Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
PhD Student, Persian Language and Literature, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2
Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Abstract
The sociology of literature is an interdisciplinary field that investigates the dialectical relationship between literature and society. Concentrating on the documentality of the sociology of literature, this essay aims to analyze how social realities are mirrored in literary texts while assessing their credibility. To do so, the essay initially examines the theoretical foundations of the documentality of the sociology of literature through theories related to it. By benefitting from an interpretive approach, reflection theories, Bordeau’s insights, the ideas of feminism, and the critical views of postcolonialism, the current essay will display that, besides manifesting historical, social, and hierarchical conditions of communities, literature is an effective agent in reflecting social realities whose documentality is dependent on its genre and context. Each of the theories mentioned above emphasizes a special dimension of the relationship between literature and society, forming the theoretical framework of this study. This study also incorporates the previous literature review, assessing the status of literary texts within sociological analyses. In many cases, writers consciously or unconsciously not only reflect power and social structures but also challenge them. Nonetheless, the documentability degree of literary data depends on factors such as the writers’ intention, genre, the literary work, the audience, the writers’ goals, and the socio-historical context of texts. The study highlights that literature in historical and realist forms can be supplementary documents in sociological studies. Hence, it suggests that sociological studies of literature can offer a more comprehensive analysis by blending quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve an accurate grasp of cultural and social events.
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