Making Literature Now (Paperback)

Amy Hungerford

ISBN 10: 0804799407 / ISBN 13: 9780804799409

Published by Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 2016

About this Item

Paperback. How does new writing emerge and find readers today? Why does one writer's work become famous while another's remains invisible? Making Literature Now tells the stories of the creators, editors, readers, and critics who make their living by making literature itself come alive. The book shows how various conditions-including gender, education, business dynamics, social networks, money, and the forces of literary tradition-affect the things we can choose, or refuse, to read. Amy Hungerford focuses her discussion on literary bestsellers as well as little-known traditional and digital literature from smaller presses, such as McSweeney's. She deftly matches the particular human stories of the makers with the impersonal structures through which literary reputation is made. Ranging from fine-grained ethnography to polemical argument, this book transforms our sense of how and why new literature appears-and disappears-in contemporary American culture. Through fascinating case studies of people working in publishing both large and small-scale, traditional and digital, this book tells the story of how new literary work emerges and finds readers in our era of too many books. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780804799409

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Making Literature Now (Paperback)
• Publisher: Stanford University Press, Palo Alto
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804799407
• ISBN 13: 9780804799409
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

How does new writing emerge and find readers today? Why does one writer's work become famous while another's remains invisible? Making Literature Now tells the stories of the creators, editors, readers, and critics who make their living by making literature itself come alive. The book shows how various conditions―including gender, education, business dynamics, social networks, money, and the forces of literary tradition―affect the things we can choose, or refuse, to read.

Amy Hungerford focuses her discussion on literary bestsellers as well as little-known traditional and digital literature from smaller presses, such as McSweeney's. She deftly matches the particular human stories of the makers with the impersonal structures through which literary reputation is made. Ranging from fine-grained ethnography to polemical argument, this book transforms our sense of how and why new literature appears―and disappears―in contemporary American culture.

About the Author

Amy Hungerford is Dean of the Humanities and Professor of English at Yale University.