English R. BAIRD SHUMAN ‘Teaching English Literature With an ‘Canon Back when hfe seemed sumpler than is now, the teaching of literature in school was determined essentually by the lter- ature provided in school anthologies ‘Thus situation changed with the growing availabilty of inexpensive paperback books in the 1950s and 1960s Coinc- dent with the populanty of paperbacks ‘was the push toward muluple elecuves at the secondary level, a move that ‘would not have been feasible had it not been possible to move outside typical school anthologies As the use of paperbacks prolifer- ated, so did the problems of school administrators, who often faced con- certed resistance from parents and pressure groups within the commu nity that sought to ban “indecent” readings from the curnculum What people considered indecent vaned broadly from objector to objector and covered multitude of transgressions The upshot was, predictably, the cen- sorship of such popular books about teenagers as] D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye or Paul Zindel’s The Pigman More surprising to some was the banning of books like Nathantel Haw- thorne's The Scarlet Letter, Mark ‘Twamn's The Adventures of Huckle- berry Firtn, and even Frances Patton's innocent novel, Good Morning, Miss Dove In fact, it 1s difficult to find any quality Inerature, including the plays of William Shakespeare and the poetry of Emily Dickinson, that has not been banned somewhere at some tume The Arizona English Bullen for years published a running tally of the whats and wheres of book banning in the for a century ignored much of the ‘wniting that women, racial minonties, and pobtical dissidents have pro- duced In a society that has systemau- cally sought since the 1960s to banish discnmunation and to move toward equality of opportunty, this lapse 1s all the more keenly felt because much of the work produced by these wnters 1s of high Iterary quality and significant social content Cary Nelson, author of the 1 released Repression and Recovery,’ hhas unearthed and regularly teaches hus students a vast body of creditable poetry that seemed all but lost but 15 now beginning to surface 1n various collections and anthologies The same thing 1s occurring in English classes throughout the country In a recent intermew, Nelson charged that “the Iterary history we have been taught and passed on to our students in the last twenty years 1s largely a scandal”? In response to a question about whether he foresees the new canon's finding its way into the schools, he responded, “As we send out students who have had a ‘wider range of courses and have read a wider range of texts, 1's guaranteed to filter down to secondary schools "> Theory in the Classroom,‘ edited by Nelson, discussed changes that we can anticipate in bow literature will be Literature, at its best, is a burr in the taught and in what lterature will be taught, and the implications these changes have for lterary anthologists, ‘The major anthologies have already expanded the canon to include more women and more representatives of minonty groups The tendency thus far, however, has been for publishers to err on the side of safety and to anthologize the less searching writing Of these authors, in other words, the writing that most nearly reflects the dominant culture ‘A major concern now 1s that the ‘canon be made more representative of ‘what actually has been going on in society Revision 1s afoot, changes are inevitable, resistance will be orga- nized and angry Administrators, 1n- formed by faculty who best under- stand how and why the canon 1s exploding, will have to frame answers to questions from those who seek to limit its scope ‘The caveat that must haunt adminus- trators 1s that great literature 1s and ‘ever has been searching, discomfiing, thought-provoking Literature, at its best, 15 a burr in the human con- science that slowly transforms the so- cal order 0 ‘Cary Nelson Repression and Recovery Modern Amencan Poetry and the Polincs (of Cultural Memory, 1910-1945 Madison Unnversty of Wisconsin Press, 1989 cary Nelson “Expanding the Canon ‘The Luerature of the Oppressed,” English Department Alumni (ae) Newsleter, Ur bana, 1. University of Minos, Fall, 1989 bid “Cary Nelson, ed Theory in tbe Class- room Urbana, Il University of lino Press, 1986 este human conscience jucators are now faced ated Seaman 1s Frofesnor of Engh vata new reainy Most maor Engish | that slowly Buresor of Development fo Engh ane departments m American colleges and transforms the social | acing Director of he Wrning Center atthe universiues are keenly aware University of flinoxs a Ui malequacy of lterary canon that has | OF. Bax 1689, Champaign, I 61820-1687 rary pag, o [EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHTPCopyright © 2002 EBSCO Publishing