Cheap Modernism : Expanding Markets, Publishers’ Series and the Avant-Garde

__Cheap Modernism__ is the first sustained account of cheap series of reprints that transformed literary modernism from a little-read movement into a mainstream phenomenon – in Britain, Continental Europe and elsewhere. __Mrs Dalloway__ or __A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man__ are often presented as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellers’ Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience – thus transforming a little-read “highbrow” movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from “high” to “low”) but also spatial – since publishers’ series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language – a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, __Cheap Modernism__ sheds new light on the complex relationship between modernism and the marketplace. The first sustained account of cheap series of reprints that transformed literary modernism from a little-read movement into a mainstream phenomenonWe often think of Mrs Dalloway or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellers' Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience - thus transforming a little-read highbrow" movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from "high" to "low") but also spatial - since publisher's series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language - a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, Cheap Modernism will be of interest to all those who want to know how the new literature became a global commercial hit.Key FeaturesThe first account of European reprint series that sold modernism to a wide, international public at the beginning of the twentieth centuryDraws on extensive work in neglected publishers' archivesSheds new light on the relationship between publishers and major modernist writers (including Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and Wyndham Lewis)Prompts a rethinking of modernist institutions, away from small presses and little magazines and towards large-scale publishing enterprises The first sustained account of cheap series of reprints that transformed literary modernism from a little-read movement into a mainstream phenomenon We often think of Mrs Dalloway or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellers Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience thus transforming a little-read "highbrow" movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from "high" to "low") but also spatial since publishers series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, Cheap Modernism will be of interest to all those who want to know how the new literature became a global commercial hit. Key Features La 4e de couverture indique : "We often think of Mrs Dalloway or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellers' Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience, thus transforming a little-read 'highbrow' movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from 'high' to 'low') but also spatial, since publisher's series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language, a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, Cheap Modernism will be of interest to all those who want to know how the new literature became a global commercial hit." "We often think of Mrs Dalloway or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellers' Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience, thus transforming a little-read 'highbrow' movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from 'high' to 'low') but also spatial, since publisher's series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language, a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, Cheap Modernism will be of interest to all those who want to know how the new literature became a global commercial hit."--Page 4 of cover We often think of Mrs Dalloway or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as difficult books, originally published in small print runs for a handful of readers. But from the mid-1920s, these texts and others were available in cheap format across Europe. Uniform series of reprints such as the Travellerś09 Library, the Phoenix Library, Tauchnitz and Albatross sold modernism to a wide audience ́03 thus transforming a little-read "highbrow" movement into a popular phenomenon. The expansion of the readership for modernism was not only vertical (from "high" to "low") but also spatial ́03 since publisheŕ09s series were distributed within and outside metropolitan centres in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere. Many non-English native speakers discovered texts by Joyce, Woolf and others in the original language ́03 a fact that has rarely been mentioned in histories of modernism. Drawing on extensive work in neglected archives, Cheap Modernism will be of interest to all those who want to know how the new literature became a global commercial hit Cheap Modernism 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Figures and Plates 7 Acknowledgements 9 Series Editors’ Preface 11 List of Abbreviations 12 Introduction: Discovering Modernism – Travel, Pleasure and Publishers’ Series 14 1 ‘Introductions by eminent writers’: T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf in the Oxford World’s Classics Series 35 2 Pocketable Provocateurs: James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence in the Travellers’ Library and the New Adelphi Library 61 3 Rewriting Tarr Ten Years Later: Wyndham Lewis, the Phoenix Library and the Domestication of Modernism 84 4 ‘Parasitic publishers’? Tauchnitz, Albatross and the Continental Diffusion of Anglophone Modernism 107 5 ‘Classics behind plate glass’: The Hogarth Press and the Uniform Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf 133 Conclusion 153 References 166 Index 177