Between formation and formatting : literary canon in the educational practice

This essay deals with the process of literary canon formation as an ongoing contest between two forces in the field of cultural production: the power of the habitus and the actions of actors of that field (experts, officials, publishers, teachers). The high degree of codification of the canon (that is understood as school’s required reading list) and a strong educational monopoly are symptoms of social fi eld condition as a whole. First, the social transformation process that follows the political change is not yet finished. Second, the canon is a self-reproductive structure and jeopardizes the possible processes of transformation. Third, the autonomy of artistic and literary fields is incessantly decreasing.