Canonical Literature

On a whim, I got Harold Bloom's The Western Canon out of the library and just finished it up. He's an opinionated guy, but it's an interesting question, I think: What forms the "canonical" literature of our society, and what does that even mean? Ibsen and Keats may be part of the "Western Canon", but I couldn't tell you the first thing about them, or name a single book they wrote.

So, then, what books do constitute the "canon" of this generation? Not at all who are the best writers ever, but which authors can you reference offhand to people you know, assuming that they will have read them, or at least know what you're talking about? Here's my list. What am I missing?

• Shakespeare
• Tolkein
• Dr. Seuss
• Lewis Carroll
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Robert Howard (even if they haven't actually read any Conan stories)
• Mark Twain
• Homer

And maybe:
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (again, maybe not as widely read as known)

And I suppose you can't get away from the Bible in a list like this. Everyone's heard those stories.

You could probably also throw in Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye, if only because every English class in America reads them, but I don't find them high in my conciousness.

Bloom seems convinced that the whole idea of literature is dying in an age of video and short attention spans. I don't know. I just think it's interesting to ponder which books out there really do form part of our "collective conciousness".

Edit: Forgot at least one biggie: the Brothers Grimm.