Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New
Sociology of Literature

J 2020

Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New Sociology of Literature

VÁŇA, Jan

Základní údaje

Originální název

Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New Sociology of Literature

Autoři

VÁŇA, Jan (203 Česká republika, garant, domácí)

Vydání

Cultural Sociology, London, SAGE Publications, 2020, 1749-9755

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Článek v odborném periodiku

Obor

50401 Sociology

Stát vydavatele

Velká Británie a Severní Irsko

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

URL

Impakt faktor

Impact factor: 1.792

Kód RIV

RIV/00216224:14230/20:00115767

Organizační jednotka

Fakulta sociálních studií

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975520922469

UT WoS

000539050600004

Klíčová slova anglicky

Czech literature; landscape of meaning; literary; literature; lyrical sociology; post-communism; sociology of literature; structural aesthetics

Štítky

rivok

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Změněno: 23. 3. 2021 12:44, Mgr. Blanka Farkašová

Anotace

V originále

When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological, thus leaving literature stripped of its aesthetic qualities. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the interaction between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of understanding social experience which are usually ‘lost in translation’ between fictional and sociological genres. My major claims are that, first, when referring to social experience, both sociological and literary texts employ aesthetic devices to mediate understanding for the reader. Second, within the literary genre, the understanding of social experience relies much more on the emotional engagement of the reader through a reading process facilitated by these aesthetic devices. Third, to benefit methodologically and epistemologically from the lyrical understanding of social experience mediated by literature, cultural sociologists must be particularly sensitive to the subtlety and ambiguity of meanings mediated by the aesthetic. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new area for understanding the meanings of social life, especially its non-discursive dimensions. The research model I propose for a new sociology of literature adopts the landscape of meaning concept developed by Isaac Reed in combination with the aesthetic structuralism of Czech linguist Jan Mukařovský. This model will be demonstrated through an interpretive analysis of the Czech novel Sestra (published in English as City Sister Silver) by Jáchym Topol.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1157/2019, interní kód MU

Název: Migration and Contemporary Societies: Cultural Sociological Perspectives (Akronym: MIGSOC)

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Migration and Contemporary Societies: Cultural Sociological Perspectives, DO R. 2020_Kategorie A - Specifický výzkum - Studentské výzkumné projekty

MUNI/A/1359/2019, interní kód MU

Název: Role individuálních a kolektivních aktérů v procesu sociální změny (Akronym: RIKA)

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Role individuálních a kolektivních aktérů v procesu sociální změny, DO R. 2020_Kategorie A - Specifický výzkum - Studentské výzkumné projekty

Přiložené soubory

1749975520922469.pdf

Požádat o autorskou verzi souboru

Citovat

VÁŇA, Jan. Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New Sociology of Literature. Cultural Sociology. London: SAGE Publications, 2020, roč. 14, č. 2, s. 180-200. ISSN 1749-9755. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975520922469.

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   author = {Váňa, Jan},
   article_location = {London},
   article_number = {2},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975520922469},
   keywords = {Czech literature; landscape of meaning; literary; literature; lyrical sociology; post-communism; sociology of literature; structural aesthetics},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1749-9755},
   journal = {Cultural Sociology},
   title = {Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New Sociology of Literature},
   url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1749975520922469},
   volume = {14},
   year = {2020}
}

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N2  - When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological, thus leaving literature stripped of its aesthetic qualities. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the interaction between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of understanding social experience which are usually ‘lost in translation’ between fictional and sociological genres. My major claims are that, first, when referring to social experience, both sociological and literary texts employ aesthetic devices to mediate understanding for the reader. Second, within the literary genre, the understanding of social experience relies much more on the emotional engagement of the reader through a reading process facilitated by these aesthetic devices. Third, to benefit methodologically and epistemologically from the lyrical understanding of social experience mediated by literature, cultural sociologists must be particularly sensitive to the subtlety and ambiguity of meanings mediated by the aesthetic. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new area for understanding the meanings of social life, especially its non-discursive dimensions. The research model I propose for a new sociology of literature adopts the landscape of meaning concept developed by Isaac Reed in combination with the aesthetic structuralism of Czech linguist Jan Mukařovský. This model will be demonstrated through an interpretive analysis of the Czech novel Sestra (published in English as City Sister Silver) by Jáchym Topol.
ER  -

VÁŇA, Jan. Theorizing the Social Through Literary Fiction : For a New Sociology of Literature. \textit{Cultural Sociology}. London: SAGE Publications, 2020, roč.~14, č.~2, s.~180-200. ISSN~1749-9755. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975520922469.

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