Other formats:
BibTeX
LaTeX
RIS
@article{41949, author = {Váňa, Jan}, article_number = {4}, keywords = {sociology of literature; cultural sociology; social theory; social knowledge; theorizing; aesthetic experience; fiction}, language = {eng}, issn = {1728-192X}, journal = {Russian Sociological Review}, title = {Fiction and Social Knowledge : Towards a Strong Program in the Sociology of Literature}, url = {https://sociologica.hse.ru/data/2020/12/31/1346289513/RusSocRev_19_4_14-35_Vana.pdf}, volume = {19}, year = {2020} }
TY - JOUR ID - 41949 AU - Váňa, Jan PY - 2020 TI - Fiction and Social Knowledge : Towards a Strong Program in the Sociology of Literature JF - Russian Sociological Review VL - 19 IS - 4 SP - 14-35 EP - 14-35 SN - 1728-192X KW - sociology of literature KW - cultural sociology KW - social theory KW - social knowledge KW - theorizing KW - aesthetic experience KW - fiction UR - https://sociologica.hse.ru/data/2020/12/31/1346289513/RusSocRev_19_4_14-35_Vana.pdf N2 - Following the strong program in cultural sociology, I propose a strong program in the sociology of liter-ature, which treats literary pieces rightly as relatively autonomous cultural entities and “independent var-iables”. To outline the epistemological foundations of the new research program, I compare how social knowledge comes into existence through the sociological text and the text of literary fiction. I discuss the representation of social reality in interpretive research, with Isaac Reed’s book Interpretation and Social Knowledge as a starting point. To claim literary autonomy, I outline some of the aspects which social the-ory shares with literary fiction. I am mainly interested in how social theory and literary fiction mediate social knowledge to their readers via the aesthetic experience. I identify two main categories of social knowledge mediated by literature: existential understanding and Zeitgeist. Discussing the sociological treatment of several novels, I look at how these two categories intertwine and support each other to create colorful, sensitive, but also robust and deep social knowledge, which condenses aesthetic, existential, and non-discursive aspects of social experience together with the “big picture” of whole societies. I argue that only by overcoming the often-assumed inferiority of literature in sociological research can sociology real-ize its full potential in understanding the meanings of social life. ER -
VÁŇA, Jan. Fiction and Social Knowledge : Towards a Strong Program in the Sociology of Literature. \textit{Russian Sociological Review}. 2020, vol.~19, No~4, p.~14-35. ISSN~1728-192X.
|