Sociology of literature •Sofie Royeaerd •Sekce nederlandistiky •Ústav germanistiky, nordistiky a nederlandistiky •sofie.royeaerd@gmail.com • http://sites.google.com/site/brnonederlandistika/ Overview 1.Pierre Bourdieu •Introduction •Some key notions 2.Sociology of literature •In the Netherlands •Versus literary theory/criticism 3.Institutions •General •Some examples – • + discussion 1. Pierre Bourdieu •Introduction •Some key notions Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu •1930 – 2002 •Sociologist •Politically engaged • •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csbu08SqAuc 04:40 – 05:08 • Pierre Bourdieu Field •“champ” •Several reciprocal and partially overlapping fields •The literary field •Agents •Institutions • P. Bourdieu, ‘Le champ littéraire’. In: Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 89 (1991), 3-46. Habitus •‘à la fois principe générateur de pratiques objectivement classables et système de classement (prinsipium divisionis) de ces pratiques’ (Bourdieu 1979: 190) •‘structure structurée et structurante’ (idem: 191). P. Bourdieu, La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, Paris, 1979. Capital Distinction •Pierre Bourdieu, La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, 1979 •Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, 1984 Capital •Economic capital • •Cultural capital • •Social capital Capital •Economic capital •= what you can spend •Cultural capital •= education, knowledge, cultural experience, language,… •Social capital •= social networks Capital •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csbu08SqAuc 09:00 – •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFuAOP1H6Go&feature=related 00:00 – 01:10 •Economic & cultural capital •“the reproduction of inequalities is achieved more and more through the transmission of cultural capital” Capital •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyDdmKZDppY •Cultural capital Capital •IKE: We were downstairs at the Castelli Gallery. We saw the photography exhibition. Incredible, absolutely incredible. •MARY: Really, you liked that? •IKE: Great, absolutely great. Did you? •MARY: No, I really felt it was very derivative. To me, it looked like it was straight out of Diane Arbus, but it had none of the wit. •IKE: Well, we didn’t like them as much as the Plexiglas sculpture. •MARY: Really, you liked the Plexiglas, huh? •IKE: You didn’t like the Plexiglas either? … It was a hell of a lot better than that steel cube. Did you see the steel cube? •MARY: Now, that was brilliant to me, absolutely brilliant. •IKE: The steel cube was brilliant? •MARY: Yes. To me, it was very textural. You know what I mean? It was perfectly integrated and it had a marvelous kind of negative capability. The rest of the stuff downstairs was bullshit. Woody Allen, Manhattan. Analysis cultural capital based on an idea by Brian Donovan Capital •http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=ND7UgjXHenY •Social capital jackson_pollock_2 Distinction •Economic, cultural and social capital => distinction •The composition of capital = class-related •Taste and cultural preferences = class-related (Pierre Bourdieu, La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, Paris, 1979) ) Capital http://www.vitia.org/wordpress/2005/07/28/mapping-class-culture/ Symbolic capital •Symbolic capital •= prestige, honour, recognition, etc. • •Not the same as economic, cultural or social capital •The 3 of them can have symbolic value Symbolic capital jackson_pollock_2 Capital • Capital • Symbolic capital Production of belief •P. Bourdieu, ‘La production de la croyance. Contribution à une économie des biens symboliques’. In: Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 13 (1977), 3-43. •« Consecration » Struggle •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFuAOP1H6Go&feature=related 06:05 – •“Sociology is a martial art” •The production of belief Struggle «‘[L]a concurrence pour le pouvoir de juger et de consacrer oppose des agents ou des instances qui sont eux-mêmes en lutte pour consécration’ (Bourdieu 1991: 8). «‘la lutte pour le monopole de la vision légitime et légitimante des oeuvres’ (idem: 23). P. Bourdieu, ‘Le champ littéraire’. In: Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 89 (1991), 3-46. Discussion •Questions? •Critique of Bourdieu? –2. Sociology of literature •In the Netherlands •Versus literary critcism/theory Hugo Verdaasdonk •1945 – 2007 •Critique littéraire et argumentation (1979) •Poetics •Kees van Rees •Socio-economic factors (K. Beekman, “Hugo Jeroen Antonius Verdaasdonk“. Cf.: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_jaa004200801_01/_jaa004200801_01_0017.php) Hugo Verdaasdonk Hugo Verdaasdonk •> Bourdieu •vs. Bourdieu. Critique: –Notions like ‘habitus” are not well defined –The idea that the literary field is determined by “struggle” –Cultural behaviour within one group is not necessarily homogeneous –Actions and tastes of people completely determined by the social class they belong to?? –Empirical ~ hermeneutical research – (K. Beekman, “Hugo Jeroen Antonius Verdaasdonk“. Cf.: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_jaa004200801_01/_jaa004200801_01_0017.php) Literary theory 1.Intention of the author 2.Intention of the text (intentio operis) 3.Intention of the reader (R. Grüttemeier, Intentionalität als Kippfigur, Oldenburg, 1999, 6-7) Sociology of literature •“Anti-intentionality” •A non-textually oriented approach •Not descibing (= evaluating) cultural products, but analyzing the behaviour of actors evaluating these products (cf. H. Verdaasdonk, ‘Empirical sociology of literature as a non-textual oriented form of research’. In: Poetics 14 (1985), 173-185.) Subject of research •The literary text •vs. •The behavior of actors in the literary field Research questions •What is the meaning the author wants to convey? •What is the meaning the text conveys? •What is the meaning I (as a reader) see in the text? •vs. •How do agents on the literary field [< groups < institutions] influence the material and symbolic production of books? Methodology •Interpreting / analyzing texts •vs. •Interpreting / analyzing systematically assembled data Scientifical? •Statements cannot be falsified •vs. •They can be falsified Critique •Whether or not text-oriented literary criticism is scientific, depends on the criteria you use to define science •A lot of research in literary sociology is highly speculative –3. Institutions •General •Some examples Institutions «University «Library «Book store «Publishing house «Literary criticism « … Institutions «Literary prizes « Hugo Verdaasdonk, ‘Wanneer heb je de kans om de AKO- of de Librisprijs te winnen?’ In: De Libris Literatuur Prijs, de auteurs en de kans om te winnen, 2006, 19-53. Verdaasdonk •“In our work, Van Rees and I have offered a vast amount of arguments to corroborate the thesis that in all extant forms of literary theory and criticism, the assignment of properties and qualities to literary texts takes place in the framework of conceptions of literature, embodying definitions of alleged textual properties. What characterizes these definitions is that they are polysemic. They comprise innumerable implicit presuppositions about the nature and function of literary texts. This accounts for the unsuitability of conceptions of literature to constitute a framework for the description of literary texts. They should be regarded as bodies of untestable and normative statements. […] Its is never the less a fact that such statements do exert a profound influence upon the way different social groups deal with literary texts, viz. assign them a specific place among other cultural products.’ (Verdaasdonk 1983:384-385) H. Verdaasdonk , “Social and economic factors in the attribution of literary quality”. In: Poetics 12, 1983, 383-395. Literary Sociology • – • De Rontgenziekte (front) De Rontgenziekte (back) Literary Sociology • – • Dank Voor De Blijdschap (front) Dank Voor De Blijdschap (back) Literary Sociology • – • Het Zoemen Van De Bierkaai (front) Het Zoemen Van De Bierkaai (back) Institutions «Publishing houses « Institutions «Literary criticism « has a huge influence on the canonization of books «canonization = the process by which a book becomes a masterpiece [= is considered as such] Institutions •How does a book become a masterpiece? «Reviews in newspapers => «Essays in literary magazines => «Articles and dissertations => •masterpiece « C.J. van Rees, ‘How a literary work becomes a masterpiece. On the threefold selection practised by literary criticism’. In Poetics 12 (1983), 397-417. Literary criticism «Patterns, orchestration «Variation «No objective criteria «Strategic motives S. Janssen, In het licht van de kritiek. Variaties en patronen in de aandacht van de literatuurkritiek voor auteurs en hun werken, Hilversum, 1994. Literary criticism «‘The competition between (would-be) authors and critics is hard; the market is too small to offer a successful career to everyone. Therefore an opportunity to publish must be conquered over and over again.’ (De Nooy 1991: 510) «‘There is no formal authority allocating jobs, nor a court of arbitration within or outside the literary field. In this respect, the literary field is autonomous. As a consequence, authors and critics are interdependent since they are tied together by countless favours and judgements.’ (idem) W. de Nooy, ‘Social networks and classification in literature’. In: Poetics 20, 507-537. Cf.: http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/w.denooy/bestanden/deNooy1991.pdf • Discussion