Canonicity and Radical Indifference

This essay compares past and present debates about the literary canon and claims that, in the age of digital media, professional debates about what is worthy of being read and taught are being usurped by a data-driven populism that thrives on outrage and polarization. When scholarly discussions are shaped by social media, and their impact is gauged by metrics such as likes or retweets, a new form of canonicity emerges that eschews the rational discourse at the core of scientific inquiry. Gennero argues that in the United States we are witnessing a paradoxical reversal of the motivations that led to the deployment of notions like trigger warnings or safe spaces.