Teaching Literature: Canon, Controversy, and the Literary Anthology Author(s): Barbara Mujica Reviewed work(s): Source: Hispania,

Vol. 80, No. 2 (May, 1997), pp. 203-215 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/345879 . Accessed: 19/05/2012 17:18
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hispania.

http://www.jstor.org

LITERATURE TEACHING

Teaching Literature: Canon, Controversy, and the Literary Anthology

Barbara Mujica University Georgetown
in fromliterary collections the Middle of have ABSTRACT: Ages,reflecting changes Anthologies evolved of and needs.Theirusebrings questions canon, content, pedagogical attitudes, pedagogical up scholarship, of concritics the anthologies postmodernist reject notion canonicity, apparatus, types,andfocus.Although tools. to tinue be popular teaching canon literature, teaching KeyWords:anthologies,

nthologies of Spanish and Portu- Benedict distinguishes between antholohave Anthologiesin the gueseliterature beenaround gies and"miscellanies." centuries.Eversince KingDen- modern sense are historicalsurveys of litfor nis of Portugal (1259-1325) compiled the erature,that is, compilationsof canonical Cancionerode Ajuda, editors have been texts; miscellanies,on the other hand, are gatheringtogether literaryselections into diversewritingspulledtogether fromconcollections.The thirteenthand fourteenth temporary, fashionable material (3). centuries produced the Canzionero Benedict points out that the term "miscelda portoghese Vaticanaand the Canzionere lany" comes from the Latin miscellane, Colocci Brancuti,which contain meaning"adish of mixed corn."A miscelportoghese de amigo and de escarnio,and the lanyis a medley,an unordered gatheringof cantigas fifteenth produced the earliest Castilian writings on the same topic or of the same de poetic anthology,the Cancionero Baena genre, ratherthan a selective compilation. a collectionof courtlypoetry,which Miscellanieswere, andsometimesstillare, (1445), was followed by the more inclusive createdby editorswithan eye towardsales. de Cancionero Estifiiga (c.1460-63).These Their object was not to canonize certain anthologies,which combinedinto one vol- texts or authors. In fact, early compilers fromthe ume songs and lyric poetryby several dif- sometimessolicitedcontributions ferentpoets, or sometimesby just one, ini- general publicand publishedthem anonytiated a long-lastingtradition.Earlyin the mously (Benedict 7-9). The medieval like sixteenthcentury,balladsbegan to appear cancioneros, today'scollectionsof writare in collections, such as the Libroen el qual ing by womenor minorities closerto the miscellaniestradition. se contienen cincuentaromances, published in Barcelona around 1525. The Antwerp "Anthology,"in contrast, is from the Martin Nuciolauncheda trendwith Greek word for "collectionof flowers,"a printer de his Cancionero romancesaround 1548. termimplyingselection.The veryformatof for Collections of poetry, and later of plays, an anthologypromptscanonformation, were published throughout the Golden while a miscellany invites short, disconnected readings,an anthologyinvites proAge. were quite longed study. Anthologies convey the noEarlyanthologies,however, differentfrom those producedlater on. In tion of evolution(the succession of literary a study of the developmentof anthologies movements)andhierarchy(therecognition in early modern England, Barbara M. of masterpieces).They create and reform

204 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

canons, establish literaryreputations,and help institutionalizethe national culture, which they reflect. GoldenAge Spaindid not producetrue anthologiesbecause it lackedtwo elements essential to the genre: a large, diversevolume of printedliteratureand an extensive reading audience able to buy books and devote time to them (Benedict 14). It was not untilthe eighteenthcenturyin England and the nineteenthin Spainthatconditions were propitious for the flowering of the At modernanthology. thattime, the compilation of texts began to pass from the domain of booksellers and editors to that of of scholars.Withthe professionalization litthe anthology became a vehicle erature, throughwhich a culturalelite could inculcate criticalliterary values."Asanthologies material in different settings and reprint according to different principles,"writes Benedict,"theystripit of its historicaland politicalcontexts.Texts become dehistoricized, depoliticized,and hence 'timeless,' immortal..."(6-7). Suchworksbecome institutionalized a canonthathelps define into the national culture. They are taught to school children,perpetuatingthe nation's sense of collectiveidentity. In Spain, the Biblioteca de Autores in was Espafioles instrumental this process. in Started 1846underthe direction Carles of Aribauand ManuelRivadeneyra, BAE the providedthe most extensive collection of then available. included It Spanishliterature collections of works representinga variety of writersandperiods.By 1880,when publication ceased for the first time, the BAE had published71volumes.AfterMarcelino Menendezy Pelayotook over as directorof the series in 1898,the BAE made tremendous strides. Editionssuch as those of the Cr6nicageneral,' by Menendez Pidal,and
the Libros de caballerias, by Alonso de Bonilla, contributed immensely to the national consciousness of a Spanish literature. Taken as a whole, the series formed an extended anthology, significant not only because of its breadth and textual accuracy, but also because each volume included introductory studies and notes, thus making

it an important for the scholarand stutool dent.Inthis sense, these books becamethe forerunners the modernteachingantholof ogy. The intellectual climate in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spain gave rise to a cornucopia of general and specializedanthologies,such as Men6ndez y Pelayo's Antologia de poetas liricos castellanos (1890-1908).Sincethe late eighteenthcentury,whenAugustandFriedrich von Schlegel and then J. N. Baihlde Faber focused their research on Spain, German scholarshad compiledanthologies.Following Btihl de Faber's Floresta de rimas antiguas castellanas(1821-25) and Teatro anteriora Lopede Vega (1832), both producedin Germany, Wilhelm Junemann published Historia de la literaturaespafnola y antologiade la misma (1921), also in Germany.Equallysignificantare the contributions of the French Hispanist Raimond Foulch&-Delbosc,founder of the Revue Hispanique(1894-1933)andthe Biblioteca Hispainica.As editor of the Biblioteca, Foulch&-Delbosc preparedor oversaw 80 critical editions of majorSpanish works, castellanodel siglo includinga Cancio-nero XV. Earlyin the century, several antholowere also gies of LatinAmericanliterature them Miguel Rivas'El compiled, among libro de oro de la literatura hispanoamericana: antologiade los mejores de nuestra habla,precedida poetasyprosistas de un resumen hist6rico de la literatura espafiola(1933). The spirit of investigationspurred the of of publication a plethora historiesof Spanish literature. such as Men6ndezy Projects Pelayo's Historia de las ideas esteticasen de Espafia(1883-84)andOrigenes la novela as well as Menendez espafiola(1905-10), Pidal'snumerous studies of the medieval contributed epic andromanceros, greatlyto
the development of the consciousness of a Spanish literary history. Historia de la literatura espaniola (1898), by the British Hispanist James Fitzmaurice Kelly, and Foulch&-Delbosc's Manuel de l'hispanisant (1920-25), prepared in collaboration with Barrau-Dihigo, became important sources

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 205

of information students. for of scholars and students with a reference The anthologies of the late nineteenth tool that served not only in the classroom, andearlytwentiethcenturies,producedby but beyond. academics,were used as teaching tools in AlthoughDel Rio taughtfor over thirty in secondaryschools anduniversities Spain years in the UnitedStatesat NewYorkUniandalsofounda marketamongthe cultured versity,Columbia, Middlebury, anand his readingelite. Designed for Spaniards, they thologies and histories were similar to and generallyincludedintroductions notes those producedin Spain. Theywerewritten but did not offerextensive guidanceto the entirelyin Spanishanddirectedat a student non-nativestudent. As Spanish literature population fluent in the languageand conincreased in popularity as a subject in versant with the culture; they evidenced American schools early in the twentieth little awareness of linguistic or cultural century,anthologiesandhistoriesbeganto difficultiesthat Americanstudents might be publishedin the UnitedStates. One ex- encounter or regard for course level. Del ample is Miguel Romera-Navarro's Rio's anthologywas used as a textbook in de desdelos survey courses, and also as a reference espafiola, Antologia la literatura origenes hasta principios del siglo XIX source for graduatestudents.A mammoth (1933),publishedby D.C.Heath,in Boston. endeavorthat took decades to compile, it During and after the Civil War in Spain, includedmore materialthan could be covmany of the country'sintellectualssettled ered in any course. It was thereforeup to in the UnitedStatesandbecameprofessors instructorsto select those readingsapproatAmericanuniversities,boosting interest priateto their needs and make them comin Spanishliterature. prehensibleto their students. Aroundmid-century, several influential In contrast, anthologies prepared by anthologiesof SpanishandSpanishAmeri- Americanacademicsusuallyofferedintrocan literature appeared in the U.S. and ductionsand copiousnotes in English.AnSpain, among them Angel del Rio'sAnto- thologies such as Representative Spanish (1953, Authors I and II (1942, 1963, 1971), by logiageneraldela literatura espafiola four-volume Walter PattisonandDonaldW. Bleznick, T. 1960), GuillermoDiaz-Plaja's mayorde la literaturaespan~ola andAn Anthology SpanishAmericanLitAntologia of (1958-61) and Antologia mayor de la erature I and II (1946), by E. Herman literatura hispanoamericana (1969), Hespeltet. al., unlikethe Del Riovolumes, GermanBleiberg'sAntologia de la litera- clearly targeted the survey course. They turaespa*0ola, Martin Riquer's de selectionsthat Antologia contained short,manageable de la literatura espafiolae hispanoameri- could be covered in a class period, notes cana (1965), Enrique Anderson-Imbert's designed specifically for American stuLiteraturahispanoamericana(1970), and dents,andin some cases a Spanish-English but Jose Maria Carrascal's Antologia de la vocabulary, few otherpedagogicalaids literaturaespafiola(1976).These volumes (contentquestions, themes for discussion in were, in theirday,instrumental establish- and composition,etc.). A majordrawback works ing which texts wouldbe studiedin Ameri- was that editors omitted important can universities.The most widely used was because of space or formatconcerns. No Angel del Rio's two-volume Literatura playby Tirso or Calder6nappearsin RepreandAnAnthology espan~ola, published by Holt, Rinehart& sentative Authors, Spanish
Winston and popular throughout the fifties, sixties, and seventies. In conjunction with Del Rio's two-volume Historia de la literatura espafola, originally published by Holt in 1948 and reedited repeatedly, these anthologies constituted a complete course in Spanish literature, providing generations of Spanish American Literature omits the late nineteenth- and twentieth-centurynovel because, as the editors explain in the Preface, they were unable to find short, coherent, representative segments. Another problem was that the English framework seemed to decontextualize the readings. In

206 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

the 1950sand1960sforeignlanguageswere oftentaughtthroughtranslation. Literature courses were not seen as part of the total language-learningexperience, and many AmericanSpanish professors lectured in English, so the anthologies reflected the predominance of English in university Spanishprograms. Anthologiesreflect changes in scholarship, attitudes,andpedagogicalneeds. For example, in 1980, aware that scholarship had advancedconsiderablysince the publicationof these then-standard anthologies, of the I undertook compilation a new anthology, the first two volumes of which were publishedby John Wiley and Sons in 1991 espaiola:Edad asAntologiade la literatura media(editedin collaboration Amanda with and Antologia de la literatura Curry) Renacimiento Siglode Oro.The espaiiola: y anthologyexpandsthe canon throughthe texts inclusionof selectionsfromsignificant omitted from the Del Rio anthology-for example,Librode los enganos,Librode los del gatos,El caballero cisne,Alonso Ntifiez de Reinoso's Los amores de Clareo y La Florisea,and Gabrielde Corral's Cintia de Aranjuez. Francisco Delicado's La LozanaAndaluza,foryears consideredtoo risqu6to includein teachinganthologies,is also represented,as are the works of several previouslyneglected women writers, such as Leonor L6pez de C6rdoba and Teresa de Cartagena.Another important to inclusionis La picaraJustina,attributed Francisco L6pez de Ubeda. Future revisionswouldnecessarilyhaveto incorporate selections by the women cancionero poets and GoldenAge playwrights AnaCaro like and Mariade Zayas,whose workhas been new scholarship. the subjectof important The third volume, to be published in 1998andpreparedwith EvaFlorensa,likewise reflects recent research on eighteenthand nineteenth-century Spanish literature and advances a more accurate vision of the period than previous collections. It contradicts the long-held notion that the novel was not a significant genre during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by providing ample examples of the fiction of

neglected writers such as Pedro Monteng6n, Ignacio Garcia Malo, and The historical Mariade Trigueros. CQndido novel of the earlynineteenthcenturyis represented by FranciscoNavarroVilloslada and ManuelFernandezy Gonzilez, as well as by the more commonlystudiedEnrique Gil y Carrasco.The novela de costumbres of contempordneas the firsthalfof the nineteenth century, absent from Del Rio's anthology, is represented by Estanislao de Cosca Vayo and Gertrudisde Avellaneda. The volumealso demonstrates baroque that did not end with Calder6n through examplestakenfromtransition poets such as and AlfonsoVerdugoy Castilla Jos6 Porcel, and dramatistssuch as Jose de Cafiizares. Althoughspecialistshave long recognized the staying-power baroque,existing anof writers. the late-baroque thologies ignore The volume furtherincludes authors like MariaGertrudisde Hore and Concepci6n in Arenal,who were appreciated their day but are ignoredin modernanthologies. Writers of anthologies have to make tough decisions aboutwhich authorsto indifficultin clude, a task that is particularly studies.Forexample,the twentieth-century volumeof the Mujicaantwentieth-century includes an up-to-date selection of thology texts. In additionto a substantialarrayof authors of the post-Francoperiod-Francisco Nieva,EstherTusquets,AntonioGala, Jose Luis Alonso de Santos, Eduardo Mendoza, Pere Gimferrer, Soledad Puertolas- it containsworks of younger writers, such as Javier Marias, Rosa Montero, Jon Juariste, Antonio Mufioz Molina,andJuanManuelde Prada. that Anothernew generalanthology purauthors to incorporate ports contemporary intothe canonis Literatura (1995), espaniola by DavidWilliamFoster, which nevertheless omitsthe major fictionwriters(Laforet,
Matute, Sinchez Ferlosio, etc.), dramatists (Casona, Buero Vallejo, Sastre) and poets (Celaya, Bousoiho) after Luis Cernuda and Ram6n Sender, both born in 1902, and skips to Adelaida Garcia Morales (194?) and Paloma Pedrero (1957). Today's anthologies take into consider-

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 207

ationthe linguisticabilitiesandcultural formationof Americanstudents.Antologiade la literatura for espaniola, example,provides introductionsin simple Spanish in-depth and glosses that clarifynot only obscure words and historicalreferences,but also a host of vocabulary items, literary terms, to names, and dates unfamiliar most nonnativestudents. While large, multi-volumeanthologies thatcover a wide spectrumof writingwere once the norm in American colleges and universities,in today'smarkettheir appeal is morelimited. They are stillused in highly universitiesfor undergraduate competitive surveys, but in other types of institutions they are often reserved for advanced courses. In some universities instructors have selected texts from general anthologies andadaptedthem to the needs of their students, adding questions and study guides. Some preferlarge,generalanthologies because these providea wide range of material fromwhichto choose, therebygivthem flexibility in designing their ing courses. Multi-volume anthologies are esto period courses-for pecially adaptable Twentiethexample, Medieval Literature, Literature. Century Recenttrends have been awayfromthe massive, Del Rio-style,general anthology andtowardthe one-volume, course-specific aim anthology.The principal of such books is not to establish or expand the general canon (although some do so through the inclusion of new writers), but to provide instructors witha serviceableteachingtool. Of limitedlength and scope, these anthologies define what Wendell Harriscalls the canon"-the selectivebodyof "pedagogical works commonly taught in classrooms sur(113). Most target the undergraduate andliterature or third-year composition vey courses.Easilyadaptable a one-semester, to ortrimester two-semester, format, they contain a limited number of short readings, most of which can be covered in one or two class periods. While the general anthology provides little assistance to the instructor, these anthologies usually include one or more of the following: an introduction in

Englishor simpleSpanish,extensivenotes not onlyto clarifyobscuretermsbut also to translatedifficult lexicalitems, contentand literthoughtquestions,guides to facilitate themes for composition, bibliaryanalysis, ographiessuggesting furtherreading,and a Spanish-English glossary. Recent examples of this type of anthology include Voces Hispanoam6rica, RaquelChangde by Rodriguez (1996); Hispanoam"ricaen su literatura(1993),by Nicholson B. Adams, JohnE. Keller,JohnM. Fein,andElizabeth Daniel;Espaia en su literatura(1991), by Nicholson B. Adams,John E. Keller, and RafaelA. Aguirre; my own Textoy vida: a espafiola(1990) Introducci6n la literatura andTexto vida:Introducci6n la literatura a y Marketresearch (1992). hispanoamericana showsthatforbeginningliterature courses, instructorsfavorbooks with a well develand oped pedagogicalapparatus ample selections by contemporarywriters. These preferences are reflected in anthologies such as the newest editionof Espanaen su literatura,by Adamset al., which provides a limitedbut representative selection from all periods,with a broadchoice of contemporary writers, including Jose Maria Guelbenzu, Carme Riera, and Rosa Montero. Editors of anthologies must take into accountthatsuch books are designedto be marketableand profitablefor the companies that publishthem. Because high production costs reduce profitmargins,publishers engage in extensive market research to determine the length and contents of a book,andimposerestrictions with to the amountsthatcan be spent on regard even paper.Since illustrations, permissions, for the use of works by bestpermissions selling authors such as CamiloJose Cela, or GabrielGarciaMairquez, IsabelAllende the CarmenBalcellsLiter(representedby
ary Agency) can run into thousands of dollars, editors are forced to limit the number of pages devoted to these authors or to omit their work entirely. Furthermore, publishers routinely restrict book length, forcing editors to exclude some worthwhile writers. Although anthologies represent an "au-

208 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

thoritative selection,"they do not assume a audience.Fromthe beginning,anpassive thologies have always invited comparison andjudgment,as readersformulated their own preferencesfromthe offerings.In the case of teachinganthologies,as instructors make their favoritesknown,pointout lacunae, and supplement the textbook, they contributeto the process of reformulation of the canon. Furthermore, they influence the process through their purchasing power;those anthologies that respond to the market'swants andneeds are the ones that sell. Inrecentyears the natureandcontentof anthologieshave come into question.Postwithits emphasison subjectivmodernism, and of ity,diversity, decentralization power, is at odds withthe veryprinciple antholoof gies, which propose a hierarchical as classification literature determined of by an intellectualelite. Foucault'sexploration of the natureand essence of orderand his insistence that our inherited systems and stratificationsare not the only ones have in a been influential provoking new scrutiny of the instrumentsour society uses to safeguard its institutions,includingits literary institutions. New historicistsarguethatthe traditional notion of history of literatureis too exclusionist.They rejectthe conceptof "timeless" anduniversaltruths,alleging art that ideals commonlypromotedas "universal"are those of the powerelite. By canonizing some texts and omittingothers, they and argue,professionals propagate perpetuate the values of the rulingclass. Teaching anthologies and histories of literatureare they actuallyinstrumentsof indoctrination, contend, inculcating these values in the next generationandtherebypreserving the structure and inequities of society. Jane Tompkins has been among the most
writer's entry into the canon reflects above all else his or her conformity with the ideals of the dominant political and intellectual elite. Participants in the debate are divided into two main camps: those who defend the teaching of the canon and those who argue

to for a moreopenapproach teachingliterature.Withunusualgood humorin a controversy thatoftendegeneratesintoinvective, SandraGilbertand Susan Gubardescribe the controversyas a soap operain theirhiAn lariousbook, Masterpiece Theater. AcademicMelodrama. describethe playThey ers as either "Backto Basics" advocates, based on championsof a stablecurriculum humanistic wisdom and defenders of the canon against the onslaught of the "new or barbarians," as "Intothe Future" gurus will who fearthatthe "canonists" returnsoand white,middle-class, ciety"toa basically masculinistdefinitionof culture" (xv). Gilbert and Gubardescribe the quandaryof manyacademics:they are committedto inand tellectualinnovation are sympathetic to the concerns of feminists and minorities, yet are put off by the vehemence and irraof tionality some of these groups'defenders. Andwhiletheyarerevulsedby the self-righteousness of some traditionalists, they are attractedby the modesty that shapes the "Backto Basics"attitudetowardgreat art and authors. The advocatesof inclusionhave scrutinizedteachinganthologiesandfoundthem lacking. For example, BarbaraPace concludes that these books bolster the power structure by omitting dissenting voices. John Sandmannotes that not only writing is by women and African-Americans missfromteachinganthologies,but so is exing perimentalfiction.ArthurN. Applebee,in a study of 42 high school anthologies,concludes that the pedagogicalcanon has acVolumesforuse in grades tuallynarrowed: 7 through 10 did expandtheir selections to include more works by women and nonWestern writers, but those intended for coursesin American British or upper-grade literaturestillcontainfewworksby women influential purveyors of the notion that a andpeopleof color.Althoughthese studies
focus on English courses, analyses relevant to Spanish courses have been done as well. EdwardJ. Mullen, in 'The Teaching Anthology and the Hermeneutics of Race," examines the position of the Cuban writer Pltcido. Joan L. Brown and Crista Johnson surveyed graduate reading lists of 58 lead-

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 209

ing universities and found that both in courses on Spanishand SpanishAmerican women are hardlyrepresented. literature, Brown and Johnson come to another, withrespect equallysignificantconclusion: to contemporary no canon actually fiction, exists. Only one Spanish novel and three SpanishAmericannovels appearedon the lists of 75 percent of the programs surveyed. In Literature,Cultureand Society, Andrew Milnerraisesthe issue of filmin the that,sincefilmcannever canon,concluding be included among the "sacredtexts," it maybe time to give up on the idea of canon academicsaltogether(178).Increasingly, Cornel West, Jan Gorak, Paul Julian Smith-are advancingthe notion of multiple, minority,or alternatecanons, or are proposingto abolishthe canoncompletely. studies are givingway to "cultural Literary which requirea differentbreed of studies," textbook-or no textbook at all. Anthony literaEasthopearguesthatalthough"pure" it ture remains institutionalized, is dying; yet, a more comprehensiveanalysisof culture is still strugglingto be born. He advothat cates a curriculum consists of a combination of literary-including traditionally formsof canonical-texts andmorepopular expression. Actually, the so-called traditionalists have never seen the canon as a fixed body of literature, as an ever-evolving but corpus formedof works that stood the test of time on esthetic grounds.AlastairFowlerdifferentiates among different types of canon. The potentialcanonincludes all literature; the accessiblecanon, those books that are the available; selective canon,specificworks that have been singled out for study, such as those that comprise anthologies; the critical canon, those works that have the subject of criticalstudy;the officialcanon, books that fall into the second, third, and fourthcategories;and the personalcanon, the preferred readingsof a givenindividual. These categories are not distinct and isolated, but overlap;the canon is not static, but changes and develops as new works become accessibleandthen subjectto critical scrutinyand classroomstudy.

Followingalong the same lines, Harold Bloom argues in The Western Canonthat works are canonicalnot because they represent a particular ideology or teach moral but because they are aesthetically values, superiorand have borne the test of time. These are works that serve as models of excellence and warrantbeing studied because of their aesthetic qualities."Nothing is so essential to the WesternCanonas its he principlesof selectivity," writes, "which are elitist only to the extent that they are criteria" foundeduponseverelyartistic (22). LikeFowler,Bloomsees the canonas fluid, with new works enteringcontinually. Howhe opposes admittingworks on any ever, but aesthetic grounds and rails against those who valuediversity aboveexcellence. EdwardSaid,althoughan aviddefender culturesand of culturaldiof non-Western defends the canon, arguing that versity, "oneof the great fallacies ... has been the one thatsuggests you, firstof all, showhow the canon is the result of a conspiracy-a sort of whitemalecabal.... I'mvery conservativein the sense that I thinkthatthere is somethingto be said ... for aspects of work thathas persistedand enduredandhas acquired and accreted to it a huge mass of differing interpretations"(52-53). He alleges that replacingthe traditionalcanon withone composedof marginalized writers reinforcesthe concept of canon, subonly for stitutingone authority another,andproand neutralizing the poses broadening canonby assimilatinginto it other "contrapuntallines" (53). Like Gilbertand Gubar,many scholars have sought a middle ground, a rational compromise between traditionalists and multi-culturalists. Biddy Martin warns againstthe dangersof extremistpositions, which ultimatelyparalyzedialogue.While sensitiveto the aimsof cultural studies,she arguesthatstudentsalso need "knowledge that can only be acquired slowly and throughreadingtexts of all kinds, notably also texts"(12).JerryMcGuire calls literary on the academyto balancethe claimsof the two groups,both of whichhe sees as legitimate.

210 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

In an effortto please everyone,some in- tors assign more readings on critical the structorsmay attemptto "cover" clas- method than actualworks of literature. As while at the same time incorporating a result,Spanishmajorsmaygraduate withsics, worksby womenandnon-white writersinto out ever havingread Calder6nor Clarinor their syllabi, using a standard anthology Baroja. my university, At graduatestudents and then supplementingit with extraread- whisperthat it reallyisn't essential to read ings. As MarthaJ. Cutterpoints out, this the workson the readinglist;whatyou need results in "overstuffed" courses. Cutter's to know is the criticism. solution is to view the canon as a palimpAccordingto EdwardSaid, the passion a text that is constantlyrewritten,re- for theory is subsiding: sest, vised, erased, and repeated.This, argues Lookat Cutter, would allow us to avoid the para- culturalthe result of all the massive infusionthat ... studies ... have receivedthrough'theory'in digm of teaching eitherclassic or marginal the lastthirtyyears:structuralism, poststructuralism, texts. The purpose of the survey course deconstruction, semiotics,Marxism, feminism,all of would become "not 'covering' a specific it. Effectivelythey'reall weightless, I mean they all body of texts (whetherclassic or not), but representacademicchoices anda lot of them arenot relatedto the circumstances that gave uncovering dialectical relationships be- to them.... Most students...the originally rise good students...are tween texts and subtexts"(121). However, really no longer interested in theory.They'reinterit is not clear exactly how this will be ested in these historicalculturalcontests that have achieved if students are not alreadyfamil- characterized historyofthe latetwentiethcentury. the iar with a wide range of canonicalworks. (56) John Sandman's response to "overstuffed" coursesis to toss outtraditional William Savage,Jr.pointsoutthatcritiJ. anthologies in favorof single authorcollections,which cal approachescan themselves become caallowsinstructors examinefewerauthors nonical.He argues that New Critical to methin greaterdepth. ods of reading, withtheirfocuson text,their The issue is not only what should be view of the literarywork as a discreteunit, taughtbutalsohow it shouldbe taught.The andtheiremphasison close readingto find claimthatold- hidden meanings, have become so widely apologistsof postmodernism do not develop critical acceptedthatthey arerarelyquestioned,an style anthologies in thinking, fostering passive acceptance of idea echoed by Peter J. Rabinowitz his with their pre-packagedliterary article"Against CloseReading." authority Ultimately, For "gospel." some, the methodof analysis argues Savage, neither the approachnor is more important thanthe text itself. Criti- the texts reallymatter, as long as instruccal theory-the system of assumptionsthat tors adhereto the canonicalmethodology, underlies our approachto a text-is not that is, as long as they present their matenew;TerryEagletonpointsoutthatmodem rial through lectures, with the opinionsof criticismbeganto developin the eighteenth the professor constituting authority. century in England as a cultural force Whetherthey use anthologiesor compose among the emerging liberal bourgeoisie their own readinglists, professorsdissect, the (10). In other words, criticaltheory devel- decipherandinterpret text, then impart about the same time as anthologies theirfindingsto students,who acceptthem oped themselves. Early literary historians and passively.Savagearguesfora noncanonical anthologists such as Men6ndez Pelayo cer- way of teachingthat does not fix authority tainly had their own critical theories, al- exclusively with the professor but rather of though they did not always articulate them createsan atmosphere open-mindedness as such. But now critical theory has taken that stimulatesquestioningandmakes stuon a life of its own; the critical mold within dents open to others'experiences. which one works is a topic for heated arguElaineMillardalso argues againstNew ment at professional meetings. Even in un- Criticism,preferringmethods that relate dergraduate survey courses, some instruc- texts to the broadercultureand highlight

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 211

while Peter J. instances of intertextuality, Rabinowitz for"pluralism"-theuse of calls a variety of perspectives and interpretive strategies that vary according to the text and the reader'spurpose.Whatis the role of anthologies in promoting new critical Whatkindof apparatus should approaches? they include in order to engage students activelyin criticalanalysiswhileatthe same time keeping their focus on the text?Most high school anthologies, notes ArthurN. for Applebee,providelittleapparatus developing students' critical thinking ability. While the selections may be thought-provoking,pedagogicaldevicesto elicitdiscussion are lacking.The Texto vida antholoy gies addressthis problemthrougha section afterevery readingcalled "Hacia anAlsis el the literario," purposeof which is to introduce diverseways of approaching text. In a another of my anthologies, Premio N6bel (1997), each literaryselection is preceded by an introduction by a different critic, which providesstudents with examples of variousmethodsof analysis.Thoughtquestions requirestudentsto focus on the introductionsas well as the literaryselections. While instructorsof foreign literatures grapplewithmanyof the same pedagogical issues as theircolleaguesin Englishdepartments, they must also deal with special issues, namely,theirstudents'lackof linguistic and culturalproficiency.The survey is coursethatunderusuallythe firstliterature graduatestake. Most are not fluent in the language;yet at this point,theirinstruction in oral Spanish stops if the instructoradheres exclusivelyto a lectureformat-one thatis stillwidelyused in literature courses. In order to ensure that the survey course remainsanintegralpartof the students'language-learning experience, instructors need to incorporatestrategiesfor developing speaking as well as reading competence. Even when the textbookprovidesa pedagogical apparatus,it is still up to instructors to integrate oral production into their courses. Instructors using anthologies must also develop reading strategies. Betsy Keller stresses that acquiring literary competence

in a foreignlanguagemay seem as difficult to non-nativestudents as learningthe language itself. In traditional survey courses, students are asked to read the text only and once, andinevitably, they misinterpret overlook significant amounts of material. Keller suggests a number of pre-reading and out-of-class readingactivitiesthattake into considerationthe students'own intellectual and culturalformation,thereby enhancingclass discussionandstrengthening the language component of the literature course. Likethe literaryandcriticalcanonsthey represent, anthologies evolve, incorporatand ing newtexts, information, pedagogies. Today, in spite of the objections of some theorists,teachinganthologiescontinueto be enormouslypopular, they are convefor nient and much cheaper for students and school systems to buy than large numbers of individual books. Furthermore, they provide ample opportunitiesfor analysis and MostSpanishanthologiesnow comparison. offer an up-to-date selection of authors,as well as a varietyof pedagogicalaids. As Barbara Benedictpointsout,anthologies tell us as much aboutthe culturesthat produce them as about the writers they showcase. The anthologies of the 50s and 60s reflected a patriarchalvision and respect for intellectual authority. The redefinitionof society and culturenow taking place has led to a plethoraof new anthologies, many of which were not conceived as teachingtools, but which can be into the curriculumeither as incorporated in surveysor as primary texts supplements in monographic courses. In many ways, these new collectionsarereminiscent the of miscellanies.However,while the misearly cellanies resisted canonizing,the objectof manyof these newvolumes,generallycompiledby academics,is to expandthe canon
or to offer an alternate canon. A significant development is the profusion of new anthologies of Spanish American writing in English. As the global village shrinks, as national literatures become universalized, and as concern for diversity grows, these collections are used increas-

212 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

gies publishedabroadtargetlocal readers ratherthan Americanstudents, many are for appropriate use in courses in the U.S. the past two decades every Latin During Americancountry has produced anthololiterature. gies of national Althoughit would National and Ethnic Anthologies be impossible to name even a fraction of These bring together the works of au- them, two fairly recent examples are thors of a commonnationalor ethnicback- Antologia del cuento corto colombiano Bustamante Zamudio ground, as in Boricuas:InfluentialPuerto (1994),by Guillermo Rican Writing-An Anthology(1995), by and Harold Kr6mer, and Antologia del Roberto Santiago; Remakinga Lost Har- cuentochileno(1987),by AlfonsoCalder6n, from the HispanicCaribbean Pedro Lastra,and Carlos Santander.Bemony:Stories Olmosand cause plays in Spanishare often difficult to Fernandez (1995),by Margarite LizabethParavisini-Gebert; Contempo- find, of particular and are the thesignificance rary Short Storiesfrom CentralAmerica ateranthologiespublishedby the Fondode (1994), by Enrique Jaramillo Levi and Cultura Econ6mica: Teatro venezolano LelandH. Chambers,all published in En- contempordneo(1991), Teatro mexicano glish contempordneo(1991), Teatro uruguayo These collections were not conceived contempordneo(1992), etc. National and primarily as teaching tools, but as ethnic anthologies provide a convenient affirmationsof a nationalor ethnic litera- overviewof the evolutionof the writingof a ture. Santiagosees his book, accordingto particulargroup or of a particulargenre the Introduction, a validation a culture cultivatedby that group.In LatinAmerica, as of that has often been marginalized by the as in the UnitedStates, ethnic anthologies American mainstream. literliterary Manyof the sometimesserveto highlightminority selections deal with the relationship be- ary traditions within the mainstreamnatween Puerto Rico and the United States, tionalculture. case in pointis La literatura A and the fact that he publishedBoricuasin oral tradicionalde los indigenasde Mixico English attests to the importance he at- (1983),by Liliin Scheffler. taches to reachinga broadNorthAmerican Some anthologistsinclude writers simnaJaramilloLevi and ply because they belong to a particular readership. Similarly, outthat,withthe exception tionalor ethnicgroup,butmanyimposerigChambers point of Asturias, fiction writers from Central orous standards.They performan invaluAmericahave not enjoyedinternational ac- able service by familiarizing readers with theiranthology little known but highly gifted writerswho claim,a situation they hope will help rectify. have poor access to large commercialpubRoberta Kalechofsky's widely read lishers, which are often reluctantto issue An Echad: Anthology ofLatinAmerican Jew- books by newcomerswith no name recogish Writing to light a wealth nition. These anthologists are sometimes (1980)brought of literarycontributions Hispanic Jewish responsibleforestablishingnew,expanded by writerswhose workhad been largelyover- nationalcanons that includebroaderspeclooked in their nativecountries,as well as tra of writers.Ultimately,the best of these abroad. Her Global Anthology of Jewish writersmayfind theirwayinto the internaWomen Writers(1990) brings some of those authors into the literary mainstream, as does Elba Birmingham-Pokorny's An English Anthology of Afro-Hispanic Writers in the Twentieth Century (1994) for black Hispanic authors. Although national and ethnic antholotional arena. Thematic Anthologies, Anthologies of Women's Writing, Focus Anthologies Thematic anthologies bring together writings on a particular topic, providing diverse perspectives on an issue and showing

courses.At the inglyin Englishdepartment same time,manynew anthologiesare available in Spanishor in bilingualeditions. The followingare some types of anthologies availabletoday.

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 213

how different artists-poets, dramaliterary fiction writers-treat a tists, essayists, theme.The rangeof topicscoveredby such anthologiesis enormous.MirzaGonzdlez's Literatura revolucionaria hispanoamericana (1994), Robert Marquez'sbilingual Latin American Revolutionary Poetry (1974), MauricioLee Gardo'sConfesiones para ungenocidio: antologiade la represidn en Latino America (1987), and Anibal Iturieta'sEl pensamiento peronista (1990) are anthologiesorganizedaroundpolitical themes. Sometimessuch volumes are preseeking to paredby politicalorganizations advancetheir cause, as in the case of La en obrero el sigloXIX mujeryel movimiento the Centrode Estudios (1975),published by Hist6ricos del Movimiento Obrero Mexicano. A completelydifferenttype of thematic anthologyis LauraFreixas'Madrese hijas relationships, (1996), on mother-daughter a topic that was practically inexistent in Spanish literature before this century. e Madres hijasfeaturesstoriesby respected Spanishwomen writers,fromRosaChacel (1898-1994) to Luisa Castro (1966-). Indeed, collections of women's writing are amongthe fastest growingtypes of anthology, respondingto feminist concerns and factoris remarketdemand.An important cited by Freixas, showing that the search, majorityof readers of popularfiction, in countriesas in the United Spanish-speaking are women (8). Two examples are States, de Mujeres palabra Ang6licaGorodischer's Literatura andAnaMariaFagundo's (1994) de Espailay las Americas(1995). femenina Agosin'scollectionsin English, Marjorie of Landscapes a New Land:ShortFictionby Latin American Women (1989), Secret Storiesof theFantasticby Women Weavers: ofArgentinaand Chile(1992),and WhatIs Secret: StoriesbyChileanWomen (1995),as These well as herbilingual poetryanthology, Are Not Sweet Girls (1994), give Latin Americanwomen writers exposure in the United States. Organized thematically, these anthologies highlight the bonds amongwomen, their common obsessions, preoccupations, hopes, fears, and needs.

The "focusanthology"combines work by disparatewriters united by some common element.The focus may be a prize as in my PremioNdbel: Once grandesescritores del mundo hispdnico (1997), a particular period,as in Dennis P. Seniffs Antologiade la literaturahispdnicamedieval(1992), or a particular generation or genre, as in Emilio Carballido'santhologies of young Mexicanplaywrights. Anthologies of Critical Studies Duringthe last two decades, collections of criticalstudies, amongthem conference proceedings and Festschriften,have burgeoned. This type of anthologyis helpfulto as professorswho teachliterature well as to students and undergraduatesin graduate upper-level courses who may wish to supplement their readings. They may be theme (TheGolden dedicatedto a particular Comedia [1994], edited by Charles Age Ganelin and Howard Mancing), author LuisBorges[1986],editedby Harold (Jorge Bloom) or period (Rewritingthe Renaissance [1986], edited by Margaret W. and Ferguson,MaureenQuilligan, NancyJ. Vickers). Anthologiescover a wide range of functions and objectivesin relationto teaching literature. Today, ethnic, thematic, and women'santhologieshavebeen instrumenand tal in forcinga reevaluation expansion of the canon.Manyhave been commercial successes. Some American publishers, such as White Pine Press, have begun to specialize in anthologies of Hispanicwriting, and most majorAmericaneducational publishing companies offer at least one teaching anthology. However,large-scale anthologiesare in danger,and not only because of controversyoverthe canon.Many publishersare no longer willing to undertake massive projectsthat requireyears to realize and large investments in editorial time, permissions,printing,and paper,especiallywhen, accordingto editors I consulted, market research indicates that inwith structors favorone-volume anthologies a limited numberof selections and a welldevelopedpedagogicalapparatus.

214 HISPANIA 80 MAY 1997

Althoughcommercial publishersmaybe concerned with incorporatingthe newest critical research and providing the most accurateview possible of literaryperiods, their primaryinterest is profit.This is not to implythat publishersdo not care about qualityand accuracy.On the contrary,every commercial company I have worked with has assigned highly qualifiedreaders to my books-sometimes as many as These readers, all respected acatwenty. demics from major universities, have offered invaluable advice, which in many cases has led to my makingrevisionsbased on theirup-to-the-minute research.Indeed, I have found both the acceptanceand the editorialprocesses extremely rigorous in commercial Unlikemostuniverpublishing. commercialpublishers have sity presses, ample resources to invest in staff and outside readers, and because sales are their sole sourceof income,theymustensurethe The pointis simply qualityof theirproduct. that publishingis a business, and the first consideration all commercialpublishers of is earnings.Publisherswanttheirbooks to be top qualityand accurate,but above all, they wantthem to make money. to According the foreignlanguageeditor of one large New York publishinghouse, anthologiesof the substanceandbreadthof Del Rio'sno longer have wide appeal."Call it the dumbingdown of Americaor whatever you like,"she told me, "butstudents just can'thandle the kinds of assignments they did thirty years ago. Teachers want books that don'tcost short, easy-to-handle too much."Indeed, cost is a majorfactor. Withpaperandpermissions pricesskyrocketing,the pressureis on to keep anthologies short and cheap. those of us who teachSpanishliterature, this development is cause for

fer meatyintroductions, wide selectionof a a varietyof criticalperspectives, readings, andamplebibliographies functions perform thatshort,limitedanthologiescannot. They furnishsamplesof a huge range of writing, proposebroadrevisionsin the canon,provide easy access to less available texts, and stimulatethe intellectualcuriosity of students. Such anthologiesspeakto the needs of scholarsand studentsat differentlevels. Perhapsputtingthese works on CD ROM would be one way to continue producing them while still keeping costs down. But one thingis certain: we allowcommercial If considerationsto eliminatethis type of anthology completely,we do future generations a grave disservice.

* NOTES
anthologiesmentioned 1Dueto spaceconstraints, are not listed in WorksCited.
0

WORKS CITED

N. Literature Applebee,Arthur A Study HighSchool of Centerfor ReportSeries 1.5.Albany: Anthologies. the Learning Teachingof Literature, and 1991. Benedict, BarbaraM. Making the ModernReader: AnCultural Mediationin EarlyModern Literary Princeton: PrincetonUP, 1996. thologies. Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon. New York: Harcourt Brace& Co., 1994. Brown,JoanL.,andCristaJohnson.'"The ContempoNovel:Is There a Canon?" Hispania raryHispanic 78.2 (May 1995):252-61. Cutter, Martha J. "If It's Monday This Must Be Melville: A 'Canon, Anticanon' Approach to the The Redefining AmericanLiterature Survey." Canon in the Classroom. John Alberti.New Ed. Yorkand London: 1995.119-39. Garland, London: Eagleton,Terry. TheFunctionof Criticism. Verso, 1984. into LonStudies. Easthope,Antony. Literary Cultural

donandNewYork: 1991. Routeledge,

To

An Foucault,Michel. The Order Things: Archaeolof ogy of the Human Sciences.New York:Random

concern. Surely, marketability must be a factor in deciding which books to publish, but should it be the only factor or even the principal factor? There is certainly a place in our best university classrooms, in our libraries, and on our reference shelves for large-scale anthologies that offer more than a quick overview. Anthologies that of-

York: House,1970[New Vintage, 1994]. Alastair. "Genre theLiterary and Canon." New Fowler,
11 Literary History (1979):97-119. Freixas, Laura, ed. Madres e hijas. Barcelona:

1996. Anagrama, Wendell "Canonicity." 106.1 V. PMLA Harris, (1991): 110-21. Sandra andSusanGubar. Gilbert, M., Masterpiece Theater: An Academic Melodrama. New
Brunswick,NJ:RutgersUP, 1995.

TEACHING LITERATURE:CANON 215

Canon: Genesis Jan. Gorak, TheMakingoftheModern and Crisisof a LiteraryIdea. London:Athlone, 1991. Keller, Betsy. "RereadingFlaubert:Toward a Diaand TeachloguebetweenFirst- Second-Language PMLA112.1 (1997):56-68. ing Practices." Martin,Biddy.'Teaching Literature, ChangingCultures." PMLA112.1 (1997):7-25. McGuire,Jerry. "Entitlementand Empowerment: Claimson Canonicity." Marginsin theClassroom. Eds. Kostas Myrsiadesand LindaS. Myrsiades. U Minneapolis: MinnesotaP, 1994.153-68. Elaine."Frames References: Reception of The Millard, of, and Responseto, Three WomenPoets."Literand the ary Theory Poetry: Extending Canon.Ed. DavidMurray. London: T. Batsford,1989.62B. 84. Culture Society. and UniMilner,Andrew. Literature, London,1996. versityCollege London: J. Mullen,Edward '"The TeachingAnthologyandthe Hermeneutics of Race,"IJHL6-7 (Spring-Fall 1995):123-38. GenreGender, Pace,Barbara. 'The TextbookCanon: and Race in US Literature Anthologies." English Journal.81.5 (1992):33-38.

Peter J. "Against Close Reading." PedaRabinowitz, gogyis Politics.Ed. MariaReginaKecht. Urbana and Chicago:U IllinoisP, 1992.230-43. BonnieMarranca, MarkRobinson, and Said,Edward, Una Chaudhuri."Criticism, Cultureand Performance: An Interview with Edward Said." Interculturalism and Performance. Eds. Bonnie Marranca Gautam and Dasgupta.New York:PAJ 1991.38-59. Publications, to RethinkJohn.Alternatives theAnthology: Sandman, Literature Course. New York, ing an Introductory 1991. and J. Savage.William "Authors, Authority, the Graduate Student Teacher: Against CanonicalPedagogy."Ed. JohnAlberti.The Canonin the Classroom.New YorkandLondon: 1995.283Garland, 301. Smith, Paul Julian. Writingin the Margin. Oxford: 1988. Clarendon, Thompkins,Jane. SensationalDesigns:The Cultural Work AmericanFiction 1790-1860. New York of and Oxford: OxfordUP, 1985. Discourseandthe Pitfallsof West, Cornel."Minority Canon Formation,"YaleJournal of Criticism1 (1987):193-201.