Litteraturfestivalen som offentlighet

Abstract

The Literature Festival as a Public Sphere

Literary festivals are becoming increasingly popular. They can, for instance, be dedicated to regional or world literature, a single author  or a genre, literature in general or a specific theme. Despite their growing importance as public spheres, where an intense production  and distribution of literary value take place, little scholarly attention has been paid to them. A common denominator for many festivals  is that they have strong connections to the market, the state, and the broader cultural sphere of society. In this article I approach  literary festivals from the following perspectives: as a residual (Williams) form of an older festival or carnival culture (Lefebvre, Bakhtin); as an example of collective reading, or ”reading beyond the book” (Fuller and Rehberg Sedo); as a mirror of the conflicts and  contradictions that circulate in the wider literary field – e.g. ”high” versus ”low” literature, the book as cultural form and commodity  (Bourdieu). Observations from two festivals support my argument: one politically activist festival in Sweden, and one of the largest  literary festivals in the world (Edinburgh International Book Festival).