Jens Walther’s Abstieg vom Zauberberg (1997): A Literary Reflection on the World of Publishing in the Postmodern World
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Dept German StudiesIssue Date
2020-03Keywords
Book publishingBook market
Book fairs
Prizes for literature
Book reviewers
Journalists
Contemporary literature
Canonical literature
Trivial literature
Modern theaterTV and literatureThe internet and literature
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Classen, A. Jens Walther’s Abstieg vom Zauberberg (1997): A Literary Reflection on the World of Publishing in the Postmodern World. Pub Res Q 36, 32–42 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-020-09711-7Journal
PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLYRights
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
The world of book publishing is currently undergoing a major paradigm shift, but this was already fully under way in the 1990s. In the German novel Abstieg vom Zauberberg, published in 1997 by an anonymous author under the pseudonym Jens Walther, we are given an excellent insider view of the concrete situation within literary publishing houses and how they operate behind the scene and in public to secure the best possible titles and to fend off manuscripts that appear to be trivial literature. The author proves to be highly educated in the history of German and western literature at large and also demonstrates great expertise regarding book fairs, book reviews, and book prizes, framing all this by a somewhat twisted love story involving a young author, Anna Becker, and two men, first the young Johannes Rieger, then his father Helmut Rieger, both representing the fictional publishing house Engsfeld.Note
12 month embargo; published online: 23 January 2020ISSN
1053-8801EISSN
1936-4792Version
Final accepted manuscriptScopus Count
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