Inspired by projects like https://www.brendanschlagel.com/canon/, my Creative Influences page was originally a “personal canon.”

Then I added Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The Harry Potter books (and fandom) were hugely important to who I am today but I would not put the series (or it’s author) on any “recommended reading” lists. To canonize someone is to make them a saint. J. K. Rowling is not.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canonize

https://glaad.org/gap/jk-rowling/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/24/harry-potter-race-muggles-black-hermione

Instead, I thought What if this is my artistic lineage instead?

https://thewomenofletters.com/2021/12/13/artistic-lineages/

Our ancestors influence us, for better or for worse. When it’s for worse, it is our responsibility to critically engage with the beliefs that built us so we don’t reproduce the racism, misogyny, transphobia, etc. we learned from them.

I don’t think that rereading our childhood favorites as an adult “ruins” the experience. You still have those treasured childhood memories and a new, more nuanced understanding of the things you loved.

But your reading will be even better then, after a lifetime of thought and effort, because it will come from conscious understanding. -Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass