The Canon as set by Authors Cards

Last night, when moving boxes in the basement, I came across a true
find. My set of authors cards from the 1950s, purchased by my mother
for me for the price of 15 cents.

Curiously, though, even before they were found, I have been ruminating
on the effect of such games on our perception of both the importance of
literature and what constitutes the central body of literature - the
canon as the term is now used. For me, the game was truly educational.
In part from those cards, I learned to appreciate good literature. But
that also came in part from the fact that my mother read to me and
taught me to read at an early age and brought me to the public library
to take out books. I lived on Albert Payson Terhune books for a year or
so.

The cards did direct you to consider that these writers were the best.
In fact, I came to read some works because they were "in the cards".
And I wonder now if we were to re-create the game once more, what
authors would make the list. The list, I should note, while not all
children's oriented books, are books that are at least accessible to
children, mostly, perhaps. Hamlet? The Scarlet Letter? Idylls of the
King? I note that while I acquired this set of cards in the 1950s,
there is not one 20th century author in the group.

Anyway, here are the authors and the works selected for the game I had:

Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest
Hamlet

Sir Walter Scott
Ivanhoe
Kenilworth
The Lady of the Lake
The Talisman

Nathaniel Hawthorne
House of Seven Gables
The Wonder Book
Twice-Told Tales
The Scarlet Letter

Louisa May Alcott
Little Women
Little Men
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Eight Cousins

James Fenimore Cooper
The Deerslayer
The Pathfinder
The Last of the Mohicans
The Spy

Washington Irving
Tales of a Traveler
Rip Van Winkle
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Alhambra

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Courtship of Miles Standish
The Village Blacksmith
Evangeline
Song of Hiawatha

Charles Dickens
David Copperfield
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
The Pickwick Papers

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Brook
Crossing the Bar
Idylls of the King
Charge of the Light Brigade

Mark Twain
Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
The Prince and the Pauper
The Mysterious Stranger

Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island
Kidnapped
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A Child's Garden of Verses


Francis A. Miniter

wrote:

The cards did direct you to consider that these writers were the best.
In fact, I came to read some works because they were "in the cards".

The game of Authors was first invented not long before _Little Women_ was
published, and is mentioned in the picnic scene in that book. Many children
must have puzzled over the fact that the later editions of Authors included a
book that mentioned Authors.

It would be interesting to know what authors were included in the 1860's
version.

--Helen