This picture was taken at Copenhagen University where, on August 14th until August 16th the Nordic Association for Literary Research (NorLit) held its 2019 conference. This year’s edition was dedicated to the theme: ‘Money and Literature: Wealth, Finance, Aesthetics’ and explored the complex relations between literature, culture and economics in both a contemporary and a historical perspective. During NorLit 2019, Lina Samuelsson (Mälardalen University) and I took the opportunity to present the first findings of our project ‘The Crisis of Criticism Compared: Journalistic Literary Criticism in Sweden and the Netherlands (2007-2017)’. See the abstract of our presentation below or visit the website of Copenhagen University for a full description of the conference.
How much does good criticism cost? – Economic and Aesthetic Statements in Journalistic Literary Criticism in the Netherlands and Sweden (2007–2017)
Traditionally, in modern culture artistic and commercial values have a troubled relationship. For example, in regard to the literary field Pierre Bourdieu has pointed out that in order to gain ‘symbolic capital’ (artistic prestige) participants structurally conceal the economic dimension of literary production. In the case of literary criticism the tension between artistic and economic value becomes visible in the way critics reflect upon their profession, namely as either part of the artistic domain (‘criticism as an art form’) or the commercial domain (‘criticism as consumer information’). At the same time, due to digitalization (changed material conditions, amateur book bloggers, unpaid consumer reviews online) economic factors also seem to gain symbolic value, for example when payment as a demarcating criteria for professional criticism becomes a nodal point of discussion.
In this paper we will reflect on the above mentioned tensions in relation to the outcomes of our project ‘The Crisis of Criticism: A Comparative Perspective’ in which we have analyzed meta-critical statements on book reviewing in public print media from Sweden and the Netherlands for the period of 2007-2017. It is striking that, while in Sweden the economic and material conditions of literary criticism are a recurring topic, this reflection is less explicit in the debate on Dutch journalistic criticism. Why is money such an important topic of reflection for the Swedish critic and less so for the Dutch? This question is analyzed in the light of the different views on the nature of criticism and the reviewing traditions in Sweden and the Netherlands.
The Nordic Association for Literary research is a Nordic organization for literary research in all relevant disciplines such as comparative literature, the disciplines of language and cultural studies. Every second year the organization holds a conference devoted to the interdisciplinary research of literature.
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