Romanian Women Writers and the Literary Profession during the First Half of the 20th Century: Exclusion, Feminisation and Professionalisation of Writing

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyse the evolution of the writing profession in case of women writers during the first half of the 20th century and especially during the inter-war period. In this respect, the present research mobilises three main methodological frameworks mainly consecrated by Pierre Bourdieu and his later followers: the sociology of professions, the sociology of gender, and field theory. The professionalisation of the literary occupation is also analysed from three main perspectives in front of the backdrop against which it occurred: firstly, the evolution of the literary profession is related to the feminisation of the literary field that allowed a wide insertion of women therein; the practices of exclusion, insofar as the literary occupation remained capitalised by male dominants; and, finally, the professionalisation of writing in the case of women is correlated to the development of the literary infrastructure during the inter-war period that contributed to the dislocation of the established criteria of the co-optation of newcomers.

Keywords

• feminisation of the literary field
• professionalisation of writing
• sociology of gender
• field theory
• sociology of professions