Critical Theory and the Literary Canon

193 Pages·2001·20.7 MB·English

by  E. Dean Kolbas

Critical Theory and
the Literary Canon
This page intentionally left blank
Critical Theory and
the Literary Canon
E. Dean Kolbas
^JXfestview
• JMItl
- -^ y\ Member of the Perseus Books Group
T
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in
cluding photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Copyright © 2001 by Westview Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
Published in 2001 in the United States of America by Westview Press, 5500 Central Avenue,
Boulder, Colorado 80301-2877, and in the United Kingdom bv Westview Press, 12 Hid's
Copse Road, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ
Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.westviewpress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kolbas, E. Dean.
Critical theory and the literary canon / E. Dean Kolbas.
p. cm.
Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)—Cambridge University.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-9813-4
1. Criticism—History—20th century. 2. Canon (Literature). 3. Literature, Modern—
History and criticism—Theory, etc. I. Title
PN81 .K595 2001
801'.95'0904—dc21
00-053181
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
PERSEUS
POD
ON DEMAND 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part One History, Politics, and Culture
1 Canons Ancient and Modern 11
Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 12
Modern Literary Canonizing, 17
Canonical and Cultural Crises, 21
2 The Contemporary Canon Debate 25
Justifying the Western Canon, 26
Opening the Canon, 36
Representation and Pragmatism, 44
Conclusion: Ideological Proximity, 56
3 Cultural Reproduction 59
The Familiarity of Canonical Works, 61
Canon Formation and Social Relations, 72
Whither Aesthetics?, 79
Part Two Critical Aesthetic Theory
4 Critical Theory and Canonical Art 83
Aesthetic Autonomy and Radical Critique, 84
The Dialectic of Aesthetics and Politics, 92
Historical Content and Canonical Change, 98
5 Subverting the Canon: Sociology, New Historicism,
and Cultural Studies 103
The Anti-Aesthetic Impulse of the Sociology of Art, 104
v
VI Contents
New Historicism and Aesthetic Heteronomy, 113
The Extorted Reconciliation of Cultural Studies, 119
6 The Boundaries of a Critical Theory of Canon Formation 125
Limited Literary Horizons?, 126
Canonical Reproduction and the Limits of Critical Theory, 133
Conclusion: A Canon of Art, a Politics of Ends 139
Notes 145
References 167
Index 179
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of research done at Cambridge University that was
originally submitted as a doctoral thesis. Although it has been substan
tially modified and rewritten to be more suitable for publication, its es
sential content remains the product of work that was done there. Even
the most hermetic research is never a purely solitary endeavor, and 1 owe
a great deal of thanks to friends, faculty, and administrators for their ad
vice, encouragement, and patience. Above all, I am indebted to my su
pervisor, Simon Jarvis, for his invaluable guidance and critical attention.
I am also grateful to Graham McCann, Silvana Dean, and the Fellows,
porters, and staff of Queens' College for all of their help, as well as
Christopher Norris and Ato Quayson for examining my work so closely. I
would also like to thank my editors at Westview Press, David McBride
and Kay Mariea, and my reviewers, Noah Isenberg, Geoffrey Gait
Harpham, and Douglas Kellner for their suggestions and support. I am
also grateful to Sharon Dejohn for her meticulous copyediting. A number
of friends deserve special thanks for their help and advice over the years:
Mark Fenwick, Richard Jones, Alex Rehding, Paul Stephenson, Despina
Christodoulou, Julian Murphet, David Mikosz, Tiffany Stern, Heather
Wolfe, and Sam Gibson. In ways that are perhaps less direct, but no less
valuable for being so, many wonderful teachers and professors have also
influenced me throughout my education: David McLellan, Chris Taylor,
Sean Sayers, Thomas Cox, Ed McCann, Richard Prizant, Carole Rosen-
Kaplan, and the late Chet Lieb. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Paula,
and my parents, Eugene and Deanna Kolbas, for their love and support.
This book is dedicated to them.
£. Dean Kolbas
vn
This page intentionally left blank
Philosophy that satisfies its own intention . . . has its lifebiood in the resistance
against the common practices of today and what they serve, against the justification of
what happens to be the case.
-Tlieodor Adonio, "Why Still Philosophy" 0962)