Publishing Contemporary Literature: History, Practice, Theory
| Module title | Publishing Contemporary Literature: History, Practice, Theory |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3199 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
What is the role of the publisher in the field of contemporary literature? In this module we will seek answers to that question by studying contemporary literature in light of the publishing practices that guide books to their readers. The module has two primary goals: first, to study texts published by some of today’s most exciting small- to mid-scale independent publishers in the UK and Ireland; second, to investigate how these texts correspond with the editorial strategies that underlie these publishers’ operations. Taking this two-pronged approach, this module keeps one eye trained on contemporary writing and the other on its modes of production, distribution, and reception, from editorial statements to social media strategies to reviewing outlets. The overarching goal is to offer you foundational knowledge about some of the many channels and literary practices that inform conceptions of contemporary literature today.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module aims to:
- Provide you with a historical, theoretical, and practical introduction to publishing studies through close analyses of contemporary independent publishers.
- Encourage you to approach the study of literature through channels of production, distribution, and reception.
- Enable you to develop research methods for studying institutional practices and networks in the context of broader fields of cultural and artistic production.
- Through the development of a personal website for publishing reviews and blog posts, to engage you with the fundamentals of editorial practice for online writing and reviewing, including writing and editing to deadline, copyediting, and document design for digital publication.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate knowledge of the historical and theoretical background to publishing studies
- 2. Develop critical vocabulary for studying and assessing contemporary editorial and publishing practices.
- 3. Evaluate debates in contemporary literary studies by drawing on the strategies and practices of modern-day publishing.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Speak fluently about editorial and publishing practices as constitutive elements of literary studies, and also within broader fields of literary and cultural production.
- 5. Demonstrate an advanced ability to relate editorial and publishing history to broader debates regarding literary studies and contemporary literature.
- 6. Demonstrate ability to assess position-taking strategies in small-scale organisations such as publishing houses
- 7. Develop or enhance ability to write reviews of contemporary works of literature.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 8. Gain knowledge of good practice in the context of small organisations, using small- to mid-scale publishers as case studies to evaluate business and arts practices
- 9. Gain basic knowledge of website development, design, and publishing.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
In the early weeks of this module, you will be introduced to key texts and recent developments in publishing studies. We will read texts by foundational figures in the field, such as Pierre Bourdieu, Sarah Brouillette, Roberto Calasso, Amy Hungerford, Mark McGurl, John B. Thompson, and Rebecca Walkowitz, among others. For practical purposes, you will also set up personal webpages during these early weeks. You will subsequently publish written reviews of course texts and blog posts discussing current book news on your personal sites. A portfolio of website content (reviews and blog posts) will be one of the summative assessments for the module and will be graded as a portfolio, due in the middle of the term.
After the foundation weeks, the remainder of the module will be taken up with weekly case studies of independent publishers and books they have recently published. I will assign one literary text per week (if reasonable in length). Each will have been recently published by a noteworthy or innovative publisher currently operating in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Each text will be selected for its relevance for assessing and discussing the press’s publishing strategy, or for its relevance for discussing broader movements currently shaping the field of contemporary literature in the UK and Ireland. You will be required to review at least one of the texts we study, to write several blog posts discussing current book news, and to publish your reviews and blog posts on your personal websites. The final summative assessment is a “field analysis” essay that asks you to consider a text, a literary prize, or a publisher, among other things, in relation to a critical argument about the field of contemporary literature today.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 22 | Two-hour seminars devoted to the main readings in given week. During weeks 3-10, pairs or small groups will be responsible for leading discussion for 20 minutes on weeks text and publisher. This need not be a formal presentation, but students must prepare adequately to guide discussion. |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 11 | One-hour seminars will be devoted to field analysis and workshop projects related to publishing |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Study group preparations and meetings |
| Guided independent study | 70 | Module preparation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 164 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web writing portfolio formative assessment | 1 book review (500 words) | 2-9 | Peer evaluation; immediate tutor feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web writing portfolio | 50 | 1 book review and 2 blog posts, totalling 2500 words | 2-9 | Written plus tutorial follow-up; will be assessed as portfolio; |
| Field analysis essay | 50 | 2500 words | 1-6, 8 | Written plus tutorial follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web writing portfolio | Web writing portfolio (1 book reviews and 2 blog posts) | 2-9 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Field analysis essay | Institution analysis essay (2500 words) | 1-6, 8 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Because this module seeks to focus on recently published books by publishers worth further study, I will provide a full reading list two months prior to the beginning of the module so that I can select from the most recently published works where relevant. To give some sense of the kinds of books we might cover, here is a list of the publishers we will study and their stated editorial focus.
- And Other Stories (Sheffield): fiction, literature in translation, British and world writing
- Ayebia (Banbury, UK): African and Caribbean writing, mostly fiction
- Book Works (London): experimental writing influenced by visual arts and artist’s books
- Carcanet Press (Manchester): influential British poetry publisher, founded in 1967
- Galley Beggar Press (Norwich): Award-winning press of primarily innovative fiction
- Influx Press (Hackney, London): a focus on writing from Hackney has broadened to a focus on geographically specific writing
- Peepal Tree Press (Leeds): Caribbean, Caribbean diaspora, and Black British writers
- Tramp Press (Dublin): innovative fiction; we are likely to read Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones
- Visual Editions (London): ‘works at the cross-section of publishing, design, culture and tech’
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11206
- Sarah Brouillette, ‘On the African Literary Hustle’ (2017)
- Amy Hungerford, ‘On the Period Formerly Known as Contemporary’ (2008)
- Mark McGurl, ‘Everything and Less: Fiction in the Age of Amazon’ (2016)
- Lytle Shaw, ‘lowercase theory and the site-specific turn’ (2017)
- Ronald Sukenick, ‘Author as Editor and Publisher’ (1974)
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field (1992)
- Sarah Brouillette, Literature and the Creative Economy (2014)
- —. Postcolonial Writers in the Global Literary Marketplace (2007)
- Roberto Calasso, The Art of the Publisher (2015)
- Johanna Drucker, Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production (2014)
- Amy Hungerford, Making Literature Now (2016)
- Brian Lennon, In Babel’s Shadow: Multilingual Literatures, Monolingual States (2010)
- Jeffrey T. Schapp and Adam Michaels, eds., The Electric Information Age Book: McLuhan / Agel / Fiore and the Experimental Paperback (2012)
- John B. Thompson, Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century (2010)
- Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in the Age of World Literature (2015)
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 05/02/2018 |
| Last revision date | 27/07/2020 |