The sociology of Literature and Publishing in the Early 21st Century: Away From the Centre

Literature is the art form of the nation-state. The written word was at the peak of its influence from the Enlightenment until late in the 20th century. National literatures became central to the development of national identities and the formation of national art worlds. Moreover, they were important vehicles for the exchange of ideas. However, the central position of the nation-state has dwindled due to the centrifugal effects of globalization and regionalization. Simultaneously, literature has given way to other, mainly visual and digital, cultural forms. In the process, it has lost much of its political clout. Literature seems to pose little or no threat to those groups it may previously have worried, and is of little consequence to elites in the 21st century. Instead, it has become an object of cultural consumption, for dwindling and aging publics.