Lesson 1

NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
Alunan Avenue, Koronadal City 9506
FORMATION OF
GREAT BOOKS
AHE 111 - Great Books
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. discuss the definitions of a ‘canon’ as posited by various authors;

2. trace the history of the formation of canonical texts; and
3. identify the reasons for inclusion of texts as a literary canon
GREAT BOOKS
classics canon
GREAT BOOKS
Apparently, great books are ‘classics’ with the word
‘classic’ used in relation to literature and has several
meanings:
A. AS A NOUN
B. AS AN ADJECTIVE
GREAT BOOKS
When used as a noun the word has the
following meanings: “an author or literary
work of the first rank, especially one of
demonstrably enduring quality”, as well as
“something noteworthy of its kind and
worth remembering”.
GREAT BOOKS
Dictionary.com defines ‘classic’, when used as an
adjective, as something “of the first or highest
quality, class or rank” or “of enduring interest,
quality or style”.
GREAT BOOKS
On the other hand, the word canon comes
from the Greek kanon, which means “a
straight rod,” “a ruler,” and thus “a
standard”.
GREAT BOOKS
It was used by scholars in the Alexandrian library in the 3rd and 2nd
centuries BC:
• to refer to a list of exemplary books “as guidelines for student
readers”
• to provide a reading list for students that will enrich their feeling
for style, supply models to imitate, and provide knowledge of
sources to which they can allude.
GREAT BOOKS
Peterson (2016) states that Great books are literary works of
high quality and popularity, dependent on a notion that some
literary works possesses an innate quality that is representative
of their genre, as well as engages their audience and endures
the test of time.
GREAT BOOKS
THROUGH THE
YEARS
AHE 111
GUESS THE TIMES: MATCHING TYPE
Working classmen, The canon expanded to Finding out that the

Women, gay, and lesbian include literature from classics are biased to
writers were given more Asia, Africa, the Middle Western culture and men;
attention. East there is a need to represent
the unrepresented.
1970s 2000s 1960s
CHOICES: 1960s, 1970s, 2000s

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS
1960s
main focus of the academic
studies of history, and Western
culture has been primarily on
Europe and men.
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1960s
A reassessment of the literary canon began as
various literary and social movements pushed to
the forefront literature that had previously been
underrepresented.

1970s
feminist scholars worked to
discover the ‘mother of the
novel’ and works by gay and
lesbian writers as well as those
from working classes were paid
more attention
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1970s
The impact of the civil rights movement was reflected in recognition
given to black authors such as in:
GWENDOLYN TONI
BROOKS MORRISON
first black American to win a first black woman to win the
Pulitzer Prize for Literature Nobel Prize for Literature
(1950) (1993)
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed This Photo by Unknown Author is

under CC BY-NC-ND licensed under CC BY
2000s
the canon expanded to include literature from Asia, Africa, the Middle
East
� � �
� � �
�
YASUNARI �
WOLE �
NAGUIB
KAWABATA
�
first Japanese author to
SOYINKA
�
first African author to win
MAHFOUZ
�
first Arab author to win
win the Nobel Prize for the Nobel Prize for the Nobel Prize for
Literature (1968) Literature (1986) Literature (1988)
The great books change as society changes; whereas in

previous times, it was exclusively dominated by white
male authors from Europe and North America,
nowadays it features more female writers, writers of
color, and writers from the Global South.
CRITERIA THAT
DEFINE GREAT
BOOKS
CRITERIA THAT DEFINE GREAT BOOKS

Other thinkers, such as Harold Bloom,
believe that aesthetics and artistry are
the most important qualifications, i.e.,
they want to judge the works as
literature first.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under

CC BY-NC-ND
CRITERIA THAT DEFINE GREAT BOOKS

1. Originality of Form
2. Originality of Content
3. Originality of Perspective
4. Aesthetics
5. Influence
6. Representativeness
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CC BY-NC-ND
HAROLD BLOOM, THE

WESTERN CANON,
THE CANON WARS
If canons should represent and

with several representations
uncatered yet, what then truly
makes a canon?
The great books, as mostly

comprised of Western canons, have
been criticized from several different
political perspectives during the last
decades.
HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

CANON WARS
Harold Bloom, the prodigious literary

critic who championed and defended the
Western canon in an outpouring of
influential books has been one of
America's most fascinating literary critics
for nearly half a century.

CANON WARS
Bloom argues that it's simply impossible to

understand how literature really gets made unless one
recognizes that some books are head-and-shoulders
above the rest.
It's the genius of those books, he contends, that

powers the whole of literary creation.

CANON WARS
Amongst what Bloom perceives to be the

great authors of the Western canon are
familiar names such as Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Goethe, Austen, Whitman,
Tolstoy, Ibsen and Kafka, among others.

CANON WARS
Bloom insists that ‘Shakespeare invented humans’

through his creation of a new kind of psychological
reflexiveness. Moreover, he argues that aesthetic
value is autonomous of both morality and politics
and aesthetic originality is the only qualification for
inclusion in the Canon of Western literature.

CANON WARS
The contemporary academic world is intensely

involved in the debate on the process of canon-
formation as some theorists see some politics
behind its formation.

CANON WARS
Furthermore, the notion of a canon (or selection of great works) has

become problematic because of the difficulty of deciding the criteria for
deciding what should be included (and excluded).
Older canons tend to exclude women and blacks (or people of color) and
so were rightly objected to as instances of cultural imperialism.

CANON WARS
Some theorists argue that the process of canon-formation has expressed

the interests of the dominant class to the exclusion of women,
homosexuals and non-Europeans and thus should be forced open for
inclusivity.

CANON WARS
Thus, the canon wars in which traditionalists in favor of centering the

curriculum on classic works of literature faced off against multiculturalists
who wanted to include more works by women and members of minorities.
Today it’s generally agreed that the multiculturalists won the canon wars.
THE VALUE OF
GREAT BOOKS
VALUE OF GREAT BOOKS

1. The classics not only exhibit distinguished style, fine artistry, and keen intellect but
create whole universes of imagination and thought.
2. They portray life as complex and many-sided, depicting both negative and positive
aspects of human character in the process of discovering and testing enduring
virtues.
3. They have a transforming effect on the reader’s self-understanding.

VALUE OF GREAT BOOKS

4. They invite and survive frequent re- readings.
5. They adapt themselves to various times and places and provide a sense of the
shared life of humanity.
6. They are considered classics by a sufficiently large number of people, establishing

themselves with common readers as well as qualified authorities.
7. Finally, their appeal endures over wide reaches of time.

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NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY

Alunan Avenue, Koronadal City 9506

1. discuss the definitions of a ‘canon’ as posited by various authors;

Working classmen, The canon expanded to Finding out that the

1970s 2000s 1960s

CHOICES: 1960s, 1970s, 2000s

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed This Photo by Unknown Author is

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

GREAT BOOKS THROUGH THE YEARS

The great books change as society changes; whereas in

CRITERIA THAT DEFINE GREAT BOOKS

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under

CRITERIA THAT DEFINE GREAT BOOKS

HAROLD BLOOM, THE

If canons should represent and

The great books, as mostly

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Harold Bloom, the prodigious literary

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Bloom argues that it's simply impossible to

It's the genius of those books, he contends, that

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Amongst what Bloom perceives to be the

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Bloom insists that ‘Shakespeare invented humans’

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

The contemporary academic world is intensely

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Furthermore, the notion of a canon (or selection of great works) has

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Some theorists argue that the process of canon-formation has expressed

HAROLD BLOOM, THE WESTERN CANON, THE

Thus, the canon wars in which traditionalists in favor of centering the

VALUE OF GREAT BOOKS

3. They have a transforming effect on the reader’s self-understanding.

VALUE OF GREAT BOOKS

6. They are considered classics by a sufficiently large number of people, establishing

7. Finally, their appeal endures over wide reaches of time.

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