ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book expresses that critical theory—and particularly the work of Theodor Adorno—offers a unique understanding of art that salvages the aesthetic content of canonical works yet avoids lapsing into reactionary glorifications of them. It explores how the critique of politically "committed" art in Adorno's work may be extended to the instrumental justifications for revising the canon that have been evident throughout the contemporary debate about the canon. The book demonstrates that the critical theory of art and society can illuminate the very concept of a canon as well as the controversy surrounding it. It analyzes in detail the specific claims for endorsing the Western canon as it stands or for "opening it up" to be more culturally diverse and socially representative. The book concerns the literary canon and the contemporary arguments about it.
