Friday, May 30, 2008

Canon-bashing

Here's an example of what I was talking about below (and likely above as well):

An article from Salon about narcissistic female writing that contains this statement:

"We have to remember: There is nothing wrong with women writing about themselves, their youth, their indiscretions, their habits and values and personal development. Men have been writing about this stuff for thousands of years; they call it the canon. "

Okay, I caught of whiff of knee-jerk anti-intellectualism here. Maybe I'm just being too touchy, but it reads to me as that tired old American argument about how "the canon" (a term which nobody ever uses with a straight-face now) is just overrated intellectual masturbation. She really sells the western tradition short here- not to mention, completely ignores the women who wrote in that tradition. Worst of all, I don't get the feeling that the author has any idea what she's talking about.

But, again, maybe I'm touchy.

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