ABSTRACT
In European and North-American literary theory, the canon concept has had a rather turbulent history. Since the late 1960s, the notion of a canon as a clearly delineated set of major literary works has been losing ground. More precisely, the absolutist nature of the norms for literary evaluation underlying the canon has been subjected to criticism (Gorak 1991: 253). As a result, one can observe a shift in scholarly interest from the canon as a fixed given to canonization as a process, that is, to the pluralist, dynamic site in which literary value is negotiated. The central issue in canon research is no longer which works are canonical but rather how and why works become canonical in the first place. Attention in research has been moving away from purely text-centred concerns to incorporate the circumstances surrounding canonization, as well. The crux is which norms inform the mechanics of canonization and how these standards are established. In this chapter, the reception of Swedish children’s book writer Astrid Lindgren’s oeuvre in the Dutch language area is scrutinized.1 Lindgren is considered a canonical author in that language area,2 and the reception serves as a case in point to illustrate how canonization can be studied from an altered, process-oriented vantage point.3 By way of introduction, I will clarify the theoretical debates in which my approach is rooted. Then I will proceed to sketch the evolution of Lindgren’s reception in Flanders and the Netherlands, with an eye to identifying the predominant criteria of evaluation applied to the canonization of her oeuvre. The analysis will address both recurring and changing patterns in the value system informing the canonization process of Lindgren’s works.
