Researching the Social Impact of the Arts: Literature,
Fiction and the Novel
Abstract
This paper offers a contribution to current debates in the field of cultural policy about
the social impact of the arts. It explores the conceptual difficulties that arise in the
notion of ‘the arts’ and the implications of these difficulties for attempts to generalise
about their value, function and impact. It considers both ‘essentialist’ and
‘institutional’ perspectives, first on ‘the arts’ in toto and then on literature, fiction and
the novel with the view of making an innovative intellectual connection between
aesthetic theories and contemporary cultural policy discourse. The paper shows how
literature sits uneasily in the main systems of classifying the arts and how the novel
and fiction itself are seen as problematic categories. The position of the novel in the
literary canon is also discussed, with particular reference to the shifting instability of
the canon. The paper suggests that the dilemmas thrown up in trying to define or
classify the novel are likely to be encountered in attempting to define other art forms.
The implications of these findings for the interpretation and conduct of traditional
‘impact studies’ are explored.