The economics of the literary novel
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
This chapter examines the networks and institutions that fostered the production of explicitly ‘literary’ novels in Australia during the late twentieth century. It considers how economic changes to the publishing industry since 1980 affected the way that novels were produced and received. While literary novels were primarily produced by major trade publishers and university presses in the 1980s and early 1990s, they have increasingly been published by small presses. Literary novels arguably now have less influence within the larger literary field, but remain important within prestigious networks and institutions. The chapter then examines the careers of two authors – Gerald Murnane and David Malouf – who both began writing during the ‘conglomerate era’ and have continued to publish during the ‘age of Amazon’. While both authors have had national and international literary success, this success has relied on different institutions and networks. Malouf has had a broad success, in part because his works have been enthusiastically taken up in secondary and tertiary educational settings, whereas Murnane has relied on a more diffuse network of publishers and reviewers interested in experimental forms of writing.
Keywords
Australian literature, literary publishing, publishing economics, Australian novel, Gerald Murnane, David Malouf
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
2023
Publication Title
The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
84553
ISBN
1316514854
Copyright
subscription content
Recommended Citation
Stinson, E. (2023). The economics of the literary novel. In D. Carter (Ed.), The Cambridge history of the Australian novel (pp. 405–420). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009090049.025