picking the next read is every reader’s pleasure and privilege. luckily for readers everywhere, choosing more diverse books is not just rewarding but also deeply enjoyable—because a wider range of voices and narratives, especially those less commonly featured, make for a richer reading experience.
this is the premise at the heart of both ‘this is the canon’ by joan anim-addo, deirdre osborne and kadija sesay, as well as ‘frauenliteratur’ by nicole seifert. both books question the relevance of the literary canon—a collection of so-called classics in every language—in today’s world.
however, their issue isn’t with the books on these lists, but rather with the books that should be, but aren’t.
while seifert explores why so few female (and more broadly, non-cisgender male) voices are included in the largely german-speaking canon, anim-addo, osborne and sesay highlight the absence of non-western and non-white voices in english literature.
it turns out the barriers to inclusion in both cases have striking similarities. seifert examines these obstacles in depth, calling them out and providing evidence to their contrary. ‘this is the canon’ touches on similar issues in its introduction but takes a different approach—offering a list of 50 literary masterpieces from around the world that deserve a place in the canon but have been overlooked so far.
i have to admit, some of these accounts were a bit too detailed for my taste (i prefer to know as little as possible about a book before i read it), and since i don’t read much german fiction, i didn’t catch all of seifert’s references. but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment—i thoroughly appreciated both books.
why does diversifying the canon matter so much, you wonder?
because these are the books that are published, taught in schools, filling our bookshops, libraries, and shelves—and ultimately, shaping our thoughts, minds, and dreams.
wouldn’t you want those to be as wild, unique, glorious and brilliant an experience as humankind has to offer?
