Authors Inc. by Loren Glass

Authors Inc. by Loren Glass

The first comprehensive and systematic study of literary celebrity in the twentieth-century United States, Authors Inc. focuses on the autobiographical work of Mark Twain, Jack London, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer. Through these classic American authors, Loren Glass reveals the degree to which literary modernism in the United States is inseparable from the mass cultural forces it opposed. Chronicling the emergence of literary celebrity in the late nineteenth century up through its contemporary manifestations, Glass focuses on how individual authors themselves struggled with the conditions of mass cultural renown. Furthermore, by emphasizing the complex relation between masculinity and modernist authorship in the United States, the book provides a bracing new account of the psychosexual economy of the American profession of authorship. By combining a socio-historical approach with a rhetorical analysis of the autobiographical work in which classic American writers attempted to intervene in the formation of their public personae, Authors Inc. offers a long overdue study of one of the most important, and neglected, aspects of modern American literature.

"A fascinating exploration of the relationship among modern authorial celebrity, the rise of the mass market, and the crisis of masculinity at the turn of the twentieth centuryThis crisply argued book unites sophisticated theoretical arguments about the changing shape of subjectivity in American culture with attentive literary readings and careful historical scholarship." -- Janice Radway,Duke University
"Provocatively and deftly tackles the question of literary celebrity in modern America. A smart and combelling book that has broken through the silence on literary celebrity, and it will serve as the foundation for other inquiries into this complex phenomenon." * The Hemingway Review *
"Glass offers insightful readings of such books as Stein's Everybody's Autobiography(1937) and Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon (1932)." * The Journal of American History *
"A richly rewarding, insightful, and engaging study." * American Literary Realism *
"Glass provides a novel, nuanced, and sound critical perspectives on the productive interaction of seemingly opposite forces: modernism and the mass market." * Choice *

Loren Glass is Professor of English at the University of Iowa, specializing in 20th and 21st century literature and culture. His first book, Authors Inc.: Literary Celebrity in the Modern United States, was published by New York University Press in 2004. Since then he has focused on the literature and culture of the sixties, teaching and writing about obscenity and censorship, drugs and literature, and the rock album era. He is a member of the Post45 collective and co-edits their book series.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780814731604
ISBN 10	0814731600
Title	Authors Inc.
Author	Loren Glass
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Nyu Press
Year published	2004-07-01
Number of pages	243
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable