The Importance of the Canon

There's no rigid ideological standpoint in which something is in or something is out. What canon is, is histories bequeathing to us and these books have over many centuries been able to illuminate the depth and complexity of human experience with an extraordinary power. It's not just academics that determine the canon either. There's a reason why Michelangelo matters and it's because he changed the course of art history. So many artists were borrowed on him and stood on his shoulders... That's why it matters.