Le livre à la télévision : dispositifs comparés des émissions littéraires en Allemagne, Espagne et France (1950-2010)

Siegfried Kracauer a fait remarquer, déjà en 1931, que le bestseller est un « signe d’une expérience sociologique réussie ». Dans le cas des émissions littéraires à la télévision, nous assistons à une double configuration d’un succès : celui de l’émission, puis celui du livre. Au- delà de leur influence sur la consommation des livres, les programmes médiatiques sur la littérature font partie de l’ensemble de lieux communs (Robert, 2002) et, comme les écoles ou les institutions littéraires, participent à l’établissement des traditions de lecture. Ils présentent explicitement ou implicitement les titres désirables et prescrivent les normes de lecture acceptées. En présélectionnant des livres pour des milliers de gens à la fois, en invitant des auteurs à présenter leur œuvres ou en mettant en vedette des critiques littéraires, ces programmes de formats fort différents participent aux processus de légitimation culturelle. Cette thèse décrit les différentes modalités des formes de présentation du fait littéraire à la télévision et leurs évolutions. À travers une analyse d’une sélection d’émissions qui ont connu du succès à différentes époques et dans différents contextes culturels, cette recherche vise à cerner la relation médiatique qui existe entre la littérature et la télévision. Établissant ainsi les caractéristiques d’une expérience socio-médiatique réussie, cette thèse explore le dispositif de l’émission littéraire télévisuelle tel qu’il s’est développé entre 1950 et 2010, principalement en étudiant les émissions qui ont marqué la télévision nationale et le paysage littéraire en Allemagne, en Espagne et en France. En décrivant le dispositif médiatique qui fait le lien entre la conception, la production, le contenu et la portée de ces émissions, à travers une approche comparée et intermédiale, cette recherche analyse le complexe réseau de médiations qui entrent en jeu dans la construction et dans la réception de ces émissions, suivant quatre axes thématiques: le dispositif médiatique, la relation avec l’écrivain, le rôle primordial du présentateur et la mise en scène des lecteurs. Siegfried Kracauer famously noted, in 1931, that the bestseller is the « sign of a successful sociological experience ». In the case of televised literary shows, we witness a double configuration of such a success: that of the television show and that of the book. Like the book, the literary shows depend on various factors that are sometime difficult to identify, such as the socio-historical context, the collective imaginary tied to the book and to the activity of reading, as well as the media context. Beyond their influence on the purchase of books, these literary shows constitute a part of the common spaces (Robert, 2002) and, just like the schools and literary institutions, participate in the establishment of reading traditions. They present – explicitly or implicitly – the titles considered desirable and prescribe the norms for accepted readings. By selecting books for thousands of people at a time, by inviting authors to present their works or by featuring literary critics, these shows participate in the process of cultural legitimation. This thesis describes and analyses the various ways of portraying the literary world on television and its evolutions through time and in changing cultural contexts. By analysing a selection of successful shows, it describes the existing relationship between the two media that are the book and the television. Establishing thus the characteristics of an experience that touches both media and sociology, this thesis explores the literary show’s apparatus as it developed between 1950 and 2010, mainly by studying literary programmes that marked national television and the literary field in France, Germany, and Spain. By describing the media apparatus that establishes the link between the conception, the production, the content and the impact of these shows, through a comparative and intermedial approach, this research analyses the complex network of mediations that interplay in the construction and the reception of these shows. It does so by following four key points: the media apparatus, the changing relationship with the writer, the primordial role of the presenter, and the staging of the readers.

Keyphrases: Émissions littéraires, Télévision, Dispositifs et configurations médiatiques, Contextes de transmission et de réception des oeuvres littéraires, Ethnographie de la lecture, Allemagne, Espagne, France, Instances de légitimation, France, Literary shows, Media apparatus and configurations, Contexts of transmission and reception of literary works, Instances of legitimation, Etnography of reading, Germany, Spain