Literature into culture: Cultural Studies after Leavis

Abstract

Abstract Over the last thirty years, Cultural Studies has developed into a diverse and lively international intellectual field. As Stuart Hall, one of its founders, has put it: ‘Today, cultural studies programmes exist everywhere, especially in the United States . . . where they’ve come to provide a focal point for interdisciplinary studies and research, and for the development of critical theory.’ The institutional success of Cultural Studies is demonstrated by a number of major international journals, global and national associations, increasing numbers of international conferences, academic programmes, and publishers’ catalogues advertising new and essential publications in the field. As a field of study, Cultural Studies has had important effects on the study of literature. It has challenged the idea of canonical literature, and affected the way literary texts are theorized and read. It has introduced cross- and interdisciplinary perspectives. It has sought to theorize the role of literature in society in new ways, and to look at literary texts in relation to cultural institutions, cultural history, and other cultural texts, forms, and practices. It has further focused attention on the circuit of literary production.