Toward Revision of the American Literary Canon

FAIN: FT-12648-75

Paul Lauter
Trinity College (Hartford, CT 06106-3100)

To propose a tentative theory of "canonicity." To revitalize the standard American literary curriculum. The American Canon was established during the 1920-1940 period. Study will concentrate on such writers as Melville, Emily Dickinson, Jack London, the Afro- American writers, Agnes Smedley, Mary Heaton Vorse, etc., writers who became popular, then declined etc. P.I. proposes to determine what combination of literary, ideological and cultural forces establish or change a canon.