ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some of the issues that this recent Cambridge incident raises about literary canons, particularly in relation to the secondary school literature curriculum. The incident raises questions about representation and curriculum content, about what counts as literary knowledge, and touches on ways in which students are positioned in relation to literary texts, both canonical and non-canonical. The beginnings of secular canon formation can be traced back to the Eighteenth Century when scholars of ancient Greek and Latin attempted to compile a canon of what they considered to be authentic ancient texts in order to distinguish them from forgeries in circulation. The modern canon, encompassing the full scope of English literary forms, took shape, developing alongside the relatively new academic subject of English. The decolonising movement offers an important challenge to canonised knowledge by highlighting unequal power relations that lead to the privileging of certain voices and interests at the expense of the marginalised.
