The concept of the field toward a new literary historiography. The Rules of Art by Pierre Bourdieu

Abstract

In 1992 the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu published The Rules of Art. The book was the result of thirty years of research on art and literature focused on the concept of ‘literary field’. After discussing the way by which, according to Bourdieu, literary relations affect the production and reception of literature, the essay outlines the main perspectives in literary studies opened by Bourdieu’s work, particularly in the field of Italian literature.