Literary canon and young adult literature: Issues of consensus in foreign schooling

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the approaches of Western methodology to the introduction of contemporary literature for adolescents (Young Adult Literature, YAL) into the school curriculum, its place within the content of the “literature” subject, and the prospects for the paired study of canonical works and young adult texts.

Relevance. The peripheral status of young adult literature in the contemporary Western paradigm is undergoing significant changes: YAL is laying claim to a systematic presence in educational standards. In methodological terms, the situation is complicated by the polemic between proponents of the canon’s dominance in schools and the “defenders” of young adult literature. The existing opposition between the canon and YAL, which is not a problem unique to Western literary education, requires well-substantiated methods of resolution. The aim of this work is to formulate the conceptual features of YAL based on its multiple characteristics as articulated in Western scholarship; to analyze its competitive position relative to the established canon; and to identify approaches to its study in the context of the growing presence of contemporary prose for adolescents in school reading.

Research Methods. The work employed the sociological-pedagogical method (analysis of methodological models for studying YAL) and the cultural-historical method (identification of the cultural-historical and sociological dominants of the cultural phenomena of the canon and YAL).

Scientific Novelty of the article lies in the following: the reasons for the expansion of young adult literature into the school curriculum are identified; the characteristics of YAL accepted in Western humanities are described in an integrated manner; scholarly positions are presented that advocate both for the timeless fixation of the established canon and for its constant “fluidity”; and algorithms for the paired study of YAL and the classics that level their “antagonism” are brought to the fore.

Results. The article describes the postulates of the Western literary canon, its dynamics, and the reasons for the intervention of young adult literature into the school curriculum. The simultaneous presence of the literary canon and Young Adult Literature in Western schools is defined by the author as an element of competitive modality. Modal differences are reflected in the institutional status that canonical literature possesses due to its long-standing functioning in schools, and the absence of such status for contemporary young adult literature. The work summarizes the definitive characteristics of YAL and describes models for the paired study of adolescent literature and the classics. One focus of the article is the American school curriculum, which consists of 95 % canonical works and is recognized in Great Britain, Canada, and 60 other countries. The scope of this curriculum’s application elevates it to the level of a general Anglo-Saxon methodological tradition and, consequently, allows for generalizations of a supranational nature. The chronological dynamics of the canon’s presence in the school literature course are confirmed by a comparison of three standards for senior grades from 1963, 1988, and 2023.

Conclusion. The approaches of contemporary Western methodologists, who advocate for a revision of the canon and the necessity of systematic reading of YAL in schools, are built on the possibility of harmonizing the classics and young adult literature through the paired study of a classical work and a YAL text. The foundation of the paired study of canonical and contemporary young adult literature lies in the constant intertextuality of the classics. The presentation in the work of the polemical positions of the adherents of the Western literary canon and the “school of resistance” leads to the conclusion that a process of “relocation” of YAL from students’ leisure reading to the realm of compulsory reading has begun.