Why TIm O`Brien should be included in today`s literary cannon

Tim O 'Brien as a Representative of Modern Literary Canon

A well-known American writer , laureate of numerous literary awards and recognized master of style Tim O 'Brien won his fame for the most part owing to his works devoted to Vietnam war . Three of five his famous books placed Vietnam at center stage (Ringnalda 90 . Moreover , his work Going after Cacciato published in 1978 which won the National Book Award is considered by most critics to be one of the best novels about the Vietnam War (Neilson 193 . As O 'Brien is commonly

acknowledged an authority in modern literature it is of essential interest to go further in defining his place in modern fiction and consider if he could be reckoned in the cohort of living literary classicists

The purpose of this study is to reveal whether Tim O 'Brien should be included in today 's literary cannon . Toward this end we will scrutinize what are the accepted standards of canon in literature , discuss the main characteristics of O 'Brien 's works , examine if they meet canonic standards , and make the conclusion

The notion of literary canon usually designates the literary works that are the most influental in certain nation 's or world culture (Neilson 44 . The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language define canon as "a basis for judgment a standard or criterion (which testifies that canonic criteria may be subjective and may change depending on prevailing views on what constitutes a masterpiece in literature during different epochs ) and also determine literary canonic works as "a group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field [of fiction] "Canon " n .p (which proves subjective nature of this notion as well . Usually canonicity of the certain literary work is being recognized almost unanimously by scholars , literary critics and educators . Once recognized such works are included in academic curricula of secondary and high school , colleges and universities . If we sum up these definitions it becomes evident they stipulate that to be reckoned in canon the literary work has to be influencing upon the minds of wide audiences as well as on the works of other literati . One more indication of canonic status lies in wide presence of the literary work in scholarly discussions , its numerous republications and acknowledgement among wide audience . At the same time , as some scholars define , the literary canon is a construct fashioned by particular people for particular reasons at particular times (Neilson 50 ) which confirms the changing nature of it . Anyway scholars argue that American literature as an academic subject followed the path canon formation always takes : preservation , nationalism and historicizing , transcendent excellence , revisionism (Neilson 52

Thus , to define whether O 'Briens ' works can be reckoned in literary canon , we have to apply above discussed standards to them and analyze their compliance . It is necessary to admit that O 'Brien 's works are not so numerous as those of other authors , nevertheless most of them won international fame . In his books he depicted his...