Introduction
Literature and the Fine Arts theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
Literature and the fine arts exist as processes and are not the same as culture or cultural processes. The arts are by definition creative acts of human beings. The main elements of art processes are artists, audiences, and distribution, and as historical phenomena, they exist within a certain timeframe. Myth and themes like love and death do not fade over time. Changes in the arts come with new knowledge (including new materials), and with new forms of communication brought about by new audiences. Most important for the context of the arts are power structures and markets. Modernization brought a basic change but up to now still has not led to a "global village." The culture of the towns is most important for artists. In addition, the world is still divided into those who live in poverty and have no access to the arts and those who are wealthy (and sometimes have no interest in the arts).
The Theme on Literature and the Fine Arts deals, in one volume, and covers several topics, with many issues such as: Artists; Audience in the Arts; Power-Structures; Media; Communication Forms; Markets and Art Processes, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter.
This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Herbert Arlt was born in 1958 in Bregenz, Austria. His artistic practices focus on literature and the theater. He has made study trips and studies to/in Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, Hungary, Germany, and Yugoslavia. He received his doctorate in 1988 from the University of Salzburg, and has taught at the Universities of Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. He has been secretary of the Jura Soyfer Society since 1989, and Scientific Director of INST (Research Institute for Austrian and International Literature and Cultural Studies) since 1994. He has been editor of Jura Soyfer since 1992 (International Journal for Cultural Studies); of the book series Austrian and International Literary Processes and East, Central and Southeast Literature, Theatre and Linguistic Studies since 1995 and “TRANS” since 1997 (Internet Journal for Cultural Studies). He was a member of the Austrian UNESCO Commission from 1998 to 2001, and has been on the board of the Elias Canetti Society since 2001
Donald G. Daviau, University of California, Riverside CA, USA
