Aesthetic Labeling and Scale Shifting in Cultural Production and Circulation

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Aesthetic Labeling and Scale Shifting in Cultural Production and Circulation "
Álvaro Santana-Acuña

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1075874
Doc. No	:	LA119503
Call No	:	‭10.1163/24056480-00504004‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Álvaro Santana-Acuña
Title & Author	:	Aesthetic Labeling and Scale Shifting in Cultural Production and Circulation [Article]\ Álvaro Santana-Acuña
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Journal of World Literature
Date	:	2020
Volume/ Issue Number	:	5/4
Page No	:	545–567
Abstract	:	Scholarship on production of cultural goods highlights translation of literary works as a key mechanism of cultural circulation. This article rethinks circulation beyond translation. It argues that changes in aesthetic labels applied to cultural goods can prompt a scale shifting that favors the diffusion of these goods beyond their vernacular space of circulation. This article studies the transnational success of the label literatura latinoamericana, which from the 1960s onward gained acceptance in Spanish, English, French, and other languages as the label that best captured the region’s literary uniqueness. This change in aesthetic labeling made it possible for literatura latinoamericana to enter world literature and for literary works such as One Hundred Years of Solitude to circulate at an unprecedented scale, as international bestsellers and classics. The article finds that aesthetic labeling – a “cultural kind” in the arts – is a far-reaching and understudied mechanism in cultural production and circulation. Scholarship on production of cultural goods highlights translation of literary works as a key mechanism of cultural circulation. This article rethinks circulation beyond translation. It argues that changes in aesthetic labels applied to cultural goods can prompt a scale shifting that favors the diffusion of these goods beyond their vernacular space of circulation. This article studies the transnational success of the label literatura latinoamericana, which from the 1960s onward gained acceptance in Spanish, English, French, and other languages as the label that best captured the region’s literary uniqueness. This change in aesthetic labeling made it possible for literatura latinoamericana to enter world literature and for literary works such as One Hundred Years of Solitude to circulate at an unprecedented scale, as international bestsellers and classics. The article finds that aesthetic labeling – a “cultural kind” in the arts – is a far-reaching and understudied mechanism in cultural production and circulation.
Descriptor	:	aesthetic labeling
Descriptor	:	cultural production and circulation
Descriptor	:	Latin America
Descriptor	:	literature
Descriptor	:	scale shifting
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/24056480-00504004‬