Contenu du sommaire : Le champ littéraire

Le champ littéraire

• Le champ littéraire - Pierre Bourdieu p. 3-46
  The Literary Pleid This text the theoretical summary of extensive empirical research puts forward the foundations of method of analysis of cultural works and more especially here of literary works There are three stages analysis of the position of the field of cultural production within the field of power which here leads one to clarify the ambiguous position of conservative intellectuals who are temporally dominant but symbolically dominated within space that is itself dominated analysis of the structure and functioning of the literary field itself and finally analysis of the trajectories of writers within this spaces The literary field being relatively autonomous is shaped by the competition between two indépendant and even antagonistic principles of hierarchization an internal principle -the symbolic capital associated with peer recognition- and an external principle the economic and political capital accruing from wordly success It is the site of constant struggles not least over the conditions of participation in the struggle i.e over the limits of the field itself Contrary to the neo-Marxist view of Lukacs or Goldman) which directly relates the space of literary works to the social space as whole or the neo-Hegelian view of Tynianov or Foucault) which gives complete autonomy to the system of works seen as evolving over time in accordance with its own logic it is the field unterstood as space of positions which countains the principle of the space of position-takings i.e of the strategies aimed at transforming or conserving the field But the game itself the value of the stakes and therefore the struggles to win them exist and persist only through the investment in the game which the game itself endlessly produces and reproduces For an adequate understanding of literary works one therefore has to consider both the space of the possibles available to each writer at given moment in the history of the field what is possible stylistically formally etc.) and the dispositions towards these possibles that he owes to his position in the field and to the trajectory which has brought him there The effect of social origin is never exerted directly and mechanically but is mediated by the whole history of the field
• Une crise du champ littéraire français - Jean-Michel Péru p. 47-65
  Le débat sur la littérature prolétarienne Pour comprendre pourquoi la question une littérature prolétarienne hui vide de sens du point de vue de histoire littéraire mobilisé de nombreux écrivains fran ais appartenant des tendances diverses entre 1925 et 1935 il faut voir ce qui été véritablement en jeu derrière le débat opinion Plus que les définitions des rapports entre écrivains et prolétariat ou révolution est la déli vrance par le PCF un brevet de révolutionnarité qui été enjeu de luttes incessantes entre des acteurs du champ lit téraire dont les positions peuvent être ramenées quatre le critique littéraire de Humanité qui ne doit autorité et de public au Parti écrivain dominé autodidacte origine populaire qui voit dans la posture de écrivain prolétarien occasion entrer sur la scène littéraire et de faire reconnaître écrivain avant-gardiste qui révo lutionnaire en littérature veut se voir reconnaître cette qualité par les révolutionnaires en politique pour renforcer sa position dans le champ littéraire Enfin écrivain consacré dans le cas présent Barbusse et Gide) qui doit défendre contre les assauts des prétendants sa position mais aussi autonomie du champ menacée par appel généralisé au profane incarné par le Parti communiste dans le cas précis que recèle ce débat évolution du rap port des forces en jeu détermine les quatre étapes que on peut reconnaître dans ce débat propos de littérature pro létarienne est-à-dire quatre états successifs du champ qui connu là outre une simple crise permettant une redis tribution des positions une crise plus profonde identité De la fa on dont cette crise est refermée autonomie du champ littéraire est retrouvée renforcée

  The Proletarian Literature Debate 1925-1935 The debate over proletarian literature mobilized French writers of various tendencies between 1925 and 1935 It has now lost all meaning in terms of literary history To understand why one has to see what was really at stake behind the debate of opinion The unceasing struggles among actors in the literary field were not so much over definitions of the relationship between writers and the proletariat or the revolution as over the awarding by the French Communist Party of certificates of revolutionary virtue The antagonists positions fall into four groups First the literary critic of the Party newspaper Humanité who owes his entire authority and audience to the Party Secondly the dominated writer an autodidact of working-class origin for whom the posture of proletarian author appears as means of entering onto the literary stage and securing recognition within it Thirdly the avant-garde writer revolutionary in literature seeking similar recognition from the revolutionaries in politics so as to reinforce his position the literary field Finally there is the consecrated author here Gide and Barbusse who not only has to defend his position against the assaults of challengers but also to defend the autonomy of the literary field under threat from the generalized appeal to the profane world embodied in this instance by the Communist Party which lies behind the debate The unfolding of the relationship between the contending forces determines the four stages that can be observed in this debate over proletarian literature in other words four successive states of the field which underwent not just crisis leading to redistribution of positions but deeper crisis of identity The way in which the crisis came to an end led to strengthening of the autonomy of the literary field
• Tel Quel. - Louis Pinto p. 66-77
  Tel Quel La revue Tel Quel 1960-1983 été créée par de jeunes écrivains désireux de réaliser rencontre de la doctrine sartrienne de la littérature engagée un retour la litté rature Issus de fractions dominantes de la bourgeoisie et en même temps dotés comme Piîippe Sollers un des fondateurs et animateurs de la revue de diplômes écoles occupant comme ou ESSEC un rang infé rieur dans les hiérarchies scolaires et un rang élevé dans les hiérarchies mondaines externes ces prétendants ne pouvaient se faire reconnaître comme intellectuels condition de subvertir les hiérarchies intellectuelles en mettant fin au règne des philosophes et celui des intellec tuels de gauche désignés comme idéologues Or si des dispositions sociales alors marquées comme bour geoises ont pu être dotées de valeur positive est parce elles ont réussi trouver une expression euphémisée le texte criture grâce au langage savant dont essor des sciences humaines avait rendu possible la diffusion La combinaison de formes littéraires présumées novatrices et de apparat de la scientificité dernier-cri été un des aspects principaux un style intellectuel inédit La fortune de ce style repose en grande partie sur la certification mutuelle avant-gardisme dont ont pu bénéficier une part des écrivains prétentions savantes et autre part des universitaires en quête de reconnaissance hors du cercle des pairs La disparition de Tel Quel pourrait bien être une des conséquences de la consécration obtenue les membres les plus eminents de la revue sont devenus suffisamment sûrs de leur réussite pour pouvoir sans risque dénoncer illusion parodique laquelle ils ont pris une part déterminante quoique non exclusive

  Tel Quel The journal Tel Quel 1960-1983 was created by group of young writers who wanted to bring about return to literature in opposition to doctrine of commited literature The challengers came from dominant fractions of the bourgeoisie and like Philippe Sollers one of the founders and editors of the journal were graduates of schools ranking relatively low in the acadmic hierarchies but high in the external social hierachies Their only means of winning recognition as intellectuals was therefore to subvert the intellectual hierarchies by putting an end to the reign of the philosophers and of the left-wing intellectuals whom they designated ideologues If social dispositions hitherto marked as bourgeois were able to become endowed with positive value this was because they were able to find euphemized expression text writing by means of the learned language that the rise of the social sciences has made available The combination of supposedly innovatory literary forms with the paraphernalia of up-to-the-minute scientificity was one of the main features of an original intellectual style The fortunes of this style depended to large extent on the mutual award of certificates of avant-gardism between writers with academic pretensions and academics seeking recognition beyond their peer group The demise of Tel Quel might well be one of the consequences of the consecration thus obtained the most eminent contributors became sufficiently confident of their own success to be able to denounce safely the parodie illusion in which they played decisive though not exclusive part