A cultural canon should not only contain literature

Fiction has often been treated as if it were superior to other art forms in Swedish schools. It is of course connected with the fact that reading is the key to all other knowledge.

Therefore, it is natural that the discussion about a Swedish cultural canon is primarily conducted within the literary world, and that the Swedish Academy feels urged to distance itself from the project even before it has been asked.

But in literature we already have an unofficial canon. Swedish teachers devote a large part of their education to literary studies. At most schools, there is competence to guide students through the Swedish literary tradition. The investment in school libraries will also help to carry on the tradition.

On the other hand, knowledge of Swedish dance, theatre, painting, sculpture, architecture, handicrafts, film and music is considerably less common among the average person.

Here, a canon is directly decisive for us to be able to pass on our cultural heritage to future generations. Since we do not live in a utopia where all art is geographically accessible to everyone, we can be happy that digitization has made available basically our entire Swedish cultural treasure.

The works of Swedish composers are available on Spotify, you just need to be told to look them up. Netflix has made a bet on Swedish classics, but in order for people to find the films, they have to know that they exist.

It is in and of itself completely unreasonable that a subscription to a streaming service is required, when the works should be available on a public service. The very question of accessibility is a problem that must be solved in order for a canon to become something more than a list on Wikipedia.

In addition, there is an important job to be done for the Ministry of Culture and the municipalities, where financial resources must be set aside so that the students can experience different art forms outside the classrooms. The Norwegian School Board also plays a decisive role, where the syllabuses in the aesthetic subjects contain far too little history.

The view of which works are part of an official or unofficial canon differs between European countries. In the Netherlands, great emphasis is placed on the visual arts, in Great Britain drama is central. There is nothing to say that fiction is more important than these, and other, art forms.

The fact that the Swedish Academy does not participate in the work on a cultural canon is probably only positive. Then there is more room for experts in other art forms to be heard and contribute to the education of future generations.

Johanna Högström Schreiber is a freelance liberal writer at Liberala Nyhetsbyrån