The canon of literary works is central to the way we teach, tell, and write both literature and literary history. Canonized texts feature in school and university curricula and often become part of the reference system of national cultures—evolving through interpretation and re-interpretation across generations, maintained in cultural memory and kept accessible for new readers.

Because the canon is inevitably linked to processes of selection, the question of which texts receive sustained attention is inseparable from broader social, institutional, and political forces. Selections are never neutral: curricula, publishing practices, and critical traditions shape the visibility of works, while debates about value, identity, and authority determine which voices are prioritized.

In the aftermath of the “Canon Wars”, canon studies increasingly turned towards a system-oriented perspective, emphasizing the dynamics through which texts gain, maintain, or lose authority—a shift that occurred alongside the rise of digital methods and the early development of Computational Literary Studies. Various quantitative studies have since operationalized canonization, prestige, and popularity through curated lists, indicators of scholarly attention, and measures of cultural reach. This symposium brings together researchers from different disciplinary and methodological perspectives, with the aim of synthesizing existing approaches and moving towards a more coherent conceptual and methodological foundation.

If you are interested in attending please register by email (judith.brottrager@tu-darmstadt.de) by 5 June.

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