Sociologist as writer and writer as sociologist

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between sociology and literature. Briefly, I intend: (1) to analyse how two sociological traditions have risen against common sense’knowledge; (2) to identify the novel as an alternative source of social knowledge; (3) to evaluate how the point of view of the subject of social knowledge (whether a sociologist or a writer) shapes the nature of literary or sociological knowledge. Finally, to sum up, I would like to point out the existence of a common space in which the viewpoint of both the novelist and the sociologist as the subjects of knowledge may overlap.