Autonomy, market and ideology in the Belarusian literary field of the first third of the 20th century and at the turn of the millennium

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Gun-Britt Kohler
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253403835

The present project examines the profile and development of 'small' literatures' institutional and aesthetic-poetological autonomy on the example of Belarusian literature using the results in order to adapt and sharpen the model for autonomy coined by Pierre Bourdieu. The leading hypothesis that in 'small' literatures specific processes of autonomization take place which this model only conditionally accounts for is a result of comprehensive preliminary studies on the theoretical framework (Bourdieu's field theory) as well as on object level (Belarusian literature) which suggest that Bourdieu's understanding of autonomy or autonomization describes to some extent an 'extreme case' that many literatures' development cannot 'catch up' with.In this respect the field model serves as a heuristic model for the study of two important phases in the development of Belarusian literature: its 'phase of constitution and institutionalization' during the first third of the 20th century; and its postsoviet development as a 'phase of re-constitution' at the turn of the millenium. The project aims at identifying phenomena and processes on both the institutional and the aesthetic-poetological level that indicate autonomy or autonomization within the specific logic of the Belarusian literary field. These specifics (considering Bourdieu's model) will, firstly, be scrutinized with respect to their correlation with a 'field of power' that - in contrast to common assumptions in field theory - is dominated by ideological rather than economical parameters, and secondly, on that basis, will be questioned and systematized according to their mutual interrelations.Thus, on the example of Belarusian literature, a means of reflection is deduced that allows to systematically revise established concepts of autonomy while at the same time we gain, focussing on the process of autonomization, new insights into Belarusian literature, e.g. its transformation from a (not yet consolidated) 'national' literature into and out of the Soviet model (totalizing and de-totalizing). Finally, the study provides first-time objectifiable insights into the literary market of Belarus.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants