Discourse Power And The Construction Of Literary Canon

The power is the core issue of cultural studies. The power, which is explored by cultural studies, does not only consist of politics and economy, which is the appearance power, but also includes the recessive power such as repression and repressed, domination and dominated. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between the power and the literary canon in the viewpoint of cultural studies. On this basis, from the literary history and the consumption culture perspective, it strengthens the analysis of this relationship.The paper is divided into three chapters:Chapterâ… is from etymological lineage to see the generative space of the classic cultural power. As it is based on the theory of French thinker Michel Foucault's discourse power, from the debate on the canon between Essence Theory and Construction Theory, it analyses the inseparable relationship between the literary canon and the discourse power.Chapter II examines the relations between the literary canon and the description of the literary history. From the view of a new historicism literature, it highlights that the establishment of the literary canon in the literary history is the result of the operation of the discourse power. The literary history is not only the process of the solidification and construction of the canon, but also the process of the continuous selection and elimination of the canon.Chapter III describes the status quo of the discourse power's evolution of literary canon, under the picture in the consumption culture. It points out that the classical paradigm which former depended on the politics or academic authority construct has been quietly breaking. The mass reader who masters the commercial ideological discourse power via the mass media becomes an indispensable force in construction of the literary canon.In short, literary canon is not inherent, and does not change all the time. Its formation is inseparable with the change of its fate and its power. The power is everywhere. Literary canon is continuous ups and downs in the maintenance of power, the contest and the decomposition.