Draws on case studies from diverse national and historical contexts to explore the heuristic potential of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the field of power in comparative literary studies and beyond.

While Bourdieu's work plays a vital role in sociological studies of literature, his concept of 'the field of power' remains underexplored. The authors in this volume argue that this concept can serve as a methodological tool for the relational analysis of specific fields, such as literature.

One of the strong sides of Bourdieuian field theory is that it allows for fruitful comparisons between national and transnational fields because of its power to systematically relate all relevant literary actors to each other – and to those of other fields. In order to further explore this perspective, Literature and the Field of Power includes case studies reaching from central Europe (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany) via Eastern Europe (Belarus) to the Asia-Pacific (Japan, China) – not with any claim to representativity, but with the aim of presenting valuable case studies using this joint heuristic tool.

In chapters that touch on censorship, constitutional law, pedagogy, and authorship, authors reflect on the heuristic applicability of the concept of the field of power, thereby contributing to the sharpening of the concept as methodological tool that can be used to increase our knowledge of literature in relation to politics, law, the field of power, or even more general: literature in its societal context.

Lina Blank has completed her dissertation on Literature in the Dutch Parliament at University of Oldenburg, Germany. She focuses on literary sociology, the intersections of literature and politics and computational research methods.

Lotte van den Bosch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her work is on the intersection between law and language in the broad sense of the term: in the context of literary trials, the separation of powers, and beyond.

Ralf Grüttemeier is Professor of Dutch Literature at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. His research focuses on concepts relevant to the relationship between law and language, such as intention, interpretation, and exception artis.