Volume 50, Issue 1

This article examines the cultural policy of the Bonn Foreign Office that determined the functions of Frankfurt Book Fair and other international book fairs from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980 s. Firstly, it focusses on the role of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the New Ostpolitik, particularly with regard to the participation of Eastern European writers and publishers. Secondly, the cultural policy dimension of the ‘guest of honour’ of the Frankfurt Book Fair, a special literary programme initiated in 1976 is put under scrutiny. Thirdly, the participation of German publishers in the Warsaw Book Fair, which was supported by the Federal Foreign Office, is analysed. Finally, international book fairs in Jerusalem, Cairo and Moscow are studied in the perspective of cultural policy.

Over the past 150 years, the semantics of the Danube floodplain landscape have been largely linked to the increasing industrialisation of the river and embedded in changing discourses on nature and the environment. The paper traces how as a result of these changes the Danube floodplains were reinterpreted by the Austrian public from a landscape perceived as exotic to one perceived as native, and what role literature and popular science texts played in this process.

This article discusses theoretical and methodological issues that have advanced field theory in the domain of literature, and some other that have not been previously addressed. First are presented the alternative research strategies to construct the field as a space of possibles and as a space of position. The question of the field’s social and geo-cultural boundaries is then considered, before revisiting the concept of autonomy and its methodological implications. The article ends by suggesting the use of Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence in the study of literary texts. The conclusion raises the question of the impure foundations of autonomy.

The literary landscape is shaped by constant conflicts-debates over aesthetic value, moral acceptability, author’s rights, and literary success. These conflicts manifest in public controversies, scandals, and feuds, which structure the literary discourse. This essay outlines a theory of literary conflict, exploring how struggles over legitimacy, authorship, and aesthetic value drive the dynamics of literature. Drawing on the sociology of literature, it examines literary disputes as arenas of negotiation, where competing actors engage in valuation battles and power struggles. Additionally, the essay highlights the role of reception in shaping literary conflicts, arguing that readers actively participate in defining literary norms.

The sociology of literature has an ambiguous relationship with both literary studies and sociology. This essay advocates for a sociology of literature that can be understood as a specialised branch within the broader field of cultural sociology. The article also distinguishes between a ‘soft’ concept of literary sociology as an interpretative-qualitative discipline and a ‘hard’ concept that also incorporates the methodology of empirical social sciences.