Alain Viala (1947 – 30 June 2021) was a sociologist and literature scholar, and a professor of French literature at the University of Oxford and at the University of Paris III and a fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
Viala received his Agrégation de Lettres Modernes in 1971 and his PhD in 1983.
He was known for his research on the sociology of literature and writing, inspired by Pierre Bourdieu (Naissance de l'écrivain, 1985) and his approach to reception studies, which he called "sociopoetic" (Approches de la réception, 1993).
Viala died on 30 June 2021 in Paris, at the age of 73.
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