HumanitiesLiteratureLiterary CriticismLiterary StudiesLiterary TheoryLiterary GenresPolitical NarrativeLiterary PoliticsSociology Of Literature
The politics of literature refers to the relationship between political practice and literary production, distinct from writers’ personal politics, representation of events, or social structures. The author aims to clarify the meaning of the term “politics of literature” and delineate what it does not encompass. The term is defined by the syntagma that literature “does” politics, establishing a specific link between political action and literary practice.
I will start by explaining what my title means—and first of all what it does not mean. The politics of literature is not the politics of its writers. It does not deal with their personal commitment to the social and political issues and struggles of their times. Nor does it deal with the modes of representation of political events or the social structure and the social struggles in their books. The syntagma "politics of literature" means that literature "does" politics as literature—that there is a specific link between politics as a definite way of doing and literature as a definite practice of writing.