Fiction and Social Knowledge : Towards a Strong Program in the Sociology of Literature

@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, roč.~19, č.~4, s.~14-35. ISSN~1728-192X.