White Literary Taste Production in Contemporary Book Culture

by Alexandra Dane

Despite initiatives to 'diversify' the publishing sector, there has been almost no transformation to the historic racial inequality that defines the field. This Element argues that contemporary book culture is structured by practice that operates according to a White taste logic. By applying the notion of this logic to an analysis of both traditional and new media tastemaking practices, White Literary Taste Production in Contemporary Book Culture examines the influence of Whiteness on the cultural practice, and how the long-standing racial inequities that characterize Anglophone book publishing are supported by systems, institutions and platforms. These themes will be explored through two distinct but interrelated case studies-women's literary prizes and anti-racist reading lists on Instagram-which demonstrate the dominance of Whiteness, and in particular White feminism, in the contemporary literary discourse.

88 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2023

Reviews

[Grace Keltner]

I loveeee when I get to read lit theory while studying Publishing. Like I don’t actually really find reading abt industry all that mentally lucrative. But cultural philosophy? Yes. So well informed so importantly positioned. Really detailed w out being tedious or inaccessible.

[wrench]

If you're doing any writing where you have to relitigate the case that publishing is mad white and that it's systemic etc etc - Dane has done the research and also gathered together heaps more. Ten out of ten for me not having to do this research.

[drew]

Dane's Element perfectly tied together the sociological ideas of Bourdieu on taste and cultural capital with literary awards in book culture. It helped me in writing a case study on cultural capital and the middlebrow. It also assisted a publishing debates piece on the inclusion of women of colour. The application of Bourdieu's work to publishing was fascinating to read about after having read lots of him over the course of my 3 year Sociology degree!