Three decades of writing on manifesto: The making of a genre

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it aims to survey the abundant writings on manifesto. The study of existing definitions reflects the diffuse frontiers, even the confusion, among the political, the artistic, and the literary manifesto to a point where, besides attributing to it certain generic characteristics, it is difficult to speak of an evolution of the manifesto. Second, this article seeks to show the relationship between scholarly work on manifesto and the position of the researcher in the academic field. The researcher's position in the field of literary criticism is determined by the subject matter of his or her research. Hence manifesto, though a subversive, marginal writing, helps him or her "move toward the center." Marginal academic domains and peripheral research groups gain notice and centrality by advocating a new research program. Studies of manifestos played such a role for French Canadian literary scholars.