Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast, episode 552, The Road Less Traveled.

Despite primarily being a history teacher, I've taught classes across the humanities covering everything from geography to philosophy, and I've even taught a bit of literature, which has given me some occasion to think about the idea

of a literary canon.

Not canon as an artillery, mind you, but canon as a collection of famous or noteworthy works.

You see, a lot of the teaching of literature today is still defined by the idea of quote

unquote canonical literature, that there are certain works

you should be exposed to in formative years because of their cultural influence or importance,

or because they're widely celebrated, or for some other reason like that.

If you grew up in the United States and were made in high school to read, say, the Scarlet Letter

or the Great Gatsby,

the fact that they are commonly treated as canonical works of American literature is why.

And I admit to having a complex relationship with the idea of a literary canon.

There are some works that certainly are so influential that any educated person should be at least

a little familiar with them.

In the English language, I would name the works of Shakespeare or the Bible as examples,

and there are a few others you could include there as well, depending on how you defined the idea

of influence or importance. But beyond that pretty narrow band of works, I can't help but think of a conversation on this

subject that I had with Demetria, my lovely wife. You see, she pointed out to me that from a

historical perspective, teaching the historical canon gives us a very skewed notion of life

in a given historical era. I mean, think of today. What percentage of readers are going around reading the latest and greatest works of high literature,

the texts that get all the prestigious literary awards?

Some certainly do read those books, but everyone knows that popular works are just, well, more popular.

...