Social history of literature
The social history of literature is a historical consideration of literature, its production and reception , its content and form , which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and is oriented towards social development .
It initially saw itself as a counter-movement to the work-immanent interpretation and to intellectual history (which were themselves counter-movements to German studies during the time of National Socialism and to the positivism of the 19th century).
Its aim is to show the determinateness of literature by contemporary social conditions and its development, but also, conversely, the influence of literature on these conditions. Authors and their works are considered to represent their society or certain groups and their worldview (possibly ideology ): literature is an expression of certain social ( domination , representation , exclusion and inclusion) relationships; it can thus be used as a source for general intellectual and social history .
- "Literary works of art or philosophical literature can only be understood inadequately or even incorrectly without knowledge of the social reality that they have always processed into contexts of meaning in their linguistic forms."
The two main directions of the social history of literature are:
- 1. A positivistic empirical sociology of literature in its historical variant examines the conditions / modes of production and reception of literature on the basis of detailed historical research (e.g. case studies , author, group and generation studies, those on the literature market and the public, etc.) .
- 2. The ideological criticism (traditionally Marxist or based on the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory) treats the works according to their content and form as an expression of certain interest and rule structures, and criticizes them on behalf of another group (e.g. the Bourgeoisie and its literature from the perspective of the proletariat ) or interprets them in a sociologically neutral manner (compare hermeneutical sociology of knowledge and sociology of knowledge ).
literature
- Hans Norbert Fügen (ed.): Ways of the sociology of literature (= sociological texts. Vol. 46). Luchterhand, Neuwied 1968 (historical part, pp. 39–159).
- Horst Albert Glaser (Ed.): German literature. A social story. 10 vols. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980–1991.
- Rolf Grimminger (ed.): Hanser's social history of German literature. 12 vols. Hanser / dtv, Munich 1980–1999.
- Arnold Hauser : Social history of art and literature (1953). Unabridged special edition in 1 volume Beck, Munich 1969.
- Leo Löwenthal : The image of people in literature (1957) (= sociological texts. Vol. 37). Luchterhand, Neuwied 1966.
- Leo Löwenthal: Storytelling and Society. The social problems in 19th century German literature Neuwied: Luchterhand 1971 (Luchterhand collection 32)
- Georg Lukács : Sketch of a History of Modern German Literature (1953). Luchterhand, Neuwied 1963.
- Georg Lukács: Faust and Faustus. From the drama of the human species to the tragedy of modern art (= Selected Writings. Vol. 2). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1967.
- Georg Lukács: Writings on the sociology of literature (1961) (= sociological texts. Vol. 9). Luchterhand, Neuwied 1970.
Individual evidence
- ^ R. Grimminger: Hanser's social history of German literature. Preliminary note to the Enlightenment, 1980.