Introduction
Lucy Warwick
PhD Student, Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies
The Journal of Publishing Culture has been created as part of the MA module ‘The History and Culture of Publishing’ at Oxford Brookes University. It addresses some of the cultural, social, and political issues surrounding publishing in Britain and internationally. The journal’s first issue has been divided into four subsections, all with interrelated themes.
Beginning with ‘Authors and Readers’, the journal analyses the changing relationship between the text, the author and the reader throughout the twentieth century. It addresses some of the barriers presented by class and gender that determined access both to the production and consumption of texts. A final study addresses the changes in marketing and author promotion resulting in a quasi-celebrity culture in the early twentieth century.
‘Transitions in Publishing Culture’ examines pivotal challenges to publishing since the late 19th century. The first chapter explores the struggles and successes of a feminist periodical press in a male-dominated field. The next article studies the relationship between cinema and print culture in the early 20th century, by means of a focused study of a film magazine that aimed to create a new critical discourse about film, and elevate it to a legitimate art form. The Second World War presented a major challenge to publishers, and there is a study here of Penguin’s attempt to supply books to British readers posted abroad and their ambitions to develop an international market. The final article in this section investigates the impact of literary prize culture, in a study of the problems and controversy surrounding The Booker Prize, and a consideration of the commercial impact of winning a prestigious prize.
‘Print, Empire and Nation’ begins by exploring the representation of the British Empire to a domestic audience, and the ways in which imperialism became part of a British national identity. Further articles outline the struggles of creating an Irish identity through print: a cultural community separate from its status as a British colony. Similarly, the creation of a linguistic identity is discussed in connection with the motives behind the creation of an Irish national biography, Beathaisnéis, including its ‘second life’ in a digital format. This section concludes with an in depth look into indigenous reading culture in Nigeria and the barriers hindering its growth.
The journal concludes with a final section surveying the impact of censorship and propaganda on publishing. The section begins with a poignant article on the personal experiences of Rudyard Kipling, and how the loss of his son in the Great War manifested itself in the changing style of literature he created. Secondly the role of obscenity trials as a means of censorship in American publishing is analysed; considering the opinion of the State, that the public be shielded from literature considered obscene, versus the publisher’s role in supplying the same public with literature of worth. The final paper begins to tackle the difficult subject of censorship in modern China. It demonstrates that while a vast importance is placed on the freedom of speech in the West, a text faces strict restrictions before being published in China. Internationally however, these restrictions can act as a catalyst in creating discourse surrounding a text.
We hope our readers enjoy reading this journal as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it, and that it inspires others to explore the history and culture of publishing.
Lucy Warwick
PhD Student, Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies
The Journal of Publishing Culture has been created as part of the MA module ‘The History and Culture of Publishing’ at Oxford Brookes University. It addresses some of the cultural, social, and political issues surrounding publishing in Britain and internationally. The journal’s first issue has been divided into four subsections, all with interrelated themes.
Beginning with ‘Authors and Readers’, the journal analyses the changing relationship between the text, the author and the reader throughout the twentieth century. It addresses some of the barriers presented by class and gender that determined access both to the production and consumption of texts. A final study addresses the changes in marketing and author promotion resulting in a quasi-celebrity culture in the early twentieth century.
‘Transitions in Publishing Culture’ examines pivotal challenges to publishing since the late 19th century. The first chapter explores the struggles and successes of a feminist periodical press in a male-dominated field. The next article studies the relationship between cinema and print culture in the early 20th century, by means of a focused study of a film magazine that aimed to create a new critical discourse about film, and elevate it to a legitimate art form. The Second World War presented a major challenge to publishers, and there is a study here of Penguin’s attempt to supply books to British readers posted abroad and their ambitions to develop an international market. The final article in this section investigates the impact of literary prize culture, in a study of the problems and controversy surrounding The Booker Prize, and a consideration of the commercial impact of winning a prestigious prize.
‘Print, Empire and Nation’ begins by exploring the representation of the British Empire to a domestic audience, and the ways in which imperialism became part of a British national identity. Further articles outline the struggles of creating an Irish identity through print: a cultural community separate from its status as a British colony. Similarly, the creation of a linguistic identity is discussed in connection with the motives behind the creation of an Irish national biography, Beathaisnéis, including its ‘second life’ in a digital format. This section concludes with an in depth look into indigenous reading culture in Nigeria and the barriers hindering its growth.
The journal concludes with a final section surveying the impact of censorship and propaganda on publishing. The section begins with a poignant article on the personal experiences of Rudyard Kipling, and how the loss of his son in the Great War manifested itself in the changing style of literature he created. Secondly the role of obscenity trials as a means of censorship in American publishing is analysed; considering the opinion of the State, that the public be shielded from literature considered obscene, versus the publisher’s role in supplying the same public with literature of worth. The final paper begins to tackle the difficult subject of censorship in modern China. It demonstrates that while a vast importance is placed on the freedom of speech in the West, a text faces strict restrictions before being published in China. Internationally however, these restrictions can act as a catalyst in creating discourse surrounding a text.
We hope our readers enjoy reading this journal as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it, and that it inspires others to explore the history and culture of publishing.