The romantic idea of the writer as an isolated genius has been discredited, but there are few empirical studies documenting the role of "gatekeeping" in the literary process. How do friends, agents, editors, translators, small publishers, and reviewers-not to mention the changes in technology and the publishing industry-shape the literary process? This matrix is further complicated when books cross cultural and language barriers, that is, when they become part of World Literature. This study builds on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins, James English and Mark McGurl, describing the multi-layered gatekeeping process in the context of World Literature after the 1960s. It focuses on four case studies: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster and Haruki Murakami. The two American authors achieved remarkable success overseas owing to perspicacious gatekeepers; the two international authors benefited tremendously from well-curated translation into English. Rich in archival materials (correspondence between authors, editors, and translators, and publishing industry analyses), interviews with publishers and translators, and close readings of translations, this study shows how the process and production of literature depends on the larger social forces of a given historical moment. The book also documents the ever-increasing Anglo-centric dictate on the gatekeeping process of World Literature. World Literature, the study argues, is not so much a "republic of letters" as a field of opportunities on which the conversation is partly bracketed by historic events and technological opportunities.
Show moreThe romantic idea of the writer as an isolated genius has been discredited, but there are few empirical studies documenting the role of "gatekeeping" in the literary process. How do friends, agents, editors, translators, small publishers, and reviewers-not to mention the changes in technology and the publishing industry-shape the literary process? This matrix is further complicated when books cross cultural and language barriers, that is, when they become part of World Literature. This study builds on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins, James English and Mark McGurl, describing the multi-layered gatekeeping process in the context of World Literature after the 1960s. It focuses on four case studies: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster and Haruki Murakami. The two American authors achieved remarkable success overseas owing to perspicacious gatekeepers; the two international authors benefited tremendously from well-curated translation into English. Rich in archival materials (correspondence between authors, editors, and translators, and publishing industry analyses), interviews with publishers and translators, and close readings of translations, this study shows how the process and production of literature depends on the larger social forces of a given historical moment. The book also documents the ever-increasing Anglo-centric dictate on the gatekeeping process of World Literature. World Literature, the study argues, is not so much a "republic of letters" as a field of opportunities on which the conversation is partly bracketed by historic events and technological opportunities.
Show moreIntroduction - Gatekeeping and World Literature
Chapter 1 - Gabriel García Márquez: gatekeepers and prise de
position
Chapter 2 - Charles Bukowski and the Entrepreneurs of World
Literature
Chapter 3 - Paul Auster: "Bootstrapping" and foreign "exile."
Chapter 4 - Haruki Murakami: the prizes, process, and production of
World Literature
Conclusion - Writers, Gatekeepers, Publishing, and History
William H. Marling is Professor of English and World Literature at Case Western Reserve University. A former journalist, he has published several books, including How American Is Globalization? and The American Roman Noir.
"Written in clear, mostly jargon-free prose (except for its
devotion to Collins's terms), the individual chapters provide
career biographies of each author that are full of interesting and
revealing anecdotes, such as Bukowski's television appearances in
Germany." --Michael Malouf, American Literature
"Along with its more traditional scholarly virtues, Gatekeepers is
delightfully readable, not least for the sheer human interest that
Marling discovers in the blow-by-blow stories of how four highly
significant postwar writers achieved international standing. While
this book is a serious foray into the sociology of culture, it is
also the repository of lots of good stories." --Mark McGurl, author
of The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of
Creative Writing
"William Marling draws together a compelling account of the
different gatekeepers involved in the success of the four major
authors who form his case studies. At the same time, his work
stresses the crucial role of translation in the business of World
Literature and traces the increasing professionalization of the
work of the literary translator." --Jeremy Munday, author of
Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications
"Accessibly written and impeccably researched, Gatekeepers
successfully establishes the centrality of cultural intermediaries
and social networks in determining the canon of contemporary world
literature. It is an essential contribution to the ongoing
discussion of the cultural and political stakes of literary
translation in the era of global English." --Loren Glass, author of
Counterculture Colophon: Grove Press, the Evergreen Review, and
the
Incorporation of the Avant-Garde
"Marling offers a major advance in the theory of literary fields.
An aspiring writer attracts supportive networks by displaying an
abundance of emotional energy-confidence, enthusiasm-that attracts
attention and spreads the emotional glow first in small local
networks, then bridging to larger ones. Creativity is social not
just because that is how one learns the previous literature and
techniques, but as it focuses awareness of what part of the
writer's
cultural capital is the pathway to success." --Randall Collins,
author of Napoleon Never Slept: How Great Leaders Leverage Social
Energy
"This excellent study of the catalysts for four writers-Gabriel
García Márquez, Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster, and Ha-ruki
Murakami-is fascinating to read." --World Literature Today
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