The Sociology of Literature

Gisèle Sapiro is CNRS Research Director and Professor of Sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). She is the author of The French Writers' War (1940–1953) (2014).

"Sapiro, a world expert in the sociology of literature, skillfully summarizes key scholarly contributions to this subfield over the past five decades.... Condensing everything the sociology of literature has to offer since the 1970s in some 150 pages is a major feat."—Álvaro Santana-Acuña, Contemporary Sociology --- "[The Sociology of Literature] is very instructive in its presentation of theories and methods in combination with practical examples. Complex and often convoluted ideas are wrapped up into neat and easily digestible packages, which are nevertheless always positioned in the 'big picture' of literature-and-society research."—Jan Váňa, Cultural Sociology --- "The one obstacle [to American approaches to the sociology of literature] has been the lack of a good basic introduction to the field's history, theory, and practice. Sapiro's book definitively fills that gap."—James F. English, Critical Inquiry --- "a concise but comprehensive handbook... which showcases a wide range of approaches and research problems in literary sociology."—Lee Konstantinou, Chronicle of Higher Education --- "The Sociology of Literature is distinguished by unusual breadth of scope, both international and interdisciplinary. This book will be of great interest not only to sociologists but to literary scholars, historians, and anyone else interested in the systematic study of written culture."—Ted Underwood, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign --- "Sapiro's clear survey of the sociology of literature synthesizes Bourdieu's field theory with other approaches, adding subtle, provocative twists of her own. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of literary theory and the sociology of culture."—Andrew Goldstone, Rutgers University --- "This erudite, yet accessible book has no equal. The quality and breadth of Sapiro's scholarship is excellent. We would have to go back to a thinker like Adorno for a scholar as proficient in both literary research and sociological theory."—Bridget Fowler, University of Glasgow