Зашто је важан књижевни канон: мерила и вредновања / The Importance of Literary Canon: Parameters and Evaluation

The paper sets out to explore the recent alterations in the process of making a valuable literary canon in the postmodern age, which relativizes the idea that literary canon should be a mere list of master-pieces, decided upon with the help of male-defined standards. The achievement of gynocriticism and the contribution of Elaine Showalter serve as examples of investigating how the heroines of American literature grew out of the provincial and parochial into centralised symbols of the new literature. In their journey from cultural margins to diversity, American women writers disrupt the male-centredness of the literary canon and change it irrevocably. In view of various styles and topics operating in the women's literature, the paper will focus upon the latest project of Elaine Showalter, the history of American women writers, compiled by a gynocritic who strongly dissaproves of emphasizing cultural importance over aesthetic distinction. One of the major Hungarian writers of the 20th century, Antal Szerb is known for his wonderful grasp of characters of young men who fight with contradictory urges of being expatriate Bohemians and living an ordinary life according to the inherited set of rules, but his example will show what a belated recognition can irrevocably change the mapping and reputation of a national literature.