Cyril Nadar - Week 5 - The Truthful Deceits of the Canon
Ah yes–the Western canon, where do we even begin?
For those who are unfamiliar to the term, the “Western canon” is the “high-culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly cherished across the Western world, such works achieved the status of classics” according to Wikipedia. These are the Shakespeares and the Homers.
In the context of this discussion, we are talking about the literary canon, which refers to European and American texts, which are considered to be the foundation of Western culture.
Mainly, I wanted to say that the Western canon has too tight of a hold on the American literature that we read in school. Throughout our educational journey we have read a multitude of books that are from the Western canon. Of Mice and Men, Oedipus Rex, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, In Cold Blood and many more. These texts are very influential in American literature however they all share a common theme: They were written in a Western perspective.
So why is this even a problem? The reason this is problematic is because of what American identity is. American identity has been slowly shifting and changing. Over time, American identity has shifted to a state of it being a “melting pot” of all these cultures such as Indian, East Asian, African and others. However, texts from these cultures are often completely ignored in the American curriculums taught in school. This is largely because of the idea of adhering to the Western canon.
If our identity is changing into a more cultural blend then why do American schools still mostly rely on these American/European texts to fully educate us?
Currently, schools are trying to combat this issue by adding books like Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. That is a good step in the right direction however it completely falls flat when you take a closer look at it. These books were written from a Western perspective for an American audience. The inclusion of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime is simply just a pitiful attempt at subverting the canon. He was an American celebrity and host of The Daily Show. This book is also a New York Times bestseller which is for Western audiences. The book by its means is not bad; however, it is not outside the influence of the canon. It does not challenge our worldviews, give new perspective but reaffirms it, common Western idea that “racism is bad” and “the underdog can succeed”.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is no better. It has the same elements of Born a Crime. It depicts the oppression of women in Afghan culture in a way that American audiences can be sympathetic to. However they fail at giving a cultural perspective. The entire story is framed in a way that American readers would be sympathetic and disgusted by. It almost looks like Western propaganda, showing how Western culture is “superior” to others. These books are just too similar to texts already in the canon so how could we possibly think this is an effective way of subversion?
These “solutions” given to us are just illusions. They do not diversify, they assimilate the Western ideas and perspectives that we already know. The American ideas that we live by are not challenged by these texts but only reaffirms them.
Our education is incomplete, we no longer think in the perspective of other ideologies but only through ours, in an attempt to learn from the greatest, we learned from nothing but the so-called “greatest”.
Hi, Cyril! Though I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog, I would have to disagree with some of your points. I do agree that the “Western canon” is the prominent perspective in our classrooms, but we are in the West. When I think of American culture I think of power and patriotism and, in my opinion, the books you mentioned are somewhat of the opposite of them. Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus Rex, In Cold Blood, and the Merchant of Venice, are really just stories about foolish or undiagnosed people with mental health problems. I don’t think they fit in with the gold and glory of (at least present day) American culture. Also, I don’t think that because Trevor Noah came to the United States that his experiences and life in Africa are suddenly faulted or influenced by the American perspective. I do agree that shows how Western culture can be superior to apartheid Africa, but only because of the factual differences in rights and experiences between the two. I would argue that Born a Crime and A Thousand Splendid Suns are accurate and excellent challenges to our worldviews are provide different perspectives. The “Western propaganda” is because of the way readers can compare their life in the US and see they have a more free and righteous life, not because those books are purposefully glorifying the west. But I do agree that Western culture is based primarily by European American culture, which doesn’t represent the rest of America.
ReplyDeleteHi Cyril! I really enjoyed hearing your perspective on the “Western canon”. It is true that the majority of books are “written from a Western perspective” but we are Americans living in America. These books all have an individual reason for being taught in school classrooms. For example, the novel, In Cold Blood is considered the originator of true crime as its own genre. There is so much merit to reading this book and I think you may be oversimplifying this novel along with the others you mentioned into one category, western or non-western. Personally, I think in English class, we should be focusing on the literary and rhetorical techniques utilized in these novels and how the author writes them; the author’s purpose is secondary to this. I agree however that there should be more books that are written from a non-American perspective and like you said “we learned from nothing but the so-called ‘greatest’. But, I do not agree with the statement “our education is incomplete”. The main purpose of education is to develop the skills to be able to use in the real world and in English class, that comes from analysis. Thank you for developing this perspective and sharing it with us, I personally gained new insight into how these books affect our own learning!
ReplyDeleteHi Cyril! While reading your blog, I do agree that so many of these books we read in classrooms are from an American perspective, or a "western canon," but this is also because this is the place we live, and many of the authors live here too. It is but natural for them to have a Western perspective on it, and also but natural that these would be incorporated in classrooms today, as American history will need an American point of view. I personally feel like this doesn't make our education any less complete; it just has a biased point of view instead. This isn't hindering our knowledge by any means, as we still have many resources available to us if we truly wanted to know the other side of these things. If this weren't the case, I would agree with you completely on your take on this subject. I really enjoyed reading your blog, however!
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