Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 The Decline of the Literary Paradigm in Australian Publishing
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Davis examines the impact of popular fiction on Australian publishing trends during the period 1995-2005.

Notes

  • Originally presented, as a paper, to the English Department, University of Melbourne, during July 2005.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 2005
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Heat 10 Years no. 12 (New Series) 2006 Z1332117 2006 periodical issue 2006 pg. 91-108
    Note: Includes bibliography: p.91-108
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Making Books : Contemporary Australian Publishing David Carter (editor), Anne Galligan (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2007 Z1405089 2007 anthology criticism (taught in 3 units)
    • Is the Australian publishing industry flourishing or floundering?
    • What is the future of the book?
    • Has lifestyle replaced literary publishing?
    • Have new technologies revolutionised the nature of the industry?

    'Making Books addresses these questions and many others in a wide-ranging study of contemporary Australian publishing. It also provides a sophisticated introduction to the structure and dynamics of the Australian publishing industry which turns over almost two billion dollars a year.

    'Leading industry practitioners and academics analyse the industry in the context of social, cultural and legal forces. They write revealingly on the culture of the publishing house, editorial practice and policy, Bookscan, new technologies and the 'decline' of literary publishing.

    'Making Books will be an indispensable companion for arts industry professionals, those in the publishing industry, and scholars of book history or publishing studies.' (Publisher's blurb)

    St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2007
    pg. 116-131

Works about this Work

The Open Access Shift at UWA Publishing Is an Experiment Doomed to Fail Emmett Stinson , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 November 2019;

'There has been no shortage of bad news for Australia’s literary and publishing sector in the last year. Major literary journals Island and Overland have been defunded. Only 2.7% of Australia Council funding went to books and writing. The Chair in Australian Literature at University of Sydney is not being renewed.' (Introduction)

Creative Writing, Cultural Capital and the Labour Market Scott Brook , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 53 2012;
'Over the last decade several Australian broadsheet newspapers have run numerous articles on the state of literary publishing, providing a rare opportunity for academic debate to enter the public arena. According to the reported commentary of novelists, publishers and academics, it would seem the literary field is caught between two contradictory currents: although the economic viability of Australian literary titles appears under pressure, there is booming demand for university courses in creative writing. This casual linkage has enabled a range of speculations on the possibly 'perverse' market relations between writing programs and the publishing industry. Has consumer demand for Australian literary authors shifted from the bookshop to the arts faculty? A recent quip by Frank Moorhouse would suggest so: 'Now the joke goes that when someone says they're a writer, the next question is, "where do you teach?"' (10).' (Author's introduction)
Edith & Helen : Reading Nation in the 1990s Eleni Pavlides , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Australian Writers and Writing , May no. 1 2010; (p. 14-23)
'Nations are sustained by nationalism, which is built on the narratives that are retold in official histories, national literatures, media representations, invented traditions and foundational myths. In the past fifteen years or so, Australian literature and Australia's history of nation formation have found themselves between a rock and hard place. Both have been (and still are) threatened and destabilised by, amongst other things, the forces of globalisation...' (p. 14)
Book Publishing in Western Australia : A World Elsewhere Per Henningsgaard , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , vol. 1 no. 1 2009;

'This article examines the role of book publishing outside the cultural centres, where the lack of access to the gatekeepers of cultural production, such as literary agents, editors and publishers, has inhibited both the publishers' and region's reach into the public imagination.

It takes Western Australia as a case study, analysing the impact of geographical regionalism on the processes of book production and publication. Western Australia is infrequently represented in the cultura record, much less in those aspects of the cultural record that are transmitted overseas.

This imbalance in 'cultural currency' arises because regions are at least in part defined by their ability to participate in what Pierre Bourdieu has deemed the 'field of cultural production'. In the case of print culture, this field includes writers, literary agents, editors, publishers, government arts organisations, the media, schools, and book retailers, just to name a few.

This article pays particular attention to Western Australia's three major publishing houses (Fremantle Press, University of Western Australia Press, and the publisher of Indigenous literature, Magabala Books), as well as those Western Australian writers who have achieved the greatest international success, such as Tim Winton and Elizabeth Jolley. It demonstrates that the awareness of geographically and culturally diverse regions within the framework of the nation is derived from representations of these regions and their associated regional characteristics in the movies, television and books.' (Author's abstract)

Left for Dead Over Lit Crit Imre Salusinszky , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 January 2007; (p. 36)
Imre Salusinzky questions some of the propositions put by Mark Davis in 'The Decline of the Literary Paradigm in Australian Publishing'.
Politics and Monomania Ken Gelder , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 184 2006; (p. 48-56)
Left for Dead Over Lit Crit Imre Salusinszky , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 January 2007; (p. 36)
Imre Salusinzky questions some of the propositions put by Mark Davis in 'The Decline of the Literary Paradigm in Australian Publishing'.
Edith & Helen : Reading Nation in the 1990s Eleni Pavlides , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Australian Writers and Writing , May no. 1 2010; (p. 14-23)
'Nations are sustained by nationalism, which is built on the narratives that are retold in official histories, national literatures, media representations, invented traditions and foundational myths. In the past fifteen years or so, Australian literature and Australia's history of nation formation have found themselves between a rock and hard place. Both have been (and still are) threatened and destabilised by, amongst other things, the forces of globalisation...' (p. 14)
Book Publishing in Western Australia : A World Elsewhere Per Henningsgaard , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , vol. 1 no. 1 2009;

'This article examines the role of book publishing outside the cultural centres, where the lack of access to the gatekeepers of cultural production, such as literary agents, editors and publishers, has inhibited both the publishers' and region's reach into the public imagination.

It takes Western Australia as a case study, analysing the impact of geographical regionalism on the processes of book production and publication. Western Australia is infrequently represented in the cultura record, much less in those aspects of the cultural record that are transmitted overseas.

This imbalance in 'cultural currency' arises because regions are at least in part defined by their ability to participate in what Pierre Bourdieu has deemed the 'field of cultural production'. In the case of print culture, this field includes writers, literary agents, editors, publishers, government arts organisations, the media, schools, and book retailers, just to name a few.

This article pays particular attention to Western Australia's three major publishing houses (Fremantle Press, University of Western Australia Press, and the publisher of Indigenous literature, Magabala Books), as well as those Western Australian writers who have achieved the greatest international success, such as Tim Winton and Elizabeth Jolley. It demonstrates that the awareness of geographically and culturally diverse regions within the framework of the nation is derived from representations of these regions and their associated regional characteristics in the movies, television and books.' (Author's abstract)

Creative Writing, Cultural Capital and the Labour Market Scott Brook , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 53 2012;
'Over the last decade several Australian broadsheet newspapers have run numerous articles on the state of literary publishing, providing a rare opportunity for academic debate to enter the public arena. According to the reported commentary of novelists, publishers and academics, it would seem the literary field is caught between two contradictory currents: although the economic viability of Australian literary titles appears under pressure, there is booming demand for university courses in creative writing. This casual linkage has enabled a range of speculations on the possibly 'perverse' market relations between writing programs and the publishing industry. Has consumer demand for Australian literary authors shifted from the bookshop to the arts faculty? A recent quip by Frank Moorhouse would suggest so: 'Now the joke goes that when someone says they're a writer, the next question is, "where do you teach?"' (10).' (Author's introduction)
Last amended 12 Sep 2007 14:58:30
91-108 The Decline of the Literary Paradigm in Australian Publishingsmall AustLit logo Heat
116-131 The Decline of the Literary Paradigm in Australian Publishingsmall AustLit logo
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