The Symbolic Economy of the Nobel Prize in literature: how it counters or reproduces modes of domination

According to Bourdieu's theory, literary prizes are those specific authorities which contribute in the long run to the conversion of symbolic capital into economic capital. The Nobel Prize played a major role in the unification of a relatively autonomous international literary space, as described by Casanova. It helped create a new canon of world literature, as the Nobel prize winners were widely translated. But whereas Casanova places the emphasis on autonomy, this paper underscores the relative heteronomy that this award conveys. Literary authorities negotiate between autonomous and heteronomous criteria, be they ideological or economic. This paper examines how the symbolic capital of the Nobel Prize has served to reinforce modes of domination. The intersectional and Western domination which biased the selection of laureates slowly evolved into more diversity and inclusiveness. Concentrating on the three last decades, which correspond to the globalization era, we observe however that despite the growing inclusion of non-Western authors, it is the dominant Western cultural intermediaries (publishers and literary agents) who mostly capitalize the symbolic and economic profit of the prize. These observations are based on a quantitative analysis of the publishers of the 33 laureates since 1990 in three languages, English, German and French.

Automated summary

This paper explores the impact of literary prizes on the conversion of economic capital and discusses the role of the Nobel Prize in unifying the international literary space and promoting world literature. While emphasizing the relative heteronomy conveyed by the award, the paper also examines how the symbolic capital of the Nobel Prize reinforces modes of domination. Despite the growing inclusion of non-Western authors in the past three decades, Western cultural intermediaries continue to dominate the symbolic and economic benefits of the prize.