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Book review: Paul Crosthwaite, The market logics of contemporary fiction, Cambridge studies in twenty-first century literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. xi 306pp ISBN 978-1-108-49956-9 (Hbk)

  • Alexis Weedon
Research Output: Contribution to specialist publication Book/Film/Article review

Open access

Abstract

New Economic Criticism has worked across the disciplinary boundaries of literary and cultural history and postmodern economics. Crosthwaite cites as a starting point of this book Pierre Bourdieu’s criticism of neoliberalism as a programme aimed at removing all structures which get in the way of market logics – that is the commercial forces which drive sales. He sets this against Modernist aesthetic isolationism and pitches Frederic Jameson’s argument that the independent cultural sphere preserved by Modernism was over thrown by the invasive commercialism which pervades Postmodernism. His argument is that the literary sphere has been invaded by financialisation and fiduciary exchangeability which leads us to trust imaginary things from paper money to hedge funds and suspend out disbelief. From this position he presents his reading of the economic storylines in fiction, and the book trades’ constructs of price-points, genres, formats, agreements, prizes, and the performative stances of authors who interrogate the market economics of their fiction.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to specialist publication Book/Film/Article review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 107-108

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Library (Volume 22)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 15/03/2021

Publication status

Published - 15/03/2021

ISSN

0024-2160

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/624897

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