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Name: Aqib Iftikhar

Roll number: (201670255)
English 219: Literary Forms and Movements
Section: C
Assignment no. 1
BS English (fall 2020)
Submitted to: Mam Mahreen

Literary canons:
The words ‘canon’ evoke notions of evaluation and hierarchy. The literary
canon can be shortly defined as that which is accepted as authentic (as for example in the
context of distinguishing canonical from apocryphal works in relation to the Bible or to
Shakespeare). In literature, the term "canon" is used to distinguish between the original works of
a writer who created certain characters and/or settings, and the later works of other writers who
took up the same characters or setting. ... The subsequent works by other authors who took up
Sherlock Holmes are considered "non-canonical".
For example: the King James Bible contains 80 books: 39 in its Old Testament, 14 in its
Apocrypha, and 27 in its New Testament. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches
hold that certain deuterocanonical books and passages are part of the Old Testament canon.
The most important positive aspect is that the canon provides students with a selected
bibliography, which gives most literature classes a sense of unity. The canon also allows a
student to read a select amount of literature from each period so they may reach several literary
movements in a small amount of time.
Characteristics of literary canon:

Series of works of fiction, ''canon'' is a term for material that is

true and official within that particular fictional universe. This use of the word ''canon'' for
fictional storytelling can be confused with the term ''literary canon''. Fictional canon exists in
contrast to fanfiction and other writing set in the same world that is considered unofficial, or
non-canonical. 
• Novels with a point or moral. Virtue, Purpose, Wisdom.
• Novels in which there is still dialogue by the readers that can take place about. Thought
provoking. (the story isn’t paper thin)
• The Biblical influence is unmistakable.
• Aesthetic elements: language and style which are innovative, artistic and complex.
• Subject matter: Sharing experiences that have a universal quality which transcend time
and place.
• Innovation: The superiority of a work based on it’s own merit.
• Authenticity: Sharing truth for some foundation of experience or observation over time.