However, the whole issue really just makes me want to throw up my hands and scream that I don’t care. It is relentlessly boring when all I want to do is discuss the wonderful book that we have just read.
This next paper that I have to write deals thankfully, only with the two novels we have read so far. No research is required, so I can just analyze to me hearts content. I am almost looking forward to it…if only I could motivate myself to get started.