Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)

A Critical Review of the Book The Sociology of Literature’

Document Type : Research

Author

Reihaneh Aslanzadeh

PhD of Theoretical-cultural Sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/crtls.2025.45479.2741
Abstract
This paper reviews the ‘The Sociology of Literature’ by Diana Laurenson and Alan Swingewood. It is the second book with this title that has been published in Iran by SAMT within a period of a quarter of a century. The translation of the book is good and it looks interesting. The main problem with this book is its oldness. Based on an unwritten agreement in academic literature, the translation of old works implies that the author is a highly esteemed theorist or a reliable teacher of some theory. This book, which was published in 1970, falls under none of the above. In addition, the authors and the translator are in disagreement regarding the status of the book. The authors see the book as a suggestion for reading and researching and an introduction to a field in which there was not an integrated knowledge in the English-speaking literature. The translator sees the book as a great piece of work that has no parallel. However, the theoretical selection and historical summary of the book face criticism from two perspectives. First, both parts somehow are in contrast with the anti-positivism approach of the book: whether in the logic of selecting theorists and events or in the formation and presentation of contents. Second, the theoretical and methodical summary is inadequate. Overall, given the availability of a rich body of papers and books by thinkers from the sociology of literature, cultural sociology, critical theory, and interdisciplinary philosophy, this book does not seem a good choice for teaching.

Keywords

Sociology of Literature
Literary Criticism
Genetic Structuralism
Book Review

Subjects

Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer (2005), Dialectic of enlightenment, Morad Farhadpur and Omid Mehregan (trans.), Tehran: Game nou.
Escarpit, Robert (1995), The Sociology of literature, Morteza Kotobi (trans.), Tehran: SAMT.
Federici, Silvia (2018), Caliban and the witch: women, the body and primitive accumulation, Mehdi Saberi (trans.), Tehran: Cheshmeh.
Freud, Zigmund (2013), The psychology of masses and Ego analysis, Saira Rafiei (trans.), Tehran: Ney.
Goldman, Lucien (1980), Essays on Method in the Sociology of Literature, William Q (trans.), Boelhower, United States of America: Telos Press.
Goldman, Lucien (1990), Genetic structuralism, Mohammad Taghi Ghiasi (trans.), Tehran: Bozorgmehr.
Langer, J. (1974), “Review of the book The sociology of literature, by D. Laurenson & A. Swingwood”, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, vol. 10, no. 2, 150-151.
Laurenson, Diana and Alan Swingewood (1972), Sociology of Literature, New York: Schocken Books.
Laurenson, Diana and Alan Swingewood (2020), The Sociology of literature, Shapor Behian (trans.), Tehran: SAMT.
Lukacs, Georg (2008) The Sociology of literature, Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh (trans.), Tehran: Mahi.
Marx, Karl (1977), Capital, New York: Vintage Books.
Milner, Andrew (1981), John Milton and The English Revolution: A study in the sociology of literature, London: Macmillan Press.
Payandeh, Hosein (1998), Theory and Literary Criticism, Tehran: SAMT.
Pooyandeh, Mohamad Jafar (2018), Handbook of the sociology of literature, Tehran: Naghshe Jahan.
Schram, Dick and Gerard Steen (2001), The Psychology and Sociology of Literature, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company.
Williams, Raymond (2018), Culture and Socity, Akbar Masoumbeigi and Nastaran Mousavi (trans.), Tehran: Negah.
Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)
Volume 24, Issue 4 - Serial Number 118
Winter 2025
Winter 2025
Pages 53-77

  • Receive Date 10 October 2024
  • Revise Date 01 January 2025
  • Accept Date 20 January 2025

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