English Language Literature Notes Toward a Canon This list is, and will forever be, incomplete. This is a sample of what ought to be read and taught, but it is not a syllabus or curriculum for any particular class, course, or educational institution. It is an attempt to acknowledge those texts which merit study. Given the fragmentary nature of this list, the omission of any particular text should not be understood as a decision against that text. At the same time, general trends and tendencies may discernible in this list, and the reader may venture some extrapolations. As the title indicates, catalogue is limited to works composed in English; it is not a World Literature inventory. It is not limited to English Literature, but rather acknowledges that English Language Literature has been written in variety of territories and cultures. This list will be expanded from time to time. Some items will perhaps evoke no surprise, because they are established in the cannon. Others may seem novel or unexpected. Author: John Steinbeck Title: The Moon is Down Author: William Shakespeare Title: Author: Elizabeth Goudge Title: The White Witch Title: The Dean’s Watch Author: Jane Austen Title: Pride and Prejudice Title: Sense and Sensibility Title: Isaac Asimov Title: I, Robot Author: P.G. Wodehouse Title: Author: Mary Shelley Title: Frankenstein Title: The Last Man Page 1 Author: C.S. Lewis Title: Till We Have Faces Author: Dashiell Hammett Title: The Maltese Falcon Title: The Thin Man Author: Raymond Chandler Title: The Big Sleep Author: Charles Dickens Title: A Tale of Two Cities Author: J.R.R. Tolkien Title: The Hobbit Title: The Lord of the Rings Title: The Silmarillion Author: Aldous Huxley Title: Brave New World Author: Evelyn Waugh Title: Love Among the Ruins Author: Robert Hugh Benson Title: The Lord of the World Author: Anthony Burgess Title: The Wanting Seed Author: Jean Raspail Title: The Camp of the Saints Author: Robert Frost Title: “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Title: The Song of Hiawatha Title: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Page 2 Author: Paul Gallico Title: The Snow Goose Author: Bruce Marshall Title: The White Rabbit Author: G.A. Birmingham Title: The Simpkins Plot Author: Charles Reade Title: The Cloister and the Hearth Author: Arthur Conan Doyle Title: Micah Clarke Title: Sir Nigel Title: The White Company Author: Harold Bell Wright Title: Helen of the Old House Page 3.