Modernism's Print Cultures

Modernism’s Print Cultures focuses on criticism published since the 1990s that exemplifies the emerging discourse of print culture studies within the larger context of the New Modernist Studies. The scholarship discussed covers anglophone modernism from about 1890 to 1945 in Europe and the Atlantic world. Where appropriate, reference is also made to modernisms in languages other than English. ‘Print culture’ encompasses all printed forms, though the book is concerned primarily with magazine and book publishing. It draws on the disciplines of periodical studies and book history, and is organized into three chapters dealing with: sensuous, visual and material aspects of print; financial, advertising, and circulation issues in the literary marketplace; and political and educational projects. As well as discussing the sites and forms of production and circulation, an account is given of recent scholarship on editors, agents, publishers, writers, designers, and readers as they formed various print networks in the period covered. Contextual issues such as the impact of copyright and censorship are briefly considered. The transformation of print culture scholarship as a result of digitization projects is another theme. Terms such as bibliographic codes, media ecology, and print activism are explained, and the book provides a ‘Toolbox’ of print and digital resources for students, teachers and researchers.