Contemporary strategies of researching literature and literary field in new media circulation. Production – reception – criticism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show the functionality of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept, which - in connection with technological determinism elements (Marshall McLuhan, Paul Levinson, Derrick de Kerckhove) and neopragmatism (Richard Rorty) - makes it possible to describe comprehensively the literary field in media civilisation in the second decade of the 21st century. It’s not an easy task, because contemporary literature enters complex relationships with traditional media and new technologies, which can be observed with regard to all key processes connected with this field. These include: production, reception, as well as strategies of using literature, and frequently also constructing texts in media space or criticism and advertising-marketing activity, in which a major role is currently played by the so-calle inluencers (influencer marketing). Literature becomes a product which is promoted both as a luxurious good and an element of pop culture. Thus, the marriage of those concepts is necessary to describe adequately all the strategic elements of this field and show its dynamics from processual and functional perspectives. Nowadays, the emphasis is placed not so much on researching the texts themselves, but their activity in cultural space, that is in relation to recipients, users, readers and larger discursive groups, neotribal communities or the demoscene. Web 3.0 culture and the frames of contemporary media civilisation, with plenty of culture texts, calls for research from the area of media archaeology, which provides an essential context for analysis of modern culture field as a kind of background. Investigation of literature is increasingly dominated by new media methodologies, e.g. software- or hardware-studies and research into media platforms. According to determinists, such as Marshall McLuhan, Derrick de Kerckhove and Paul Levinson technology influences the form and content of the message, which is visible with regard to digital and (post)electronic literature, as well as publishing policy in the context of paper, printed book and audiobooks or e-books.