Reading Publics and the Power of Literature

Laura Bieger

Reading Publics and the Power of Literature

Laura Bieger

Research output: Contribution to conference › Other › Academic

Abstract

Studying the reading public is a pressing task at a time when printed matter ceases to be the unrivalled foundation of our reading culture while the public sphere is undergoing its perhaps gravest transformation since the invention of the printing press. Drawing on Jürgen Habermas’s notion that readership is a key constituent of the public sphere, this workshop sets out to explore the power that literature has in creating and sustaining that institutional space on which democratic societies crucially depend. Against this backdrop, literature’s power needs to be discussed in at least three critical ways: as a means of resistance against political and economic coercion; as a social institution with close ties to both the market and the public sphere; and as a world-making agent that is in and of itself capable of hegemonic consolidation.

Topics of interest for this workshop:
• engaged literature (genres, forms, styles, modes of address)
• what and how does that public read?
• historical and institutional dimensions
• political, economic and medial challenges
• the public sphere and the literary field
• pluralized reading publics/counterpublics, scopes and sizes of reading publics
• text and paratext, circulation of literary texts

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 2018
Event	Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association - University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States Duration: 29-Mar-2018 → 1-Apr-2018

Workshop

Workshop	Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association
Country/Territory	United States
City	Los Angeles
Period	29/03/2018 → 01/04/2018

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Cite this

@conference{9ed5506c96b24e23ad1f3042d9237b66,

title = "Reading Publics and the Power of Literature",

abstract = "Studying the reading public is a pressing task at a time when printed matter ceases to be the unrivalled foundation of our reading culture while the public sphere is undergoing its perhaps gravest transformation since the invention of the printing press. Drawing on J{\"u}rgen Habermas{\textquoteright}s notion that readership is a key constituent of the public sphere, this workshop sets out to explore the power that literature has in creating and sustaining that institutional space on which democratic societies crucially depend. Against this backdrop, literature{\textquoteright}s power needs to be discussed in at least three critical ways: as a means of resistance against political and economic coercion; as a social institution with close ties to both the market and the public sphere; and as a world-making agent that is in and of itself capable of hegemonic consolidation.Topics of interest for this workshop:• engaged literature (genres, forms, styles, modes of address)• what and how does that public read?• historical and institutional dimensions • political, economic and medial challenges • the public sphere and the literary field• pluralized reading publics/counterpublics, scopes and sizes of reading publics• text and paratext, circulation of literary texts",

author = "Laura Bieger",

year = "2018",

language = "English",

note = "Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association ; Conference date: 29-03-2018 Through 01-04-2018",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - Reading Publics and the Power of Literature

AU - Bieger, Laura

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Studying the reading public is a pressing task at a time when printed matter ceases to be the unrivalled foundation of our reading culture while the public sphere is undergoing its perhaps gravest transformation since the invention of the printing press. Drawing on Jürgen Habermas’s notion that readership is a key constituent of the public sphere, this workshop sets out to explore the power that literature has in creating and sustaining that institutional space on which democratic societies crucially depend. Against this backdrop, literature’s power needs to be discussed in at least three critical ways: as a means of resistance against political and economic coercion; as a social institution with close ties to both the market and the public sphere; and as a world-making agent that is in and of itself capable of hegemonic consolidation.Topics of interest for this workshop:• engaged literature (genres, forms, styles, modes of address)• what and how does that public read?• historical and institutional dimensions • political, economic and medial challenges • the public sphere and the literary field• pluralized reading publics/counterpublics, scopes and sizes of reading publics• text and paratext, circulation of literary texts

AB - Studying the reading public is a pressing task at a time when printed matter ceases to be the unrivalled foundation of our reading culture while the public sphere is undergoing its perhaps gravest transformation since the invention of the printing press. Drawing on Jürgen Habermas’s notion that readership is a key constituent of the public sphere, this workshop sets out to explore the power that literature has in creating and sustaining that institutional space on which democratic societies crucially depend. Against this backdrop, literature’s power needs to be discussed in at least three critical ways: as a means of resistance against political and economic coercion; as a social institution with close ties to both the market and the public sphere; and as a world-making agent that is in and of itself capable of hegemonic consolidation.Topics of interest for this workshop:• engaged literature (genres, forms, styles, modes of address)• what and how does that public read?• historical and institutional dimensions • political, economic and medial challenges • the public sphere and the literary field• pluralized reading publics/counterpublics, scopes and sizes of reading publics• text and paratext, circulation of literary texts

M3 - Other

T2 - Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association

Y2 - 29 March 2018 through 1 April 2018

ER -