MACMILLAN The Novel as Network: Forms, Ideas, Commodities (New Directions in Book History)

The Novel as Network: Forms, Ideas, Commodities engages with the contemporary Anglophone novel and its derivatives and by-products such as graphic novels, comics, podcasts, and Quality TV. This collection investigates the meaning of the novel in the larger system of contemporary media production and (post-)print culture, viewing the novel through the lens of actor network theory as a node in the novel network. Chapters underscore the deep interconnection between all the aspects of the novel, between the novel as a (literary) form, as an idea, and as a commodity. Bringing together experts from American, British, and Postcolonial Studies, as well as Book, Publishing, and Media Studies, this collection offers a new vantage point to view the novel in its multifaceted expressions today. Review “Offering a novel, and networked, approach to the ‘novel network,’ this is a timely and important intervention responding to an urgent need for re-orientation in studying the novel. The truly interdisciplinary collection is keenly alert to the various contexts of the novel on today’s multimedial cultural marketplace, helping us revise our understanding of what, and how, the novel ‘is’.” ( Florian Klaeger, Professor of English Literature, University of Bayreuth, Germany, and author of Reading into the Stars. Cosmopoetics in the Contemporary Novel (2018)) “Novel as Network is an astute and coherent series of essays on the forms, functions, and fortunes of the novel in the late age of print. With a productive use of network theory that brings together fresh perspectives from literary studies and book history, this collection shows how the contemporary novel is placed in varieties of markets, media, taste formations, and genres.” (Günter Leypoldt, Professor of American Literature, University of Heidelberg, Germany) From the Back Cover The Novel as Network: Forms, Ideas, Commodities engages with the contemporary Anglophone novel and its derivatives and by-products such as graphic novels, comics, podcasts, and Quality TV. This collection investigates the meaning of the novel in the larger system of contemporary media production and (post-)print culture, viewing the novel through the lens of actor network theory as a node in the novel network. Chapters underscore the deep interconnection between all the aspects of the novel, between the novel as a (literary) form, as an idea, and as a commodity. Bringing together experts from American, British, and Postcolonial Studies, as well as Book, Publishing, and Media Studies, this collection offers a new vantage point to view the novel in its multifacetious expressions today. About the Author Tim Lanzendörfer is Heisenberg Research Fellow for Literary Theory, Literary Studies, and the Communication of Literary Studies at Goethe University, Germany. He is the author most recently of Books of the Dead: Reading the Zombie in Contemporary Literature (2018). Corinna Norrick-Rühl is Chair of Book Studies at the University of Münster, Germany. Her most recent publications are Book Clubs and Book Commerce (2019) and Internationaler Buchmarkt (2019).