Alice Grundy Alice Grundy i(A145116 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Anticipating Enchantment : The Myth of Editorial Perfection and the Legend of the Solo Author Alice Grundy , 2024 single work essay
— Appears in: Griffith Review , February no. 83 2024; (p. 134-141)
'Telling a stranger that you are a book editor normally results in one of two responses. Either you’ll be told that editing has deteriorated – whether in the past five or fifty years depends on your interlocutor. Or the charge is that editors intervene too much, their contribution a sort of con job perpetrated on unsuspecting readers. Both responses are characterised as a symptom of the evils of capitalism: either there is no money for proper editing anymore, or books are being smooshed into more marketable boxes. Some claim that there is no proper editing because they’ve found typos or misused words and phrases in contemporary books. Others hold that editorial interventions are extreme and endanger the concept of authorship.' (Introduction)
1 Editors Have Long Been Publishing’s Hidden Handmaidens – What Might We Gain If We Acknowledged Their Role? Alice Grundy , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 28 November 2022;

'Editors are almost always unseen and unheard – until something goes wrong. That might be a relatively minor mistake, such as a typo – as in a cookbook that mistakenly listed “people” instead of “pepper” in a recipe. Or it could be more substantial questions about the integrity of a book’s contents.' (Introduction)   

1 y separately published work icon Editing Fiction : Three Case Studies from Post-war Australia Alice Grundy , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2022 25164309 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'Editing Fiction considers the collaborative efforts of literary production as well as editorial practice in its own right, using case studies by Australian novelists Jessica Anderson, Thea Astley and Ruth Park. An emphasis on collaboration is necessary because literary criticism often takes books as finite, discrete works rather than the result of multiple contributors, engaged to differing degrees. The editorial process always involves a negotiation over edits for the sake of the work, taking its potential reception or projected sales into account. Through examination of the archives, this Element shows that editing can be formative, limiting, commercially directed, a literary collaboration - or a mix of all these interventions. For editors and scholars alike, the Element examines practices of the recent past, seeking to determine the responsibilities of editors and publishers to authors, the text itself and to society; and the interrelation of editorial work, social conditions and market forces.' (Publication summary)

1 Susan Varga’s Hard Joy Explores the Possibilities and Limits of Memoir Alice Grundy , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 2 August 2022;

— Review of Hard Joy : Life and Writing Susan Varga , 2022 single work autobiography

'Historically, memoir has been a genre for older authors, reflecting back on their lives, but in recent years there has been an increase in life writing that is tied to a set of ideas or a political agenda.'(Introduction) 

1 ‘Taking a Risk’ : Disability, Prejudice and Advocacy in the Editing and Publishing History of Ruth Park’s Swords and Crowns and Rings Alice Grundy , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 37 no. 1 2022;

'Ruth Park’s award-winning novel, Swords and Crowns and Rings had a fascinating, and so far largely unknown, journey to publication. This article traces the editorial and publishing history of the novel and finds that was Park was sent edits that would have limited the agency and nuance of her short-statured character, Jackie Hanna. From my surprising discoveries in the archive, this paper demonstrates that Park resisted these edits, and in doing so acted as an advocate on behalf of her disabled protagonist. She preserved her vision for a character who is a fully rounded human with the intention of conveying his humanity. Combining the tools of critical disability studies with original, archival research and close reading, this analysis establishes that Park largely avoids the narrative prosthesis that commonly troubles ableist renditions of disabled characters (Mitchell, Snyder 2001). This article demonstrates that it is at every level of publishing, from authors through to publishers and editors, that ableist attitudes can inhibit authentic representations of disability in literature.' (Publication abstract)

1 Blue Pencils and Red Pens Alice Grundy , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , March 2021;

— Review of Literary Lion Tamers : Book Editors Who Made Publishing History Craig Munro , 2021 multi chapter work criticism

'While researching editing history in Australia, I found some of Craig Munro’s early advocacy on behalf of editors on the endpapers of a now obscure collection of conference proceedings. Printed on a textured, peach-coloured stock is a facsimile of Munro’s handwritten notes for his talk entitled ‘Final Working Draft’ from the 1990 ‘Editing in Australia’ conference. The conference was concerned with textual editing and the commonly held supposition of textual editing, that the author’s intention is key and that editors interfere, constrict, or even ruin a work, clearly irked Craig Munro, editor of some of Australia’s most celebrated authors such as Peter Carey and Frank Moorhouse. He was keen to point out that textual editing can ignore the processes through which a book passes on its way to the reader . Munro knew these processes intimately from his time at UQP, the house where he started as a junior and went on to become publishing manager. Munro was disappointed that the star speakers at the conference spoke as if the publishing editor and publishing process were not inextricably linked to the author and the author’s work. His comments continue on the endpaper at the back of the book:' (Introduction)

1 The Crystal Mirror or the Book That Wasn’t Alice Grundy , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2020;

'Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River is one of the few Australian novels of the 1970s that has remained in print since its first release. By contrast, to take just one example, four-time Miles Franklin winner Thea Astley’s books have been out of print a few times – this remains the case for The Acolyte, which won the Miles Franklin in 1972Perhaps in part because of its easily digestible length, Tirra Lirra is a staple of high school and university curricula. Tirra Lirra tells the story of Nora Porteus’ return to her family home in Brisbane after decades overseas. As she is ill and is nearing the end of her life, Nora’s mind turns to her past, her ex-husband, friends, and the interplay of art and labour.' (Introduction)

1 Obstructions Round 3 Alice Grundy , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: Seizure [Online] , July 2016;
1 What I’m Reading— Alice Grundy , 2016 single work
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2016;
1 For What It's Worth Alice Grundy , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 224 2016; (p. 45-50)
'The article discusses sharing of commercial-in-confidence information by booksellers and publishers. Topics discussed include following the Average Retail Price (ARP) for a book in order to know the majority of sales through discount department stores; selling of certain number of copies of books leads to rise in written into the contract; and printing of books.' (Publication abstract)
1 Imperilled Alice Grundy , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Seizure [Online] , December 2015;
1 Holiday Highlights (For Your Reading Pleasure) Alice Grundy , Portia Lindsay , Emily Stewart , Thomas Wilson , Kate O'Donnell , Lily Mei Murray , Emily Meller , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Seizure [Online] , December 2015;
1 y separately published work icon Stories of Sydney Alice Grundy (editor), David Henley (editor), Sydney : Xoum , 2014 8950960 2014 anthology short story

'Stories of Sydney celebrates the diversity that exists in this city. A place that is simultaneously welcoming and prejudiced, kind and cruel, aspirational and eccentric in its mundanity. The stories range from family drama to modern noir, from cultural clashes to the burden of memory.'

1 Nimble Innovators Alice Grundy , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , March 2014;
1 y separately published work icon Style : It's Not What's on Inside That Counts Alice Grundy , Surry Hills : Xou Creative , 2012 Z1911977 2012 single work criticism
1 4 y separately published work icon Seizure : A Journal for New Writing Seizure [Online] Alice Grundy (editor), Fiona Wright (editor), 2011 Surry Hills : Xou Creative , 2011- Z1840063 2011 periodical (59 issues)

'Seizure, the newest journal for new writing. What we're doing is creating a biannual magazine that collects short works of fiction, narrative non fiction or poetry themed around a particular genre of magazine. It's a magazine where editor-in-chief, Alice Grundy, rounds up new authors and gets them to write on a theme, like Food or Sci-Fi, and then gets the crew at Xou to create stunning and amusing visuals to compliment the text, so it is not just a meal for the brain but a feast for the senses.' Source: www.seizureonline.com/ (Sighted 03/02/2012).

In 2013, Seizure became an online only publication. (Website: seizureonline.com )

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