Value

The literary canon is often understood to mean

• the group of authors or works that a consensus of academics, historians and teachers recognise as worthy of study

• the group of authors or works that a consensus of academics, historians and teachers recognise as not being worthy of study

• the group of authors or works that a consensus of academics, historians and teachers recognise as pleasurable

The canon is often accused by its critics of

• representing the values of the proletariat; it is associated with privilege

• representing the values of the ruling educated classes; it is associated with privilege

• representing the values of the uneducated classes; it is associated with privilege

The meaning of the word 'aesthetic' has narrowed over time. In the 19th century it came to mean

• 'good taste' - it melded with socially elitist notions of 'the beautiful'

• anything that is perceptible to the sense

• anything that is beautiful to anyone

The meaning of 'Art' also narrowed in the 19th century. It meant

• any skill or craft

• 'high art', such as 'classic' literature

• popular writing and mass media production

One characteristic of a text seen as valuable is 'Complexity and Unity', which means

• Texts which do not have a skilful main plot with sub plots mirroring the main themes

• Poems which do not have complex sequences of parallelisms

• Texts which have complex plot, structure, language and ideas. For instance, writers craft rather than use 'ordinary' words.

Another characteristic of a 'valuable' text is language which is described as being

• elegant, witty, patterned, controlled

• funny and colloquial

• pretentious and convoluted

Another characteristic of a 'valuable' text is subject matter, which should

• be comical and witty

• be serious, dealing with moral and philosophical topics of acknowledged importance

• include things such as political polemic

A problem with the canon is considering who decides which texts are important. For example, for the National Curriculum, choices about texts are largely taken by __________ agencies

A recent perspective on value is by Roland Barthes who shifts the focus of the value from the text to the 'pleasure of the text'. He calls realist texts '________' when a reader gets caught up in the pleasure of a narrative

Marxist critics, such as Eagleton, value texts which ________ or 'escape' ideology.