The Literary Agent’s as a New Actor in Polish Literary Field after 1989

This article aims for determining the role and operating methods of literary agents who appeared as new actors within the structure of Polish literature after 1989. It presents relations between literature and business within the context of cooperation between agents and writers, the latter using the former’s services as a means for their functioning in the Polish publishing market that strives for professionalization. The theme of the article is a literary agent as a writer’s alter ego: on the one hand, overshadowed by the writer, but on the other – still considerably influencing their client’s economic, marketing and legal situation.
This dissertation uses terminology and analytical tools developed by Pierre Bourdieu presented in his paper Rules of Art. The paper shall be based on an analysis of six in-depth interviews with literary agents as well as on results of a research report developed within the framework of the project entitled Literatura polska po 1989 roku w świetle teorii Pierre’a Bourdieu (Polish literature after 1989 in light of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory).
 

This article aims for determining the role and operating methods of literary agents who appeared as new actors within the structure of Polish literature after 1989. It presents relations between literature and business within the context of cooperation between agents and writers, the latter using the former’s services as a means for their functioning in the Polish publishing market that strives for professionalization. The theme of the article is a literary agent as a writer’s alter ego: on the one hand, overshadowed by the writer, but on the other – still considerably influencing their client’s economic, marketing and legal situation.
This dissertation uses terminology and analytical tools developed by Pierre Bourdieu presented in his paper Rules of Art. The paper shall be based on an analysis of six in-depth interviews with literary agents as well as on results of a research report developed within the framework of the project entitled Literatura polska po 1989 roku w świetle teorii Pierre’a Bourdieu (Polish literature after 1989 in light of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory).