Att Förhandla Litterärt Värde. Sverige 2013
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ATT FÖRHANDLA LITTERÄRT VÄRDE. SVERIGE 2013 NEGOTIATING LITERARY VALUE. SWEDEN 2013 Sammanfattning på svenska Projektets syfte är att undersöka och beskriva hur litterärt värde skapas i dagens föränderliga och medialiserade litterära offentlighet, där gränsen mellan vad som räknas som hög eller låg litteratur har blivit alltmer oskarp. Skönlitteraturen har i det moderna samhället genomgående tillmätts ett stort samhälleligt, kulturellt och existentiellt värde. Detta värde har vanligen härletts ur texten själv, dess ”originella stil” eller ”drabbande innehåll”. Utgångspunkten för detta projekt är istället att litteraturens värde är resultatet av en ständigt pågående förhandling mellan enskilda aktörer, grupper av läsare eller institutioner som definierar värdet utifrån sina skiftande behov, intressen och resurser. Projektet är utformat som en fallstudie av den svenska bokhösten 2013 med särskilt fokus på Bokmässan i Göteborg. I centrum står värdeförhandlingens huvudaktörer: författare, bokbransch/media och olika typer av läsare, både professionella kritiker och ”amatörer”. En sådan avgränsning i tid och rum gör det möjligt att studera samspelet mellan värderande handlingar av olika slag. Projektet avser att på empirisk grund utveckla teoretiska och metodiska verktyg för att analysera och förstå hur litterära texter ”görs” värdefulla i vår kultur. Detta är en fråga av stor vikt inte bara för litteraturvetenskapens utveckling utan också för beslutsfattare inom exempelvis kulturpolitiken, på utbildningsområdet och i bokbranschen. Sammanfattning på engelska The aim of the project is to develop an up-to-date understanding of the nature of literary value, and how it is created, by investigating today’s Swedish literary field and book-market, which have undergone substantial changes in recent decades. In modern society, literature is credited with great social, cultural, and existential value. However, the premise has been, and still is, an evaluation and selection done in accordance with the definition of fine art that was established at the end of the eighteenth century in which literary value was seen as inherent in the literary work. The premise of the proposed project is that literary value is generated by a perpetual negotiation between the conditions that regulate production and sale, and the institutions, groups of readers, and individuals who are party to the value-making process. The project is designed as a case-study of the Swedish book market, and the Gothenburg Book Fair in particular, in the autumn of 2013. It will focus on the main participants in the value negotiation process – authors, trade/intermediaries and readers. By limiting both time and place it becomes feasible to study the full interplay of a variety of evaluative acts. The purpose is to develop a theoretical and practical knowledge of how literary value is made in contemporary society based on consistent empirical research – a question of great importance not only for literary studies but also for cultural politics and educational practice. Projektbeskrivning The aim of the project is to develop an up-to-date understanding of the nature of literary value, and how it is created, by investigating today’s Swedish literary field and book- market—which have undergone substantial changes in recent decades. The evaluation of literature, estimating the potential value of a literary work for others, is a constant activity within the educational and cultural spheres alike. A number of different values circulate among different stakeholders, however: political, trade, educational, aesthetical, personal, and so on. The process of value creation thus has to be discussed from fresh perspectives based on new and consistent empirical research. In modern society, literature has been credited with great social, cultural, and existential value. The reading of literature is a protected practice in the education system and in cultural politics. Yet the premise has been, and still is, an evaluation and selection done in accordance with the definition of fine art that was established at the end of the eighteenth century. By separating high literature from the likes of craft, science, and news, it could be defined as something else, worthy and powerful on its own terms. In contrast to other commodities on the money market, art was considered free from economic and societal interests, and indeed was thought of as an independent power (Woodmansee 1994). ‘High literature’ was associated with values such as creativity, aesthetics, taste, and personal development, and it became an educational tool in the broadest sense. It was a vital part of the creation of a national consciousness during the nineteenth century, and there is still a fundamental belief in the power of literature to civilize the individual into a social being (Larsson 2001). The concept of high art and literature evolved against the backdrop of the growth of popular literature, the prerequisites of which were the spread of literacy and new printing technologies. Works of literature became accessible to a mass audience, although they mainly read what was seen as pulp, mass-market, or lower categories of literature (crime, romance, genre fiction). Even though today cultural politics and educational uses of literature have to deal with a radically altered book-market, the belief in the power of literature remains firm. High literature is considered valuable because of its ability to enhance reading skills and promote personal development (SOU 2012:10; Persson 2007). Today the division of the book-market into what Escarpit in the late 1950s termed ‘the cultured circuit’ and ‘the popular circuits’ has dissolved, and we live in a ‘popular literary culture’ (Collins 2010) characterized by increasing accessibility and the inclusion of literary novels into media culture. In bookshops, high literature sits alongside popular literature, and both are widely available in supermarkets and online. New reading authorities have emerged in the mass media: literary value is discussed, on equal terms, on the Internet, radio, and television as well as in the newspapers; established literary criticism now coexists with the blogs, book-lists, and various rating systems that offer readers guidance. High-minded literary debate—what Collins terms the ‘sacred conversation about books’—has been replaced by a wide-ranging and many-voiced ‘secularized’ debate on literature, where the balance of power between author, critic, and reader has clearly shifted in favour of the reader. The author has become a media personality, blogging, taking part in book-fairs, and performing at festivals. The Swedish book-market is flourishing, with a turnover in 2009 of SEK 7 billion. Interest in books, authors, book clubs, and readings is widespread, as is evident from several media and scenes. Literature has also become a successful industry, with the arrival of new kinds of stakeholders such as media companies, technological developers, educational business, marketing agents, and so on. The number of titles published in Sweden is increasing by the year, as is the number of publishers and points of sale. People are reading fiction as never before, especially if we include e-books and literary texts published online. At the same time there are concerns that literature is under pressure from market forces and that the value negotiation processes in the trade are creating an unhealthy climate for literature, authors, small publishers, and alternative initiatives (Hertel 1997). Since the end of the eighteenth century, stylistic originality has largely been equated with literary value (Bloom 1994, 2000; Crowther 2007). One of the main purposes of this project will be to confront this longstanding and influential perspective. Today, the traditional view of literary value as something inherent to some works of fiction and not others has become problematic. Furthermore, the fluctuation of literary value and evaluation is also apparent in the history of literature. ‘Value alters when it alteration finds,’ to quote Herrnstein Smith (1988:4). Like Herrnstein Smith, we believe literature is governed by ‘a double discourse of value’, not of high v e r s u s low worth, but of the ‘personal economy’ (where such variables as aesthetic pleasure, excitement, information value, and existential guidance are decisive in readers’ value-making processes) a n d the ‘money economy’ (finance- and market-oriented). The premise of the proposed project is that literary value is generated by a perpetual negotiation of value in and between these two economies—a negotiation between the conditions that regulate production and sale, and the institutions, groups of readers, and individuals who are party to the value-making process according to the dictates of their respective needs, interests, and resources (Herrnstein Smith 1988). In contrast to the amount of research devoted to interpretation within literary studies, remarkably few studies have dealt with value negotiation processes. Project purpose The aim of the project is to gain a well-founded understanding of how literary value is made today: how it is created and negotiated in the interplay with economic value, in which authors, the book trade and its intermediaries, and various categories of readers are the key participants. Rather than a one-dimensional perspective on the text-immanent value of literature, we seek to develop a perspective that considers the manifold and complex value negotiation process while capturing some of the