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―25―JournalofChubuUniversityEducationNo.18（2018）HowIChooseLiteraryWorksforMyAmericanLiteratureCourse:TeachingAmericanSocialDiversitythroughMulticulturalLiteraryTextsSHIMAZUNobuko＊＊Professor,DepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulture,CollegeofHumanities,ChubuUniversityAbstractThisisareportofhowIselectliteraryworksformyAmericanliteraturecourse.InthewakeoftheCivilRightsMovement,especiallyafterthe1980s,areconsiderationoftheAmericanliterarycanon,whichhadbeendominatedbywhitemaleauthors,begantotakeplace.Asaresult,theworksbywomenandminoritywritershavebeennewlyrecognizedasconstitutingthecanon.However,therehavebeenquiteafewscholarswhomaintainthatareviewoftherestructuringofthecanonisnecessary.Thustheformationofthecanonhasbeenalong-runningdisputeinAmericanacademismandlateramongscholarsinJapanesehighereducation.Inthisculturalclimate,ItakeastanceofmulticulturalismtomeetthegoalofteachingAmericansocialdiversitythroughmulticulturalliterarytexts.Accordingly,IchosethefollowingliteraryworksformyAmericanliteraturecourse:LouisaMayAlcott'sLittleWomen（1868）,F.ScottFitzgerald'sTheGreatGatsby（1925）,AliceWalker'sTheColorPurple（1982）,andAmyTan'sTheJoyLuckClub（1989）.Thereasonsformyselectionofeachtextarealsogiveninthisarticle.KeywordsteachingAmericanliterature,canon,syllabus,multiculturalism,minorityliterature