Jan Vana
Currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale. Junior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
In my research , I develop an innovative approach of looking at the cultural meanings in a society of a given time and space through the lenses of literary fiction. When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the aesthetic experience of reading between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of social knowledge, which are usually “lost in translation” between fictional and sociological genres. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new arena for understanding the meanings of social life.
In my dissertation thesis, I dealt with cultural aspects of the post-communist Czech society and with aesthetic representations of (post-)communism in the after-1989 Czech literature. My research topics include sociology of literature, cultural sociology, sociological theory, and aesthetics. My long-term interest lies in transgressing the institutional boundaries between social sciences and literature, which I pursue, for example, by publishing socially engaged fiction.
Supervisors: Werner Binder
In my research , I develop an innovative approach of looking at the cultural meanings in a society of a given time and space through the lenses of literary fiction. When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the aesthetic experience of reading between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of social knowledge, which are usually “lost in translation” between fictional and sociological genres. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new arena for understanding the meanings of social life.
In my dissertation thesis, I dealt with cultural aspects of the post-communist Czech society and with aesthetic representations of (post-)communism in the after-1989 Czech literature. My research topics include sociology of literature, cultural sociology, sociological theory, and aesthetics. My long-term interest lies in transgressing the institutional boundaries between social sciences and literature, which I pursue, for example, by publishing socially engaged fiction.
Supervisors: Werner Binder
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Drafts by Jan Vana
Když jsme Normální lidi probírali s oním americkým sociologem, pochopil jsem, proč psaní Sally Rooney tak propadl, i když sám do generace mileniálů nepatří. Jde právě o tuto schopnost trefně vyjádřit široce sdílený pocit, určitou náladu, která se obtížně dává do slov, ale zároveň má na životy lidí obrovský vliv. Dát do slov něco, co se slovy jednoznačně zachytit nedá. Sociologie o to usiluje už od svého založení, ale literatura je k tomu v mnoha ohledech vybavená lépe. I když profesor Sally Rooney obdivuje, nepřímo se taky přiznal k tomu, že jí tuto schopnost jako sociolog závidí.
Papers by Jan Vana
When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological, thus leaving literature stripped of its aesthetic qualities. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the interaction between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of understanding social experience which are usually 'lost in translation' between fictional and sociological genres. My major claims are that, first, when referring to social experience, both sociological and literary texts employ aesthetic devices to mediate understanding for the reader. Second, within the literary genre, the understanding of social experience relies much more on the emotional engagement of the reader through a reading process facilitated by these aesthetic devices. Third, to benefit methodologically and epistemologically from the lyrical understanding of social experience mediated by literature, cultural sociologists must be particularly sensitive to the subtlety and ambiguity of meanings mediated by the aesthetic. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new area for understanding the meanings of social life, especially its non-discursive dimensions. The research model I propose for a new sociology of literature adopts the landscape of meaning concept developed by Isaac Reed in combination with the aesthetic structuralism of Czech linguist Jan Mukařovský. This model will be demonstrated through an interpretive analysis of the Czech novel Sestra (published in English as City Sister Silver) by Jáchym Topol.
Vyšlo v listopadovém vydání časopisu HOST v roce 2019.
Když jsme Normální lidi probírali s oním americkým sociologem, pochopil jsem, proč psaní Sally Rooney tak propadl, i když sám do generace mileniálů nepatří. Jde právě o tuto schopnost trefně vyjádřit široce sdílený pocit, určitou náladu, která se obtížně dává do slov, ale zároveň má na životy lidí obrovský vliv. Dát do slov něco, co se slovy jednoznačně zachytit nedá. Sociologie o to usiluje už od svého založení, ale literatura je k tomu v mnoha ohledech vybavená lépe. I když profesor Sally Rooney obdivuje, nepřímo se taky přiznal k tomu, že jí tuto schopnost jako sociolog závidí.
When analyzing literary fiction, most cultural sociologists still accept the well-established boundaries between the literary and the sociological, thus leaving literature stripped of its aesthetic qualities. Instead, I propose a new approach that focuses on the process of meaning-making as it occurs within the interaction between the reader and the novel in a given socio-historical setting. This allows analysts to capture those aspects of understanding social experience which are usually 'lost in translation' between fictional and sociological genres. My major claims are that, first, when referring to social experience, both sociological and literary texts employ aesthetic devices to mediate understanding for the reader. Second, within the literary genre, the understanding of social experience relies much more on the emotional engagement of the reader through a reading process facilitated by these aesthetic devices. Third, to benefit methodologically and epistemologically from the lyrical understanding of social experience mediated by literature, cultural sociologists must be particularly sensitive to the subtlety and ambiguity of meanings mediated by the aesthetic. The methodological advantage gained is the analysis of deeper cultural meanings grounded in, yet also going beyond, an emotionally and existentially experienced social reality, which is intersubjectively shared and filtered by various groups of readers and cultural intermediaries. The epistemological advantage gained by overcoming the assumed inferiority of literature is that cultural sociological research unlocks a whole new area for understanding the meanings of social life, especially its non-discursive dimensions. The research model I propose for a new sociology of literature adopts the landscape of meaning concept developed by Isaac Reed in combination with the aesthetic structuralism of Czech linguist Jan Mukařovský. This model will be demonstrated through an interpretive analysis of the Czech novel Sestra (published in English as City Sister Silver) by Jáchym Topol.
Vyšlo v listopadovém vydání časopisu HOST v roce 2019.
v Polsku. Vedle několika monografií (zejm. Sociologie literatury Karla Krejčího [1944] a Sociologie a literatura Miloslava Petruska [1990]) se tématu věnovali v samizdatovém Sociologickém obzoru sociologové Josef Alan a Miloslav Petrusek, jejichž myšlenky vyšly souborně v polovině devadesátých let (srov. Sociologie, literatura a politika: literatura jako sociologické sdělení [1996]). Jedním z důvodů může být i fakt, že sociologie literatury vychází původně z marxismu a ten byl, na rozdíl od Polska, v československých akademických kruzích značně zprofanován — pojila se s ním „obsahová prázdnota a pragmatičnost“ (s. 251).
Když se mě někdo zeptá: "Ty děláš teda sociologii literatury, jo?" přeběhne mi nejdřív po zádech nepříjemné mravenčení. V levém koutku oka třikrát škubne, zuby zaskřípou, nohy se začnou nervózně vrtět. Nakonec nezbude, než přikývnout. Sociologie literatury je po všech stránkách děsné slovní spojení. Nepřátelské. Ze sociologie dělá vědu s velkým "V" a z literatury mrtvé maso na pitevním stole. Zkoumat literaturu sociologicky v sobě obsahuje předpoklad, že literatura je objekt, pasivní předmět zájmu, kterému je třeba přijít na kloub a nějak ho vysvětlit. Jako se vysvětlují pohyby tektonických desek nebo noční život kaloňů. Brněnská pobočka Ústavu pro českou literaturu, kde se mj. sociologií literatury zabývám, ostatně ještě donedávna sdílela kanceláře s Ústavem biologie obratlovců a lingvistika je zde neúprosná: "Kdo? Co?"-Biologie a sociologie-zkoumá "Koho? Co?"-Obratlovce a literaturu.