Literary canon information

           
                                        
                                     
I support.                              
It is a short introduction to a specific English course
from a faculty URL at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD.   
                                                       
I was going to post my views, but decided to search    
literary canon.  Glad I did.  What their introduction
covers/ are my views since I believe literary canons
from the strictest to the loosest are implicit in any   
anthology of literature and in any literary manifesto,
neither of which is likely to cease being while, for  
whatever reasons, humans interact with the artifacts   
they create, artifacts which someone contends are     
literary.                                               
                                                       
There is in all this the question of texts (in canons   
birthed and nurtured by institutions) devolving into    
ventriloquisms fit only for the scholars who autopsy 
them.  To me this question has merit, but only in a    
narrow political sense.  Yes, texts can be enhanced  
or demeaned by scholarly investigations; but, if I   
come upon an unfamiliar text, and interact with it,
my opinions of it at that time will be informed by   
the degree of my knowledge and persuasions at that  
time; and even if I were to seek further knowledge,
I would not have to be persuaded by it.  After its   
author is no longer able to revise it, a text is a  
text, and no amount of dissectioning or perverting
can alter the original text unless that original is  
mutilated or destroyed.                               
                                                       
                                                      
                                                     
                                                      
bl00331