Literature and Values: Literature as a Medium for Representing, Disseminating and Constructing Norms and Values (Giessen Contributions to the Study of Culture) [paperback]

Literature is an important means of worldmaking, of making sense of our lives and of reflecting, reinforcing but also constructing the norms and values we live by. While the ‘ethical turn’ in the study of culture drew new attention to the ethical dimension of literature, the complex and reciprocal relationship between literature and values still needs to be examined in detail. The present volume explores the role of literature and other media in the representation, dissemination and generation or construction of values. Comprising a number of historical, in-depth case-studies, ranging from the Early Modern era to the twenty-first century, this volume seeks to examine and illustrate the shaping force of literature and other media in the construction and affirmation of moral values on the one hand and the impact of existing, extra-literary norms and values on literature on the other hand. The essays in Literature and Values explore a series of interlinking questions regarding the relationship between values and literature. Where do ethics and aesthetics intersect and to what extent do the moral and the aesthetic influence each other? Which strategies of mediating values and alerting readers to moral problems are applied? The articles in the first part of the volume investigate theories and concepts of values and ethical norms, exploring the complex interconnection between literature and values. The essays in the second part offer a wide range of historical and critical case-studies, while also providing numerous examples to illustrate the dissemination and negotiation of values in literature and other media.