About a Survey

Notes on the Material Conditions of Literature Production

Abstract

In 1982 a survey of contemporary Argentine literature was published: Encuesta a la literatura argentina contemporánea, a volume of more than 500 pages that gathers the answers of 65 writers (narrators, poets, playwrights) and 19 literary critics. The context of production of that book is significant since the dark years of the military dictatorship had not yet ended then. The survey consists of 9 questions, ranging from the beginnings of writing, the family and intellectual climate at home, formal and informal education, literary groups and friendships, to the central themes that run through their texts, the representation of an ideal reader, and the survival jobs the authors have done while writing. It is an exceptional document for the study of literary life and of writers’ representations of their own work. In this case, we will deal with the material conditions of literature production, from “How do you work?” to “What do you live on?”; from the possibilities of writing literature to the possibilities of making a living from that writing.