TY - JOUR A1 - Anheier, Helmut K. T1 - The Acknowledgement of Literary Influence: A Structural Analysis of a German Literary Network JF - Sociological Forum N2 - This paper analyzes a characteristic syndrome of modern literature identified as “anxiety of influence” by literary critics and as “mania for originality” by art historians. Based on a sociological reformulation of the syndrome as it relates to the structure of acknowledged influence, the paper develops and tests several hypotheses. Data are based on a survey of West German writers and are analyzed by using clustering techniques and correspondence analysis. First, the analysis demonstrates the fragmented and non-hierarchical structure of acknowledged literary influence. Second, the different types of influence (absence distinctiveness, and clusterability) correspond to different professional and literary characteristics of writers. Results highlight one of the contradictions between the cultural code and the professional structure of modern art: at the level of ideology, greatness and genius are equated with the absence of influence and artistic uniqueness. The analysis shows, however, that the denial/absence of acknowledged influence is found among writers who are excluded from the professional networks where reputations are made in the world of literature. KW - Seciology of literature KW - Literary influence KW - Literary traditions KW - Social position of writers KW - Social structure of modern literature Y1 - 1991 SN - 0884-8971 VL - 6 IS - 1 SP - 137 EP - 156 PB - Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers CY - Dordrecht ER -