Literary Canon and Cultural Continuity: Leavis's Construction of the "Living Tradition"

Tradition is one of the keywords of Western literary criticism in the 20th century and one of the leading factors in F. R. Leavis's critical system. This essay first traces a major theoretical origin of Leavis's idea of tradition by exploring how it was influenced by T. S. Eliot's idea of tradition and then sublated his thoughts especially the theory of "impersonality." Then, it investigates Leavis's view of "canons" in which connotations of his idea of tradition are embodied, comments on the revolutionary spirit of modernism shown in Leavis's endeavour to reshape British literary tradition through revaluation of literary canons, and analyses why his list of canons is necessary in particular historical time and educational environment. Moreover, based on Leavis's idea of tradition it indicates that "continuity" serves as the link between literary criticism and cultural criticism, points out that Leavis fought for cultural continuity and cultural salvation from the standpoint of British literary tradition, and elucidates that as a crucial link in the tradition of Cambridge criticism Leavis's idea of tradition reveals a kind of elitist literary and cultural criticism that concerns for the public in an industrial and utilitarian society.