Module: Great Books: How Canonicity Works

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Great Books: How Canonicity Works
Module Code	LIT1031 (ITS: EL211)
Faculty	English	School	Humanities & Social Sciences
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

This module offers an examination of how literary value is generated and disseminated throughout the history of Western culture, and will show how the idea of a literary canon has become problematized over the last half-century.

Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss knowledgeably the phenomenon of the western canon.
2. Express an aptly complicated sense of the perceived “greatness” of a writer of work
3. Perform readings of classic texts that open them up to a range of interpretative approaches
4. Argue whether or not canonicity is an ideologically neutral idea

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	2	Two per week
Tutorial	1	Every Second Week
Independent Study	6	Reading and reflection
Total Workload: 9

Section Breakdown
CRN	20654	Part of Term	Semester 2
Coursework	0%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	Y
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Paula Murphy	Module Teacher	Michael Hinds

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Portfolio	Students will submit a short piece at mid -term where they define aspects of canonicity, then an opinion piece on key issues, then two final essays.	100%	Sem 2 End

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

The Pagan Bible: Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Paradise Lost and Moby-Dick: Great Books Nobody Reads?

The Madwoman in the Attic: The Canonical Peripheralization of Women

Defining The Classic English Novel

Modern Classics.

What makes a contemporary classic?

Sappho
Origins of Canonicity and Mystique

Alice Walker
Diversity and Canon Wars

Indicative Reading List

Books:

Donoghue, Denis: 2003, American Classics, OUP, Oxford,
Eliot, TS: 0, Selected Essays, Faber, London,
Bloom, Harold: 1994, The Western Canon, Harper Collins, New York,
Kermode, Frank: 1989, History and Value, OUP, Oxford,
Showalter, Elaine: 1987, A Literature of Their Own, Virago, London,
Gilbert, Sandra & Gubar, Susan: 2000, The Madwoman in the Attic, Yale, New Haven,

Articles:
None

Other Resources

None