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The Pragmatist Canon: Rethinking Literature in the Classroom

Ross, Ronald J., III
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1242224971

Abstract Details

2009, Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, English.
Mark Edmundson takes a pragmatic approach to literature and argues that we should readin order to alter our Final Narratives, the fundamental ways we conceptualize the world. I apply this argument to how we construct canons, including classroom syllabi. Specifically, I claim that as the classroom environment is essential to our literary education, we need to read in a pragmatic manner in the classroom, not least of all because doing so is capable of improving our lives and the lives around us. Taking this understanding of a literary education, I then run Don DeLillo’s Underworld and Stephen King’s Hearts in Atlantis through this machinery. The result is that we are able to produce viable, significant arguments for both authors’, but more importantly King’s, canonization. This result is contrary to the canonical views of thinkers such as Mark Edmundson and Harold Bloom who believe that we ought not to engage King in the classroom. By conceptualizing reading, and specifically canonization, as a pragmatic process, we are able to articulate why Stephen King might be a significant part of our literary education.
J. Fitzpatrick Smith, PhD (Advisor)
D. Scot Hinson, PhD (Committee Member)
Heather Wright, PhD (Committee Member)
112 p.
American Literature; Literature
canon; pragmatism; Stephen King; Don DeLillo

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ross, III, R. J. (2009). The Pragmatist Canon: Rethinking Literature in the Classroom [Undergraduate thesis, Wittenberg University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1242224971

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ross, III, Ronald. The Pragmatist Canon: Rethinking Literature in the Classroom. 2009. Wittenberg University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1242224971.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ross, III, Ronald. "The Pragmatist Canon: Rethinking Literature in the Classroom." Undergraduate thesis, Wittenberg University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1242224971

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wuhonors1242224971
932
© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Wittenberg University Honors Theses and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12