ARC Prices

[Tore Rye Andersen]

I dunno whether it's exactly an Issue (especially with the capital I), but I 
can't see why it shouldn't belong on the P-list? How a book is presented to 
the public and the press by the publishers certainly has some effect on how 
the book is received by for instance the reviewers, and whether we like it 
or not, these early reviews also have an effect on the initial critical 
reception, which in its turn tends to guide the subsequent critical 
reception into certain grooves. Something as seemingly innocent as the 
wording in the author's book description or the publisher's press releases 
can have some very real effects on the later interpretations of the book. 
Perhaps it shouldn't be that way. It would be nice if the literary text was 
autonomous and if we could proceed completely unbiased, but sadly, it 
doesn't work that way.
What I'm trying to get at here is that a discussion of the publishing 
process can only further our understanding of the book and its initial 
reception, and I firmly believe that it is worth the effort to look into all 
these paratextual matters. What we've been discussing in this thread is in 
the same vein as the extremely useful information set forth by Gerald Howard 
in his recent essay on Gravity's Rainbow in Book Forum - one of the most 
interesting essays on Pynchon in years, IMHO.


>From: Dave Monroe <monropolitan at yahoo.com>
>To: Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com>, pynchon-l at waste.org
>CC: pynchonoid at yahoo.com
>Subject: RE: ARC Prices
>Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:39:04 -0700 (PDT)
>
>I realize Doug has a professional interest in the
>subject, and I begrudge no one pretty much any topic
>here, but I'm not quite sure why it's an Issue here,
>except as a point of either disagreement or
>capitulation?  Maybe I'm just out of the line of fire
>in typical literary ad campaigns (save, indeed, all
>that university press e-mail I get, but I ASK for
>that, I even flip to the backs of journals looking for
>the ads), but ...
>
>--- Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I think Doug has a point: The people at Penguin
> > Press know that they don't have to tout their
> > product in the traditional way....
>
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