Canonizing radical texts neutralizes their challenge to tradition

Evidence

On the one hand, you have the repetition of that whole tradition; and on the other hand, what does it do to the text being presented? It seems safer to present very radical texts as just so many other books to be added to the traditional lists— the already-existing canon. — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 265

Categorization

• SHARE: For a literature professor friend wrestling with how to keep texts like Morrison radical rather than additive tokens on the syllabus.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Academic canonization may domesticate critical theory’s radical edge — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 30; Radical texts lose their force when taught in ways that affirm prior traditions.

Broader Connections

• Academic canonization may domesticate critical theory’s radical edge #corroborates (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 30