History and Culture of Publishing

Colonial and Postcolonial Publishing

17/3/2015

Exotic Africa meets Ignorant Europe

It is sad but true that honest help, respect and sustainability seemed to be foreign words in the ears of colonists, as well in terms of the development of publishing culture on the African continent. The work of colonists was thorough and imperialism affected more than just the economy and politics: it dominated the culture as well. But to what extent can we say that British colonial and postcolonial publishing was a significant vehicle of cultural imperialism?

Going back to the beginning we can see that

the big British publishers regarded West Africa only as a place where you sold books, not where you published them.
The idea that you could publish books by African authors, and especially by creative writers, had not yet occurred to these great houses, whose only concern was to make money out of the expanding school market. (Hill: 122)

This idea of Africa as a lucrative market was supported by the missionary schools and the administrative/ governmental offices promoting British culture, literature, language, etc. among the African population. The money made in West Africa went back home to Europe with the publishers and the industry was still far from investing and encouraging in local publishing or authors. Culture was made in Europe and then sold in the rest of the empire. This odd behaviour explained Said as the "general European effort to rule distant lands and people. "(Said: xi) justified by the argument that "'they' were not like 'us', and for that reason deserved to be rule." (Said: xii)

But change was to come and the understanding of culture as source of identity led, finally, to a publishing of African literature and the search for African writers. But can we really talk of an understanding of African culture or was it just feeding the Western beliefs with exotic myths?
Huggan puts the main issue in a nutshell, asking

what is African literature? […] African literature from which region? […] African literature in which language? For African literature […] largely means literature in English, French and other European languages
(Huggan: 34)

Is this cultural African identity? Not really.
It seems to be the idea of the Western culture thinking that it understands the colony better than the colony itself. Ngugi wa Thiong'o goes one step further talking about controlled writing and publishing as a form of linguistic imperialism.

This is still true for the situation today I guess, although I can just speculate. To be honest, I think that even though the situation might have developed positively, there are still many dark and mysterious pages in the history of colonial and postcolonial publishing.

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o confirms these thoughts saying that: "Africa is dominated by a hand full of languages, and those from Africa have been completely marginalised. [...] European languages determine everything [...] they take the space of knowledge that used to be occupied by African languages. [...] European languages contain a wealth of material and there is no reason why this should not be available in African languages." (2008)
I think that these facts show very well that globalisation in Africa is still very dominated by European thinking and taste.

English is not an African language. (Ngugi Wa Thion'o)
Very interesting viewpoints of an African writer on this topic.

Biography
Hill, Alan. In Pursuit of Publishing. London: Murray, 1988, pp. 120-124.
Huggan, Graham. The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins. London: Routledge, 2001, pp. 34-57.
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage Books, 1998, pp. xi-xv.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literatures. Oxford: James Currey, EAEP, Heinemann, 1986, pp. 69-71.

Images
http://archived.thisisafrica.me/opinion/detail/19947/fake-accents-and-the-good-english-complex
http://crawfurd.dk/africa/africanlitterature.htm
http://thisisafrica.me/land-grabbing-africa-new-colonialism/
https://aafeminist.wordpress.com/category/imperialism/

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Literary Prize Culture

10/3/2015

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Assessing literature – are prizes a literary merit or just commercial publicity?

Once upon a time, a literary prize was a cultural scandal. Sir Walter Scott defined literary awards as a useless medals. Instead of a success for good writers, a literary prize stood for embarrassment, as normally the wrong people were attracted by it (English: 162). For a long time, since 1901, there was just the phantom of the Nobel Prize for Literature, which included not just literary merit for a writer but also financial security.

It is shocking that one could not win a prize and be proud of it! Other disciplines weren’t ashamed of winning a prize for being the best.

Since the 1960s the impact of literary prizes on the culture of publishing has changed: literary prize culture reached a turning point and started to increase. Prizes like the Booker Prize (created in 1964) finally in the 1980s "achieve[d] real economic importance" (English: 172) and publishers, the behind-the-scene-winners of a literary prize, started to take advantage of a prize in form of releasing a new cover edition, attaching stickers on books or encouraging translations.

But although literary prizes gained prestige with the time, winning one is still a controversial issue, as it is more than reaching the 100m line first.The question is, can we judge or assign cultural value to

Literary texts [that], like other cultural forms, have no intrinsic meaning or value (Huggan: 412)?

To receive a literary prize isn't just a reward of achievement for a writer, it is even more than gaining cultural capital in form of recognition and prestige (Huggan: 413):

Prizewinners and, often, finalists are guaranteed commercial success (Huggan: 415)

Is that what it it is all about?
What exactly is a literary prize?
It is a merit, yes, but we can’t deny that it is also an instrument of marketing that increases sales, promotes books and creates celebrities by being media orientated and close to journalistic publicity.

Far more than book reviews, it's literary prizes that shape the afterlives of new titles. (Guardian)

Literary awards have power and this is why they are so important for the publishing industry.

I would like to add that a prize can be essential for especially minority language writers as well; more than gaining prestige, they get the chance of being translated and known in the world and, therefore, a prize can offer the possibility to live from writing.
And as prizes are a part of our society, we should congratulate the winners – whatever category they are in - as they put effort in it and achieved acknowledgement for it.

For further reading I can recommend this article:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jan/29/why-books-need-literary-prizes

Bibliography
James F. English, 'The Literary Prize Phenomenon in Context' in The Economy of Prestige Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. 161-176.
Richard Todd, 'Literary Prizes and the Media' in Consuming Fiction: The Booker Prize and the Fiction in Britain Today (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), pp. 55-94.
Graham Huggan, 'Prizing Otherness: A Short History of the Booker' in Studies in the Novel, 29:3 (1997), pp. 412-433.

Images
http://ktieb.org.mt/?page_id=33
http://clas.wayne.edu/Citizenship/2015-Book-Prize
http://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/presse/pressedownloads/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=How+to+Win+the+Nobel+Prize+in+Literature&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=2oL8VKftJKav7AbP8oD4Bw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAw&biw=1277&bih=589#tbm=isch&q=Man+Booker+Prize+trophy&imgdii=_&imgrc=K6_gZ90T-uLtOM%253A%3BlmwEI1oowCkJTM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%252F3824%252F10313686785_5b38a7b760.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fthemanbookerprizes%252F10313686785%252F%3B1024%3B683

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A Reading Revolution? Paperbacks in the 1930s and 40s.

3/3/2015

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Food for thought - paperback revolution

First of all I have to confess to my English publishing friends: I never understood the hype about Penguin books and I don´t know most of the works that decorate mugs, bags and stationery articles advertising this brand. The only copies I own by Penguin are Jane Austen novels I fancied to read in English at the age of 15.

I associate Reclam (founded in 1828) with successful and revolutionary paperback publishing; their books accompanied me since I was 15 in all their colours: yellow (German), blue (interpretation keys), red (foreign language text with glossary) and, since my university days, orange (bilingual).

Nevertheless I can somehow understand that for English speakers, Penguin is that what Reclam is for me: a cheap way to read good quality literature (essential for students without money!). Therefore, I guess the creation of Penguin books in 1935 is considered the cause of the reading revolution of the 1930s and 40s in Britain.

Inspired by Tauchnitz and later Insel (both German publishing houses - and this is said without national pride), Allen Lane created the first modern British paperback to provide "cheap light reading for [travellers] journeys." (Feather:207). The clue that made him the "progenitor of the 'paperback revolution'" (Feather: 207) (although he did not invent it but just popularise it) was combining reprints with a cheap paper-cover.

I guess the conservative British publishing industry did not have this kind of book before (as French and German ones did), because they were too dominant and could fight any ideas that would threaten their income. However, after Lane's contract with Woolworth's, the paperback revolution in Britain started as readers were connected directly to the publisher who carefully selected the literature for a middlebrow audience.

The success can be found in the "new techniques of selling and promoting" (Feather: 213) that "put books into the hands of many who would have otherwise never buy or read a book at all." (Feather 213).

Can we say than that Penguin books radically changed publishing and reading culture in Britain in the 1930s and 40s? In my opinion this can be answered with a yes: they gave a new shape to the publishing industry and expanded the reading public. All the other paperback publishers afterwards demonstrate as well that the Penguin´s success had a great impact and influence on the industry.

Still, my heart will always belong Insel and, especially, to the yellow (red and orange) books since 2009, when my "Horror in Yellow" (as we called Reclam during school time) turned into my "World in Yellow".

For further reading, here a nice article about author´s concerns with paperback: Why size matters!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/11/gettingpublished

Bibliography:
John Feather, ‘Alan Lane’s Idea’ in A History of British Publishing (London: Routledge, 1988)
Raymond N. MacKenzie, ‘Penguin Books’ in British Literary Publishing Houses, 1881-1965, edited by Patricia J. Anders and Jonathan Rose (Detroit: Gale Research, 1991)
Steve Hare, ed. ‘Myths of Creation’, Penguin Portrait: Allen Lane and the Penguin Editors, 1935-1970, London: Penguin, 1995

Images:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottisharchives/5531526813/
http://www.bln.fm/2011/12/gelb-ist-die-farbe-des-bulldozers/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Reclam_Universalbibliothekwand.jpg

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Censorship, Propaganda and Wartime Publishing

22/2/2015

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Publishers - accomplices of governmental manipulation during wartime?

This - I think - is a fascinating timeless topic and I am sure that manipulation exists as long as mankind does.

Censorship and propaganda will always remain the two important instruments to achieve complete control and influence. Unfortunately, "censorship is regarded as the intimidation of marginalized groups by the dominant culture" (Heath: 512) and, therefore, "deprive[s] a great nation of the power to be itself." (Faber: 150)

Heath traced censorship on the basis of obscenity, stating its dependance on the aesthetic conception of one culture which can change through forcing the own view upon others (see colonisation). Furthermore, she reflected on the Suppression of Public Obscenity law 1873, which aimed to promote that 'pure' literature was a sign of a country´s progress (similar to the Obscene Publication Act 1867, reformed in 1959).

We can see that censorship works hand in hand with propaganda: conscious selection of information for the own advantage…survival instinct?

In wartime periods this combination is important also for the publishing industry. Looking at World War I, how complicit was the publishing industry in supporting British government censorship and propaganda?

Being a publisher then was not easy: paper shortage, increasing production costs, inflation and loss of staff preoccupied the industry; and on top of that, publishers had to chose between patriotic feelings and business interests. This was more than a matter of conscience! Some publishers decided to collaborate with the government, mostly for influence or security, as there was not big money to make and somehow

Commerce and profit were important to keep going. But there was also a commitment to the individual conscience, to a sense of public duty, whether it be whole-heartedly in support of the war effort or more censorious about it.(Potter: 24)

Did the publishing industry learn its lesson? The world is in continuous tension, but we could think positive and say

Ever since then, writers have been far more aware of the nature of the modern state and of their responsibility towards truth. A healthy scepticism about group effort in support of a cause is usually to be found in any community of writers. (Buitenhuis: 181-182)

I suppose that this behaviour would influence the publishing industry as well.

Nevertheless, looking at countries in wartime in the 21st century, we can observe that the concept of censorship and propaganda as manipulation instruments still exists. Publishers, writers and artists have become more confident and get protection (although this can be difficult), but censorship extended from books, over press to the internet - the most dangerous enemy of (governmental) manipulation!

I can highly recommend this article, if you would like to read more about this still current topic and how it affects the 21st century! (Published January 3, 2015).

http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/21st_century_censorship.php?page=all

Censored and Banned Books
"In fact a list of banned books annually supplied by the Amercian Library Association makes a fantastic reading list."
This video explains why some children books were banned throughout the world for ... really strange reasons!!

What do authors think about banning books? It is banning ideas, it is never absolute, it is reducing human identity ...
You want more quotes? Watch this video:

Bibliography
Buitenhuis, Peter. The Great War of Words: Literature as Propaganda, 1814-18 and After. (London: Batsford, 1989).
Faber, Geoffrey. A Publisher Speaking. London: Faber & Faber, 1934.
Heath, Deana. ‘Obscenity, Censorship and Modernity’ in A Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), pp. 508-519.
Potter, Jane. ‘For Country, Conscience and Commerce: Publishers and Publishing, 1914–18’ in Publishing in the First World War: Essays in Book History, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp. 11-26.

Images:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://api.ning.com/files/URu8NHgoUwBpCSZn*Bb6FMI0ILUXM3Ycbjo-xjNi3IwTZ7GKJMa76xCQVyf8BCI3EjielB0SZuEMrs391qKCBW4dVq3GCjvy/censorship.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.snipview.com/q/Political%2520censorship&h=352&w=510&tbnid=kmkUftHIdfAjLM:&zoom=1&docid=XbnaPmBwqTRPwM&ei=JSPqVLqZEPDg7Qba4YDoCw&tbm=isch&ved=0CCQQMygGMAY
http://www.monacohebdo.mc/14874-etes-vous-manipule
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/tumblr_m0hn9gcj4o1r4nor5o1_500.jpg%253Fw%253D529&imgrefurl=http://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/2013/06/&h=596&w=495&tbnid=fzYBcUS5QAF7_M:&zoom=1&docid=d_BjdnaTH4R8kM&ei=xxTqVL3HBIbtauWAgdgJ&tbm=isch&ved=0CDoQMygWMBY
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002610567/5411586250_censorship_xlarge.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/favorite-song-about-censorship-propaganda-or-manipulation/question-2610567/&h=300&w=300&tbnid=2WWtmsYwJH-XsM:&zoom=1&docid=xaUPX5V8YMw-SM&itg=1&ei=JSPqVLqZEPDg7Qba4YDoCw&tbm=isch&ved=0CCkQMygLMAs

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Early 20th Century Publishing

17/2/2015

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Modernist upper class vs newspaper-reading lower class

The early twentieth century saw a determined effort, on the part of the European intelligentsia, to exclude the masses from culture. (Carey: 17)

Early 20th century publishing was shaped by the conservative but prospering publishing dynasties, social progress (Education Act 1871), and modernism. Feeling threatened by a new market dictating mass, which read newspapers, ate tin food and implied a loss of individual judgement (Faber, 29), the intellectuals of a new century created a movement to keep the society divided into the ones that understood and the ones that did not: modernism.

Ignoring that 'the mass' was just a denial of individuality of the new unknown and imagined groups, intellectuals like Nietzsche, Flaubert, D. H. Lawrence and Ortega y Gasset declared them despicable, soulless and not worth living.

Who were 'they', this mass, the menace of high society and elite?
They were the new literate people from the lower or working class. I guess the secret of their power was their education and an interest in consumption.
On the one hand this attracted the attention of profit-seeking businessmen, but on the other hand it scared the intellectual class.
I suppose the intelligentsia feared to lose culture capital. But can we lose this? Culture is not a "sum of distinct cultural activities" (Eliot: 41). Eliot states that culture structures the society gradually and, therefore, some people are more conscious than others. (A theory similar to Bourdieu.) Hence, culture doesn't get lost, it gets less or not the deserved valuation.

If we connect these thoughts with publishing, we see that all these facts influenced the industry: it was a balancing act for publishers and booksellers to please the intellectuals, who they admired, and the mass, the consumers who dictated the market even with their little money.

In my opinion, the initial quote by Carey may describe the prevailing attitudes in the British publishing industry in the early twentieth century, but these attitudes could not prevent the actual inclusion of the mass into culture: thanks to e. g. the Everyman´s Library, knowledge was available for anyone willing to learn; Faber explained that publishing was a business and "must make profits; […] They must therefore take account of what the public wants." (Faber: 23)

However, I think that modernism, among others reactions, showed that inclusion was not widely approved nor accepted.

A different viewpoint on the struggle between intellectuals and masses can be found also in early 20th century cinema.

As deep as lay the workers' city below the earth, so high above it towered the complex named the "Club of the Sons", with its lecture halls and libraries, theatres and stadiums. Metropolis, 1927

In this German expressionist and early science fiction drama by Fritz Lang, the upper and lower class clash in a futuristic dystopia. The film was censored and the initial response to it was mixed. After a long restoration process, the film could be restored to 95% and is definitely worth looking!! (Since 2001 it is in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.)

Bibliography
Carey, John. The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia 1880-1939. (Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 2002), pp. 3-22.
Norrie, Ian. 'Fathers and Sons' in Mumby's Publishing and Bookselling in the Twentieth Century. (London: Bell & Hyman, 1982), pp. 28-39.
Faber, Geoffrey. A Publisher Speaking. (London: Faber & Faber, 1934), pp. 15-43.
Eliot, T. S. Notes Towards the Definition of Culture. (London: Faber & Faber, 1948), pp. 35-49.

Images

http://www.coveringmedia.com/movie/1927/03/metropolis.html

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Colonial and Postcolonial Publishing

Exotic Africa meets Ignorant Europe

Literary Prize Culture

Assessing literature – are prizes a literary merit or just commercial publicity?

A Reading Revolution? Paperbacks in the 1930s and 40s.

Food for thought - paperback revolution

Censorship, Propaganda and Wartime Publishing

Publishers - accomplices of governmental manipulation during wartime?

Early 20th Century Publishing

Modernist upper class vs newspaper-reading lower class

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