What about MY canon?

Why can't I create a canon? Would it be a criminal action? An antisocial

activity? Well, if so... These books you can see are part of my canon. Are they part of yours? Surely not. Am I wrong? I don't think so... What would your canon be? Do we have to exclude? I don't like this idea of excluding... Why not including? Why not making our thoughts words? What are my reasons to construct my canon? And yours?

What if my canon is not the same?

Here you have a picture with literary works which weren't canonical at first but have already been included in that list: Yes, Westerners love lists! However, not all people wouldn't agree with me if I gravely confirm that all these authors are fully inserted within the canon. For example, Paul Auster... He's considered a literary genius in Europe (vive la France!) but not in his own country, the U.S.A. I consider him a fantastic writer as many other people, but why don't American literary experts think the same? Do we have a different sensibility? What are the parameters we use?

Is there a canon?

A literary canon is a list of works which represents the most important works in Literature. But, if there doesn't exist a stable definition for literature, how can there be a canon? In this picture, you can see some canonical authors but not all their works are canonical Why? Do you think they're canonical or not? Why? Are these authors canonical just because they're taught at University? Are only some of their works canonical for the same reason? If so, are Literature professors in charge of defining the canon? What about readers? Don't we have an opinion?

What is literature?

Well, this blog is also about literature, so let's start with it....

We are always told that it is necessary to read Literature, yes, with a capital "l." But what is literature? Have you ever tried to look up or create a definition of literature? Is any written production literature? Do we have to base our definition on the selling market? Is literature only what critics or experts define as literature? Is literature always published? Is there unpublished literature? Well, these are just some questions to think about.

Shakespeare or Cervantes are believed to be the WRITERS par excellence, but, according to whom? Yes, Shakespeare was famous when he wrote his plays, but what about Cervantes? He obtained post-humous glory. Does our definition have to be based on the parameters of each epoch? Then, if we change those parameters, do we have to ban literature written in the past and exclude it from the so-called canon? Yes, our canon....Our canon? My canon? Your canon? Who creates our Western Canon? Harold Bloom? James Joyce? Virginia Woolf? The multiple literary prizes worlwide? The Nobel Prize? WHAT OR WHO DEFINES MY CANON? WHAT OR WHO DEFINES YOURS? Think by yourselves and let me know your opinions....

Theatre News

Hello theatre-lovers! Good news! Sam Mendes and Kevin Spacey's group are coming to Teatro Español. They'll be here for two weeks (18th to 22nd; 25th to 29th) only and will be performing Cherry Orchard (by Anton Chéjov) and Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare) with Etahn Hawke in Teatro Español. More information in the next web address:

http://www.esmadrid.com/teatroespanol/portal.do

If you go, I may see you there...

By the way...

Oh, I forgot to tell you. Enter my profile and, if you want, surf the different webpages I've written down. Cheers!

Just in Case

If any of you is interested in getting in touch with me to ask questions, express ideas and commentaries OUT OF THE TOPICS of this blog, you can send your emails to the following email address: ANCOLLA3@gmail.com. This way, I will be able to answer personally if you don't want to have your email published. If not, please, do get in touch with me through "Comentarios", as always. In any case, I promise I'll answer all emails, but I don't know how long it will take. That's all so far. Please, remember one crucial thing: you are the ones who make this possible. Without you, this blog and even a huge part of myself would not exist. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH.