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New scenes and houses for literature
- A challenge for cultural and public library policy?
Conference paper
Niels D. Lund
Royal School of Library and Information Science,
Copenhagen, Denmark, 6 Birketinget, DK-2300 S. +45 32 58 60 66.
MA in Nordic Philology and Literature and in History, University of Copenhagen 1978, PhD in public enlightenment within literary history, University of Copenhagen 2000; Associated Professor in Promotion of literature and cultural history, 1981, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen.
Abstract
The paper focuses on the emergence of new initiatives and undertakings in the field of promotion and use of literature in comparison with the possibilities and practices of the traditional public library institutions and of public cultural policy. First a description of a dual development of the public library and of UNESCO’s agenda City of literature makes a setting; then three parts mention different scenes and initiatives: small scenes for performance of literature, festivals of literature as a mode, and – more detailed – the various types of houses of literature - with primarily Danish/Nordic examples. The discussion gives some explanations of these scenes and activities from a sociological view of the literary life and in relation to e.g. experience economy, states that the public cultural policy mostly has fluctuated regarding these scenes and houses, and suggests generally a need to clarify questions of subsiding and relations to libraries and civil society.
Key words: Literature, performance of literature, promotion, public library, house of literature, festivals
Words: 7855
Introduction
The general attention and the main resources of the public cultural budgets related to the field of literature are placed in the public libraries. Being established institutions of distribution with regularity and free admission public libraries are high status hallmarks of cultural policy in many countries and cities. Subsidies to literature, writers, and publishers are often canalized directly or indirectly through the practice and effect of public libraries; they are at the centre of the literary system, and in many cities and local communities the only public scenes for promotion of literature.
In recent years, however, many activities and new scenes and places for circulations, meetings, and performances of literature have developed – new and crossing initiatives and new institutions – all in various scales and scopes, in different ways in different countries and cities, and with purpose parallel as well as alternative to that of the public library.
The paper aims to focus on the emergence of these new initiatives and undertakings in the field of promotion and use of literature in comparison with the rationales, possibilities and practices of the traditional public library institutions. To inquire how and why the new circulations and activities represent cultural experiments and avant-garde, renewals of places and platforms, altered social reach outs, and new generations, and whether they may change concepts both of texts, urban planning, literary milieu, and performance design. Obviously there is a new mixing of state, market, and civil society organizations, and of production, distribution, and consumption, together with fresh players mixed by amateurs/professionals etc. To which degree do they diverge from well-known library routines and experiences and point to alternatives?
So, first a dual development of the public library makes a setting, a UNESCO program marks an agenda setting, and then three parts will mention different scenes and initiatives: small scenes, festivals, and - more detailed as the most challenging - houses of literature, and then some discussions and conclusions. There are neither recent nor deep empirical investigations, but reasoned observations with primarily a Danish/Nordic focus.
The inquiry is central because the public cultural policy mostly seems fluctuating, somewhat reluctant and very selective to these new literary undertakings, scenes and activities; attitudes and sorts of practice concerning public subsidies have been different, may be challenging because of a lack of conceptualizing and framing?
Concept remarks
The field covered here has many concepts – the terms the literary system (Escarpit), the literary field (Bourdieu), the literary process, and the literary life (e.g. Furuland) are noted practically synonymously; they hold founding sociological patterns of actors within production, circulation, and use in the society, and all do have cultural policy implications. The actors focused in this paper point to a shift in well-known patterns; when the weight is displaced to reception and audience activity, to place and performance - so, other forms of experience ends and of flows - a new picture will emerge confronting the long-established one-way process of the printed book; and a renewed description of circulating literary life is needed.
The distinction between literature and book is to be mentioned, as the words are often used synonymously/overlapping in public and political debates; literature refers to culture, art, and school education, while book is the physical and trade market term - a quality bestseller covers both!; the government subsides literature, not books, but book policy exists as a concept; surveys of reading counts books – not literature; a book fair is a cultural event etc. Hereto a book and a work is not the same, and literature may be found in sources other than books – today increasingly. It is e.g. important to distinguish whether today’s collaborators of the fashion-right partnerships do have the same approach.
As for cultural policy there are many forms of subsidies for the literary field. Literature (excellently fiction) is subsided by art legislation, primarily to the authors as persons with bursaries etc., and secondly to specific works/projects; it is quality in sight as for the production link, for the authors but not the publishers. The distribution link is subsided primarily via public libraries’ purchase (of great significance in the Nordic countries) as for both quality and quantity indirect subsidy to the publishers book market, whereas a sort of duty/compensation to the authors as artists is run according to volumes in number on the library shelves. The consumers link and the use of literature, against it, does not get much subsidy; and if generally the weight within the literary life displaces towards the readers and the collective and place fixed use, it may be paradoxical if the weight of the subsidies do not follow? Generally – except from the libraries – the literary life has had little attention within cultural policy research (cf. e.g. The Nordic Journal of Cultural Policy).
At all, the concept of literature - moral guide, pleasure, art - will not be examined here, but a view (in the digital era) of the use of reading and of literature as a way of thinking – placed in the center of personal, educational, and professional life is inspiring (Garber, p.7).
The established public library – the dual development
The following sketch is based on the situation and the development which has taken place in Danish public libraries in the area of fiction librarianship - an area in which Denmark has held a strong position in a European context. Since the 1990s, it has been possible to observe a dual – and dialectically interacting – development, which indicates a strong situation of change in literary life as a whole, and therefore also within public libraries. This will be slightly over-emphasised here.
The market was characterised by bestsellerism and ways to concentrate attention (many literary prizes!), orientation towards the media, increased advertising and sponsorship. Book prices rose, the number of titles rose but the numbers printed fell, and book sales were liberalised with free prices. The authority of literary criticism dropped, and was replaced by aggressive literary journalism. Government cultural policy in the literary area indicated almost no qualitative initiatives. For libraries, the effect of this was that book purchasing was increasingly controlled by the borrowers’ demands (e.g. for detective literature), increasing competition for attention from other media accompanied by automation/self-service and centralisation of processes, and digital catalogues which meant less communication between borrowers and librarians, whose training became less and less focussed on knowledge of fiction. Together with economy campaigns and library closures, the number of books borrowed fell - and most recently the arrival of the e-book has introduced new uncertain elements of change. A strong qualitative tradition and practice based on cultural policy with respect to fiction in libraries had become an undifferentiated, value-neutral, cost-free book supply, automated and based on self-service, and primarily measured quantitatively in terms of lending activity.
In contrast to this regrettable, almost dystopic, picture a number of counter-measures and a new orientation became evident. Libraries put an effort into dissemination: reading campaigns, experimental projects, book talk cafés, readings by visiting authors, a focus on the reader rather than the book, readers’ groups, conversations with your personal librarian and reader development; a flexible and dynamic digital fiction portal with new forms of text presentation, book reviews and collaboration profiles (university students within literature). The whole area swung to and fro between the service paradigm and the experience paradigm, which there was now room for as a result of rationalisation in other processes.
These initiatives also corresponded to tendencies in the market and in general within literary life outside the library: book cafés, literature stages, events, book fairs, festivals, a new focus for public service radio, success for audio books, literary parties, alliances between actors, writers’ courses, reading groups in civil life etc. Here one could see new activity, vision, and belief in the possibilities offered by literature.
To summarise, the general characteristics of the many initiatives of this new literary life seem to involve: more focus and selectivity, more oral dialogue, delight and experience, emphasis on processes, social fellowship and communal spirit - all in all, the reader became more visible. Emphasis was placed on space, stages and presence, performance and events, and on written literature in combination with other media/hybrids, partnerships/networks spanning multiple actors and sectors. This counterbalance to the automatic, free and undifferentiated book supply from a financially pressed public library was rolled out in front of the cultural politicians. (Folkebibliotekerne, p. 52ff; Nordic; Hvenegaard; Kann-Christensen).
This may at a whole conform to general characteristics of the late modern culture and experience society: individualization, personal choice and self expression, participation, interaction, inclusion, cross aesthetics, life style communities, and regarding institutions performance, event, and spatial turn, together with dialogue, network, co-operation between amateurs and professionals etc.
(Pine; Skot-Hansen, 2006; Langsted).
City of literature - grandest design for a scene
City of literature is a rather new concept of biannual awarding which generally reflects today’s typical cultural development. It is born out of the UNESCO program Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity (2002), and from there the Creative City Network (2004) focusing cultural industries, public institutions, infrastructures, professional associations, and cultural enterprises within different branches (film, music, literature etc).
The thinking is that also the literary field at a whole can get contours clear enough to highlight a city as a sort of model and form a brand; it is the combination of experience economy – with creative economy and creative tourism – and of collaboration between public, private and civil society partners, and from here a focusing of cases and methods which may inspire development in other cities worldwide.
Since 2004 five cities have been awarded as a city of literature: Edinburgh in Scotland, Melbourne in Australia; Iowa City in the USA, Dublin in Republic of Ireland, and latest in 2011 Reykjavik in Iceland. What are seen as criteria and characteristics to become a City of Literature seem obviously merging classic notions of the literary life, the field of literature or the literary system together with several progressive words and frames. As cited from the criteria list a city must hold or pursue:
“Quality, quantity and diversity of editorial initiatives and publishing houses; Quality and quantity of educational programmes focusing on domestic or foreign literature in primary and secondary schools as well as universities; Urban environment in which literature, drama and/or poetry play an integral role; Experience in hosting literary events and festivals aiming at promoting domestic and foreign literature; Libraries, bookstores and public or private cultural centres dedicated to the preservation, promotion and dissemination of domestic and foreign literature; Active effort by the publishing sector to translate literary works from diverse national languages and foreign literature; Active involvement of media, including new media, in promoting literature and strengthening the market for literary products.” (unesco.org).
All levels, links, and elements in producing, informing, distributing, and consuming have been comprised, and all well-known institutions, actors, relations etc. have been brought together, though the distinction between books and literature may still not be clear. There are connections to education, literary scholarship, and heritage, cross culture initiatives are possible, local and international are bound together. Hereto the physical urban environment and design is seen as a scene (- as e.g. the many statues of the great writer James Joyce in the city streets have formed a sort of badge for Dublin). As UNESCO wants it: “engaging citizens in a dynamic culture of words” - the award is a permanent one if conditions are upheld.
As for e.g. Reykjavik in 2011 the awarding was due to the city as the absolute centre of the cultural life, institutions, and publishing companies of a country; the setting of contemporary Icelandic literature; the home of and outstanding identity-giving literary heritage – the Sagas, holding a thousand years old very stable and unaltered language within a distinct linguistic area, with high priority to research and education; many prize winning authors known aboard due to an increasing number of translations; hosting many literature festivals favored internationally, various events, programs and happenings with high public participation; the country belongs to the world’s top as for titles published per capita and average printing of copies, it has a library system with percentage high for visitors and borrowers and with free and open access, and it holds strong traditions for books promoted within bookstores, libraries, cafés, bars, schools, workplaces and the media - e.g. ‘The Book-Flood-Before-Christmas’ shows books as the single most popular Christmas gift item (cf. Reykjavik).
So, even in a rather small country the capital can have a profile, something to rand, and something for others to pick and imitate; the official text from UNESCO 2011 stated “For a city of small population, approximately 200,000 habitants, Reykjavik is especially appreciated for demonstrating the central role literature plays within the modern urban landscape, the contemporary society and the daily life of the citizens.” Iceland has got the institutions, the associations, the education level etc., though no elaborated governmental literature policy, and it may be so that this smaller scale facilitates clarity and possibility for coherence. The mayor’s reply was “Our culture is the most valuable of all our resources.” - to be said in a country which had an economic bankrupt few years ahead – and he launched an ambition of a coming Centre for Literature as a platform for literary events and projects of all kinds (cf. literature.is). Altogether – and here too – a characteristic late modern set up for cultural development: globalization, city image building, cultural economy, cross institution, event making, partnership, cultural citizenship etc. (cf. Skot-Hansen, 2007); with e.g. the library being not a cornerstone, but a plain partner amongst, it may point to a modified notion of cultural policy within literature.