Rewriting the Canon: A Look at What We Learn from Contemporary Updates of the Classics
Since 1991 the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to four novels that reimagined literary works that have long been a part of the canon. They are: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (a contemporary King Lear); March by Geraldine Brooks (Little Women from the perspective of the absent father); Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (David Copperfield set in Appalachia); and James by Percival Everett (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim). This panel looks to open a discussion about how these and other contemporary novels both explore and challenge the themes of the source material. What do they say about society, race, gender, feminism, and marginalization?
