Preliminary communication
Evaluation In The Co-Actor Network – Kristian Novak'S Novels in Contemporary Context
Terezija Šijaković Bošković
Abstract
The paper analyses the mechanisms of literary evaluation as a process that begins at the moment of writing and is completed in reception, as well as the agency of literary texts, realised only in relation with recipients. A brief overview of the formation of the literary canon is followed by the outline of the research into the evaluation of Kristian Novak’s novels, conducted by questionnaires among contemporary readers and supplemented by the data provided by the Zagreb City Libraries on the most borrowed literary titles from 2013 to 2018. The research draws on Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory (ANT), as interpreted by Rita Felski, which views literary texts as nonhuman actors that move through space and time and establish numerous relationships, thereby ensuring their visibility and longevity. The results of the research reveal consciously assumed obligations and responsibilities associated with the role of professional readers, as well as the power of impression as the strongest motive and criterion for evaluation among non-professional readers. Both categories of readers confirm the value of Novak’s novels, and the analysis of borrowed titles from the Zagreb City Libraries over a five-year period complements the picture of their popularity and provides insight into the evaluation process as the result of the mutual interaction of a network of co-actors. Analysis of connections and actions of co-actors confirms the hypothesis that literary texts are active participants in the process of evaluation.
Keywords
literary evaluation; literary canon; actor-network theory (ANT); agency of literary texts; professional and non-professional readers; Kristian Novak’s novels
Hrčak ID:
333998
URI
Publication date:
24.7.2025.
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