Literary Canon Research Articles

La escritura borrada de las mujeres. Itinerarios lectores inclusivos y (re)construcción del canon poético / The erased writing of women. Inclusive reading itineraries and (re)construction of the poetic canon

This article deals with the way in which patriarchal structures have silenced women's poetic discourse in spanish’s 20th century, perpetuating the secular models of tradition. The theoretical starting point shows how the literary canon has been constructed on the basis of history and the dominant ideology in order to promote its dissemination through the school canon reproduced in the didactic materials used in literary education. Once the research problem has been defined, the new situation is addressed as a result of the legal implementation of the LOMLOE in Andalucía, suggesting strategies to create original, relevant and innovative reading itineraries in order to work on the reality of 20th century poetry in a meaningful way, also favouring education in values such as respect for gender equality. The aim is to integrate into the baccalaureate curriculum significant female authors who, despite their quality and value, have been overshadowed even though they should legitimately be included in order to compose a valid textual corpus that responds to the truth of the historical-literary, seeking exclusively to improve the training of readers.

An independent and unconventional character: Fikriye, ‘Everybody’s Woman’

ABSTRACT Despite being a prolific and popular serial novelist of the 1920s, Selahattin Enis is an almost forgotten Ottoman/Turkish writer. Orta Malı (Everybody's Woman), serialised in 1925-1926, was among his most successful novels. Despite this, it has long been excluded from the literary canon, published in Latin script only in 2017. Set in the early 1920s, Everybody's Woman centers on Fikriye, the novel's primary female character. Initially employed as a maid, Fikriye navigates from one mansion to another, guided by her desires. A married woman, she engages in multiple heterosexual and homosexual affairs, eventually becoming an ‘outstanding prostitute'. Selahattin Enis is characterised as an ‘ultra-realist' or ‘naturalist', and probably intended Fikriye to serve as a symbol of societal degradation. However, Fikriye's character evolves in a manner that diverges from the author's initial intent, gaining an ‘unconventional' autonomy. By ‘unconventional', I refer to her existence outside dominant norms. Fikriye's development occurs in opposition to the author's heteronormative intentions. While various explanations may be offered for the belated recognition of Selahattin Enis, this paper contends that the primary cause of this oversight, particularly in the case of Everybody’s Woman, lies in the queer characteristics of both the protagonist and the narrative.

Teachers' choices of and experiences with teaching English literature texts in lower secondary school classes in Trinidad and Tobago

AbstractExisting research about English literature texts that are studied at secondary schools in developed countries suggests that teachers' choices can be determined by, for example, school policies, access to books, teachers' reasons for teaching literature, the degree of autonomy they have in choosing text and the influence that canonical literature has in their teaching contexts. Comparable knowledge about teachers' choices of English literature texts, the contexts in which literature is taught and teachers' experiences of teaching the books they choose in Trinidad and Tobago is scarce. To address this, 84 schools were surveyed, and English teachers and heads of department were interviewed. Although many of the findings echoed previous studies conducted in developed countries, several new factors emerged, which may be ascribed to the local context. Chief among these were teachers' preference for multi‐genre anthologies, a high proportion of government schools choosing only one book in Year 8, the popularity of Caribbean texts and the significant impact of economic considerations on text selection. The study discusses the potentially negative consequences of some text selection criteria and questions the applicability of some contemporary research recommendations to Trinidad and Tobago.

La prensa literaria colombiana: La lucha por las reglas del juego en el campo literario nacional. 1836 – 1865.

The present research was an outset of the interest in defining the practices which, mediated by the literary press, configured the granadino national literary field during 1836 – 1865. This historical process did not only establish a literary canon but also supported the logic of the practice within the cultural production field altogether, since it objectified the official representations of the social imaginary significance of what was “national”. That national issue was framed by an attempt and a desire to affirm “civilization” in Nueva Granada, an imaginary that worked as a symbolic axis, as the judge and persecutor in the two-party struggle during the nineteenth century.

Transformacje wergiliańskie. Wergiliusz w XXI wieku (Vergilian Transformations: Vergil in the Twenty-First Century)

The paper offers a concise survey of Vergil’s presence in contemporary culture, taking into consideration various contexts such as literature, film, comics, and music. Additionally, it explores the connection between Vergil’s works and the current debate on the literary canon.

Visualizing Scientific Landscapes: A Powerful Method for Mapping Research Fields

ABSTRACT How can political science scholars use visualization and mapping tools to refine the development of research on complex theoretical concepts? Literature mapping, a powerful method commonly used in the natural sciences to visualize scientific landscapes, is not yet widely used in political science. This study illustrates the capabilities of this method by analyzing visual maps of academic research on the term “organizing” in the context of political action. We describe our multistep methodological approach for generating the maps and demonstrate how they can be analyzed to produce insights about themes, potential gaps, canonical literature, and levels of dialogue across research areas. We conclude by outlining future research possibilities generated by this study’s literature mapping approach.

The Becoming of the Abject Body in Las Malas by Camila Sosa Villada

Introduction: The article analyzed Las malas (2019), a novel by Camila Sosa Villada, highlighting its significance as both a testimony and a denunciation of the violence inflicted on transvestites. It explored how the novel shed light on the social exclusion and rejection of these bodies, considered abject according to the theories of Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler.Development: The article addressed the representation of the transvestite body as both an object of repulsion and desire, revealing the hypocrisy of hegemonic masculinity. It also explained how society’s disciplinary power, as described by Michel Foucault, manifested in the discrimination, abandonment, and violence against the novel’s protagonists. Additionally, it highlighted the role of Aunt Encarna as a protective figure within a transvestite community that found refuge in collectivity. The analysis included the imposed clandestinity on transvestites, who could only inhabit the night to avoid daytime hostility. Furthermore, it discussed the duality of identity in characters like Las Cuervas, who experienced femininity in secrecy without suffering social rejection.Conclusion: The article concluded that Las malas redefined the Latin American literary canon by giving voice to an identity historically marginalized. Through Sosa Villada’s autobiographical narration, the novel recognized the importance of dissident identities and their place in literature.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF LITERARY SOCIOLOGY: REFET AND JANE EYRE

Literary Sociology, which involves the relationship between literature and society, has been handled in a multifaceted way since the 1900s by providing readers new perspectives to evaluate the events in history. Feminism, for instance, has been an altering concept of literary canon and is one of the essential studies of literary sociology. Although it has been defined and evaluated in various ways, feminism refers to the women’s struggle for equal rights and liberty. While the women’s movement emerged and accelerated in the Western societies throughout the beginning of the 19th century, it became prominent after the Tanzimat Reforms in 1839 in the Turkish culture. This study, within the literary sociology framework, clarifies the traces of feministic improvements in the Victorian and the Tanzimat Periods: two groundbreaking periods of the British and the Turkish cultures. Written at times when feminism was discussed, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Fatma Aliye’s Refet (1898) represent women’s status with the new laws and regulations in the 19th century patriarchal societies. Therefore, within the scope of this study, Jane Eyre and Refet were comparatively analyzed to present a sociological interpretation of the British and Turkish cultures, regarding the women’s movements in the 19th century.

Polemici estetice și revizuirea literaturii române în perioada 1948–1953: ideologie, tipic și frumos la G. Călinescu

In a context defined by intense aesthetic debates and efforts to revise the literary canon, Romanian literature during the early years of the communist regime (1948–1953) was deeply affected by the ideological constraints imposed by the new state policies. Within this framework, G. Călinescu, a prominent literary critic and theorist, became a focal point of analysis and reinterpretation in the cultural press of the time. Often coerced by external pres sures, Călinescu was drawn into polemics regarding his aesthetic ideas and his position as a literary critic inside the new literary canon. Initially rooted in relatively minor controversies, these debates escalated into direct attacks, targeting his perceived “anti-progressivism,” his understanding of “literary typification”, and his approach to the concept of “artistic beauty.” Key figures in the literary field of those years, such as Vicu Mîndra, Ion Bălănescu, Ion Mi-hăileanu, and Ion Vitner, through publications like „Flacăra” and „Contemporanul”, mounted significant critiques against him. These interventions highlight the complex interplay be¬tween literary criticism and the cultural policies of the communist regime. The regime’s ideology, rooted in socialist realism, sought to challenge G. Călinescu’s approach to literary theory and aesthetics, which had previously been considered universally valid. His views, known for their analytical depth and unconventional perspectives on Romanian literature, were reinterpreted through an ideological lens. This process revealed elements considered subversive under the communist doctrine, alongside instances presented as scientifically flawed. Despite attempts to marginalize or even eliminate G. Călinescu as an authoritative voice in Romanian literary criticism, these efforts ultimately resulted not in his exclusion from the cultural discourse but rather in the reinterpretation and adaptation of his aesthetic principles. Călinescu strategically employed an “ideological veneer” to preserve the core of his aesthetic thought, a tactic that can be found and analyzed in his contributions to the Ro¬manian periodicals of this moment.

Appunti su una commedia pregoldoniana poco nota Il Lippa di Domenico Balbi (1673)

This article introduces a still unpublished comedy but long known to studies on seventeenth-century theatre, in particular to those who dealt with Venetian comedy before Goldoni: Il Lippa by Domenico Balbi. The article briefly traces its publishing history and sets the text in the cultural context in which it was produced. Particular attention is paid to dramaturgical choices, the re-use of the literary canon and linguistic devices for comic purposes. A preview of the critical edition of the work, currently in progress, is also provided here, joined by a few examples of the commentary that will accompany the text.

Borysa Chersońskiego dekonstrukcja mitu Odessy

This study is devoted to the consideration of the Odessa myth in its evolution. This myth is literary by its origin. He canonized certain writings which created the stereotypical image of the seaside city and its inhabitants. Boris Khersonskyi reveals the connection between the myth and the time in which it was created. He argues that the myth of Odessa has also some features of the Soviet world perception. It is not by chance that the literary canon was based on the works of Soviet writers Isaak Babel, Valentin Kataev, Konstantin Paustovsky, Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov. The current crisis of this myth is quite understandable. The myth of Odessa can no longer convincingly represent a local identity which is changing with the world around it.

Constructing an Alternative African Literature Canon in Socialist China (1959–1964)

Constructing an Alternative African Literature Canon in Socialist China (1959–1964)

Joseph Conrad, Ewa Kuryluk and “The Places of Transition”: Transnational Modernism in Contemporary Polish Women’s Writing

This article aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on revitalizing modernist sensibilities in contemporary literature and art. Through an analysis of the prose of Ewa Kuryluk, a Polish and Anglophone writer, I examine how her intertextual engagement with Joseph Conrad allows her to navigate her dual national and artistic identity. Kuryluk’s reinterpretation of Conrad’s literary imagery, such as his use of the sunset motif, exemplifies a modernist symmetrical subjectivity, which aligns with Richard Sheppard’s broader theoretical insights. This form of subjectivity, stretched between complementary yet contradictory poles, offers a transnational perspective on intertextual connections with modernism, taking into account the tension between center and periphery – both in terms of national literary traditions and the positioning of women’s writing within the literary canon.

Visualizing ‘Epistemic Injustice’: Deciphering ‘Plurality’ in Orijit Sen’s River of Stories

Graphic narratives have emerged as a new and central part of the Indian literary canon. They evolve as a multimodal genre—that is, narrating their stories through a combination of text and images. In recent times, Indian graphic novels have been associated with bringing to the foreground the silenced, excluded, and unheard narratives/testimonies of various sections of the Indian communities. In this context, Orijit Sen’s River of Stories happens to be the first Indian graphic novel that portrays the establishment of epistemic hierarchies and perpetration of “epistemic injustice” on the Adivasi communities during Narmada Bachao Andolan in 1985, as they are put outside the knowledge-making processes and denied articulating their testimonies. The graphic novel highlights a piercing critique of political realities in India, pinpoints the annihilation of the cultural identity of Adivasis under the façade of national development, and recuperates the testimonies of the Adivasis. This study foregrounds that egalitarian knowledge-making processes can never be assured and accomplished unless the cases of epistemic injustices are addressed. Through ‘slow looking,’ the present article reads beyond the images and establishes graphics as a mode of visual communication that contains enormous potential to focus on the essentiality of producing multiple and plural ways of creating new forms of knowledge, or “episteme,” to ensure epistemic justice and equity.

The crucial component(s) of Guizhi Fuling Wan in inhibiting endometriosis development

Ethnopharmacological relevanceEndometriosis is a common gynecological disorder that manifests as chronic pelvic pain and subfertility. Guizhi Fuling Wan (GFW), which contains five herbs, was first described in Chinese canonical medicine to treat qi stagnation and circulation. Although the inhibition of endometriosis by GFW has been previously demonstrated, its efficacy could potentially be improved by adjusting the dose of each component. AimThis study aimed to examine the relative importance of herbs in endometriosis treatment. Materials and methodsEndometriosis was induced in C57BL/6NCrlBltw mice, followed by treatment with H2O, GFW, all individual herbs of GFW, and GFW with sequential deletion of a single herb for 28 days. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were performed to examine the expression of inflammatory and apoptotic markers. ResultsThe endometriosis-inhibiting effect of GFW was reduced by deletion of either Guizhi or Fuling. Guizhi, Fuling, or Taoren alone also inhibit the development of endometriosis. The reduction in intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) by GFW was attenuated by deletion of Guizhi, Fuling, or Taoren, whereas either Guizhi or Fuling alone decreased ICAM-1 expression. The deletion of either Guizhi or Fuling diminished the enhancement of caspase-3 by GFW, whereas caspase-3 expression was elevated by either Guizhi or Fuling alone. ConclusionDeletion of either Guizhi or Fuling attenuated the inhibition of endometriosis development, while either Guizhi or Fuling alone maintained the endometriosis-inhibiting effect of GFW. Consistent with the description in the canonical literature of traditional Chinese medicine, this study revealed that Guizhi and Fuling are the most crucial components of GFW in treating endometriosis, as they are the emperor drugs of this formula, whereas Taoren is a minister drug.

The Poetics of the “Book of Travel” (“Safar-Nameh”) in Iranian Literature of the 19th — Early 20th Century

In this study the authors for the first time examine the evolution in the 19th – early 20th century of the safar-nameh genre – Iranian travel accounts. Widely in demand since the Middle Ages and having witnessed its heyday at the end of the century, by the middle of the 20th century this genre had been completely displaced from book circulation. The source base of the article is formed with the texts that have not been used yet as an object of philological analysis in either foreign or Russian Iranian studies. Meanwhile, being the most significant and voluminous works of this genre, they create wider opportunities for authors’ conclusions and generalizations. The analysis of these travel accounts made it possible to trace the process of gradual genre transformation and demonstrate specific mechanisms of change in the constitutive features of safar-nameh, quite clearly defined in the literary canon. Continuing to play the role of a “school” within which the mastery of storytelling and the basic structural principles of text organization were honed, the canon paved the way for the formation of narrative principles that are different from the classical model and are characteristic of modern plot-based narration. The fluidity of the genre specificity of safar-nameh serves as an example of the changes that traditional Iranian literature undergoes in this period.

WORLD LITERATURE IN HUNGARIAN TRANSLATION ANTHOLOGIES IN SLOVAKIA

The study draws on minor literature theory and cultural theory of literary translation. As a case study, it analyses Olivér Rácz’s Csillagsugárzás (1978), an anthology of translations from world literature into Hungarian in Slovakia, and also compares it with the volumes by László Cselényi (1986) and Árpád Tőzsér (2002). In Hungarian literature, the anthologies compiled during the modernist period can be attributed mainly to the oeuvre of the poets who grouped around the literary journal Nyugat, and like the journal, these anthologies are linked to Western literature, complemented by the canon of classical antique literature. This initial tendency changed radically, especially after the Second World War, when the ruling ideology expected the literature of the socialist bloc to be represented. The collection of poems under analysis draws on this tradition but also seeks to incorporate Slovak and Czech literature into the world literary canon, given its minority position, while also making use of ideological and manipulative gestures.

Rewriting Patriarchy: A Feminist Reading of Grace Paley's “A Conversation with My Father”

This paper undertakes a feminist reading of Grace Paley’s “A Conversation with My Father”, positioning her work within the discourse of feminist theory as articulated by Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray. Engaging with the notion of “feminine writing” and the patriarchal underpinnings of language, this analysis reveals how Paley’s narrative techniques challenge fixed literary conventions and resist the rigidity of traditional storytelling. Through a fragmented and open-ended narrative structure, Paley subtly critiques her father’s demand for a typological and linear story, a preference that reflects the normative expectations of patriarchal literature. By foregrounding the body and privileging multiplicity, Paley echoes Cixous’ and Irigaray’s call for a new mode of representation, one that transcends the limits imposed by phallogocentric discourse. This paper explores how “A Conversation with My Father” serves as both an artistic and theoretical counterpoint to the masculine literary canon, advocating for a narrative form that embodies the fluidity, change, and diversity intrinsic to the feminine experience. In doing so, Paley’s work affirms the necessity of alternative voices in literature, voices that challenge the essentialist representations perpetuated by patriarchal modes of thinking.

The Reevaluation of Dostoevsky by the Critic A. Volynsky: “Ecstasies”, Recognition and “Cancellation” of the Author

The article examines the evolution of Akim Volynsky’s perception and critical assessment of Dostoevsky’s work. The famous literary critic, thinker, art critic Akim Lvovich Volynsky (1863–1926) began studying Dostoevsky’s work in the late 1890s and continued to examine it up to 1923 During this time, the literary canon of Dostoevsky had formed. Volynsky was attracted to the writer’s artistic anthropology, which he discovered in the latter’s novels. In them, the critic found confirmation of his religious and philosophical intuitions. However, in his interpretation of some images, Volynsky deviated from the meanings entrenched in them by the author. His criticism became harsher and more belligerent when Volynsky evaluated the ideas and characters of the novel “Demons.” Volynsky accused Dostoevsky of subjective hostility to the radical “young Russia.” The critic’s last speech about Dostoevsky was given in 1923 In it, the critic reproached the novelist for the latter’s dualistic view of the world and man. At that time, Volynsky himself became a zealous supporter of the monistic worldview. From this viewpoint, he found duality and schematism in the writer’s imagery. His concluded that scholasticism prevails in Dostoevsky’s work, and that it does not contain a full-fledged artistic depiction of life. Such Dostoevsky, according to Volynsky, is outdated, irrelevant for the present, does not belong among literary classics and should remain in the domain of literary legend.

Canon y Premio Nobel: un estado de la cuestión

This paper poses the following question: as a world institutional award, what is the influence of the Nobel Prize in Literature over the construction of the global canon? To answer it, we start from previous resea rch and analyze the studies on canon and Nobel Prize published in scientific journals indexed in the two main international databases: Web of Science, by Clarivate Analytics, and Scopus, by Elsevier, since both cover the current scientific production. After reading the articles which are relevant for the research objective, the centres of interest of this critical literature can be grouped into three large blocks: the concept of World Literature and its relationship with the Nobel Prize; the canonical characteristics of the works by Nobel Prize winners, and the influence of Nobel Prize in the process of creating the world canon. The conclusions question the monolithic and monumental character of the literary canon and advocate for a more transparent approach to its construction that considers economic and ideological aspects (beyond the formal or artistic value of the texts) as crucial for understanding its nature and evolution. For example, E. Lameborshi’s concept of ideological fluency and R. Walkowitz’s born translated novels are useful for understanding to what extent the common concepts of World Literature and canon have recently been redefined.