Where is the Woman?

Paper Summary:

A discussion of the lack of women in the literary canon, "an authoritative list, as the works of the greatest authors." The canon is a guarantee of quality and it immortalizes a work. A work outside the canon is forgotten and unnoticed. Anti-feminist groups claim that historically white males have done most of the writing. The author of this paper disagrees with this claim and attempts to prove it as a narrow-minded and dogmatic notion. Female writers were not taken seriously. Because of the omission from the literary canon, female writers are presented with the notion that there are no women writers of note. That alone is good enough motivation to adopt the concept of a "women's canon."

From the Paper:

"The term literary canon is explained by definition as "an authoritative list, as the works of the greatest authors". Yet, the literary canon consists mainly of male WASPS (or White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). It is only a logical consequence that women, and particularly feminists, want to break free from this male-dominated virile clique. Now, what is the importance of the canon? The purpose of the canon is simple. The canon is a guarantee of quality and it immortalizes a work. It is an attempt to present us with the best. It basically is a list of the prime books ever written and the authors who ever wrote. The one belonging to the canon acquires a distinct prerogative. A work outside the canon is forgotten and unnoticed. If the canon is a collection of the best works by the greatest masters, then it does not look good for women and other minority groups. And if the existing literary canon is a prodigious list of white males, then we can only conclude that culture, great literature, creativity and originality are essentially masculine and European."

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