The art of simultaneous observation

Literary sociology between literature and sociology

Abstract

Summary:In his eminent study – Die drei Kulturen – Wolf Lepenies set out the thesis of the cultural triad of natural sciences, literature and sociology, with the latter seen in a precarious situation in between. Even more precarious would be a sociology of literature that explicitly sits between literature and sociology. However, as this article aims to show, this does not detract a sociology of literature from its potential for knowledge. On the contrary, literary sociology, understood as the simultaneous observation of literature and its society, is an indispensable instrument for understanding our socio-cultural environment. To make this clear, the first step presents the award-winning German novel Schäfchen im Trockenen by Anke Stelling from a literary-sociological perspective. The second and third step reads this novel against the backdrop of contemporary social theory, whereby a distinction is made between two readings: the novel as an evidence of a life in fluid modernity and risk society on the one hand and, on the other hand, as an evidence of the rise of the creative class within the aestheticizing society. The final fourth part focuses on these readings and formulates central questions of a contemporary literary sociology.