ERIC Number: EJ855787
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1077-8004
EISSN: N/A
Literature as Qualitative Inquiry: The Novelist as Researcher
Brinkmann, Svend
Qualitative Inquiry, v15 n8 p1376-1394 2009
In recent years, there has been a literary turn in parts of the social sciences. Attention has been given to social science writings as literature. In this article, the author approaches the issue from the opposite direction by engaging with literature as qualitative social inquiry. He does so through a reading of the French novelist Michel Houellebecq. Houellebecq's style represents a form of "lyrical sociology," depicting human experience in a consumer society. The author argues that we can learn as much from Houellebecq about contemporary human lives, experiences, and sufferings as we can from traditional forms of empirical qualitative research. He concludes with a more general proposal of how to think about fact and fiction in social science writings. (Contains 1 note.)
Descriptors: Qualitative Research, Research Methodology, Social Sciences, Literature, Authors, Writing (Composition), Fiction, Researchers, Consumer Education, Social Science Research, Language Styles
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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