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1DCloyceSmith
I've just posted the list of LOA titles for the rest of 2011:
http://blog.loa.org/2011/02/forthcoming-from-library-of-america.html
--David
http://blog.loa.org/2011/02/forthcoming-from-library-of-america.html
--David
2ptdixon
Looks good, I am especially happy to see the Aviation/Space flight volume. I had just posted it on the future volume "wishlist," so it is a nice surprise.
3Texaco
Thank you David and am delighted to see the Harlem Renaissance writers get not one, but 2 volumes!!
Harlem Renaissance Novels (two volumes)
Rafia Zafar, editor
September / Library of America #217 and #218
Cane, Jean Toomer
Home to Harlem, Claude McKay
Quicksand, Nella Larsen
Plum Bun, Jessie Redmon Fauset
The Blacker the Berry, Wallace Thurman
Not Without Laughter, Langston Hughes
Black No More, George Schuyler
The Conjure-Man Dies, Rudolph Fisher
Black Thunder, Arna Bontemps
Harlem Renaissance Novels (two volumes)
Rafia Zafar, editor
September / Library of America #217 and #218
Cane, Jean Toomer
Home to Harlem, Claude McKay
Quicksand, Nella Larsen
Plum Bun, Jessie Redmon Fauset
The Blacker the Berry, Wallace Thurman
Not Without Laughter, Langston Hughes
Black No More, George Schuyler
The Conjure-Man Dies, Rudolph Fisher
Black Thunder, Arna Bontemps
4Texaco
Also delighted that Mr. Vonnegut has joined this most notable and honorable society:
Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963–1973
Sidney Offit, editor
June / Library of America #216
Cat’s Cradle
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Slaughterhouse-Five
Breakfast of Champions
Stories
Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963–1973
Sidney Offit, editor
June / Library of America #216
Cat’s Cradle
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Slaughterhouse-Five
Breakfast of Champions
Stories
5euphorb
Thank you, David. I'm delighted with all of these titles. I am curious about the Pauline Kael volume -- I note that it does not have a main series number posted, so can I assume that it is not part of the main series, but will be another special volume like the Manny Farber one? If so, that raises another question -- why is the film writing of James Agee included in the main series, but Farber and Kael are not? Prior to the Farber volume, all the special publications have been anthologies, but now we have for the first time two non-main series volumes that are single-author collections, and both of them are film writings. What is the thinking behind this classification? Just curious. Also, does this mean thatb we will be seeing more volumes of film writings by single authors (e.g., Roger Ebert) in the future?
6DCloyceSmith
The simplest answer is that James Agee (and James Baldwin, for that matter) were approved for inclusion in the series for their writing as a whole. Indeed, both the Agee and Baldwin volumes that contain their film criticism include other essays and critical writings.
The three Movie Critics, Manny Farber, Pauline Kael volumes are envisoned as a new/separate "series" of titles. As far as I'm aware, the editorial board hasn't decided yet whom (or what) to include next.
BTW: Subscribers will be able to purchase all future non-series titles at 50% off the retail price, with free shipping in the U.S. These books will no longer be shipped "automatically" as part of the subscription; instead we're offering them at a discount as a subscriber "benefit" for even less than the subscription price.
The three Movie Critics, Manny Farber, Pauline Kael volumes are envisoned as a new/separate "series" of titles. As far as I'm aware, the editorial board hasn't decided yet whom (or what) to include next.
BTW: Subscribers will be able to purchase all future non-series titles at 50% off the retail price, with free shipping in the U.S. These books will no longer be shipped "automatically" as part of the subscription; instead we're offering them at a discount as a subscriber "benefit" for even less than the subscription price.
7Django6924
>6 DCloyceSmith:
David, if I may give my own thoughts--the Agee film writings include not only "reviews," which constitute most of Kael's work, but also the screenplays he wrote, and the highly influential essays on "Folk Art," the John Huston essay, and especially, "The Golden Age of Comedy," which established the pantheon of silent film comedians and was largely responsible for the rediscovery and renaissance of appreciation of the works of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and many of the lesser comics. I think were it not for this one article, many of the films of Keaton would have been lost.
Comparisons are odious, and time will be the ultimate judge of which films will ultimately be regarded as classics, but I think one only has to read a few reviews by Agee, Kael and Farber to realize that Agee had a depth of insight lacking in almost every other film critic, and that it was Kael's fortune to be active during one of the most fertile and exciting periods of cinema history, whereas Agee's career spanned the era of Hollywood's decadence.
David, if I may give my own thoughts--the Agee film writings include not only "reviews," which constitute most of Kael's work, but also the screenplays he wrote, and the highly influential essays on "Folk Art," the John Huston essay, and especially, "The Golden Age of Comedy," which established the pantheon of silent film comedians and was largely responsible for the rediscovery and renaissance of appreciation of the works of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and many of the lesser comics. I think were it not for this one article, many of the films of Keaton would have been lost.
Comparisons are odious, and time will be the ultimate judge of which films will ultimately be regarded as classics, but I think one only has to read a few reviews by Agee, Kael and Farber to realize that Agee had a depth of insight lacking in almost every other film critic, and that it was Kael's fortune to be active during one of the most fertile and exciting periods of cinema history, whereas Agee's career spanned the era of Hollywood's decadence.
8bsc20
Interesting that editor Zafar chose Quicksand instead of Passing. The latter certainly is taught more often.
9Kohoutek
The trivialization of Kael and Farber is quite unfortunate. Cinematic / media literacy is an absolute necessity in today's spectacle-based society. Whatever Kael's inadequacies may be (and there are many), she had a remarkable ability to resist Hollywood's marketing machine, which is sorely lacking in all but a select few critics today. See, for instance, her review of Billy Wilder's dismal One, Two, Three, in which she gives a shrewd analysis of how Hollywood has conditioned viewers to respond to the film. If the LOA is going to continue to publish anthologies of the work of film critics, I hope they reconsider their arbitrary distinction between literary criticism and film criticism.
10mattsya
What a good time I picked to become a subscriber. The Harlem Renaissance volumes, Roth and Vonnegut will all be on my want-to-have list. I was obsessed with Vonnegut when I was eighteen, but I've always been wary of re-visiting not quite trusting my eighteen year old taste. Now is about the time to try him again.
11beatlemoon
I'm excited by the Aviation/Space Flight volume. That will be the perfect Christmas present for my father!
12DCloyceSmith
>Kohoutek
Speaking personally rather than as an LOA employee, I think the distinction here might not be between literary and film criticism but between criticism and reviews. With the exceptions of James and Poe, the LOA hasn't included many book reviews by the authors we've published, many of whom wrote dozens or even hundreds of them. (Whether we should is a good question.)
It's often the difference between what appears in the dailies and weeklies versus the long-form "review essays" that appear The New York Review of Books. I haven't read Kael in years, but my recollection is that the reviews that transcend the form into the genre of critical essay would make for a very thin LOA volume.
Speaking personally rather than as an LOA employee, I think the distinction here might not be between literary and film criticism but between criticism and reviews. With the exceptions of James and Poe, the LOA hasn't included many book reviews by the authors we've published, many of whom wrote dozens or even hundreds of them. (Whether we should is a good question.)
It's often the difference between what appears in the dailies and weeklies versus the long-form "review essays" that appear The New York Review of Books. I haven't read Kael in years, but my recollection is that the reviews that transcend the form into the genre of critical essay would make for a very thin LOA volume.
13Texaco
David this may be a personal question but have arrangements been made to include the Gore Vidal writings?
15DCloyceSmith
>Texaco:
Neither Vidal nor Bloom are currently on the schedule.
(As you may know, Vidal is on the LOA's Board of Advisors, and Bloom is on the Committee of Consultants.)
--David
Neither Vidal nor Bloom are currently on the schedule.
(As you may know, Vidal is on the LOA's Board of Advisors, and Bloom is on the Committee of Consultants.)
--David
16geneg
So engaging them now would be a minor conflict of interest, but the same positions that make them off-limits currently all but assure their inclusion post-mortem. Unless LOA has a bust-up with one of them.
17DCloyceSmith
>geneg
Actually, if we published all the authors currently in those positions, our publishing schedule would be set for the next century. :-)
There are currently 70 authors currently serving on the board of advisors or the committee of consultants (not including those who have recently departed, such as Norman Mailer, John Hope Franklin, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and John Updike).
Actually, if we published all the authors currently in those positions, our publishing schedule would be set for the next century. :-)
There are currently 70 authors currently serving on the board of advisors or the committee of consultants (not including those who have recently departed, such as Norman Mailer, John Hope Franklin, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and John Updike).
19DCloyceSmith
>ptdixon
One word: copyright
But more hopeful than before. See: http://www.observer.com/2010/media/after-years-pursuit-wylie-signs-updike. There is an explicit reference to the LOA situation in the last paragraph.
One word: copyright
But more hopeful than before. See: http://www.observer.com/2010/media/after-years-pursuit-wylie-signs-updike. There is an explicit reference to the LOA situation in the last paragraph.
20ptdixon
Great article, that actually provides some great context to many other previous discussions that we have all had regarding copyright and the LOA.
21Kohoutek
David,
That's a fair distinction. I suppose I'm arguing more for the recognition of film as a medium worthy of serious study than I am for Kael, who was homophobic and (oddly enough) misogynistic, and who made a number of embarrassing blunders in her critical judgment (her book on Citizen Kane is a travesty, for instance). Yet she exerted such a profound influence on what is at this point in time the last artistic flowering of American cinema that it pains me that she has been marginalized. Of course, it's a minor point, as the LOA is to be commended for publishing Kael, Farber, and Agee in any form.
Not to belabor the point, but may I ask how the LOA would feel about publishing another critic outside of literature, but unlike Kael, outside of popular culture? I'm thinking of someone like Clement Greenberg, whose work is mostly short-form reviews of exhibitions, but is as essential in the study of modern art as Pollock or Rothko.
That's a fair distinction. I suppose I'm arguing more for the recognition of film as a medium worthy of serious study than I am for Kael, who was homophobic and (oddly enough) misogynistic, and who made a number of embarrassing blunders in her critical judgment (her book on Citizen Kane is a travesty, for instance). Yet she exerted such a profound influence on what is at this point in time the last artistic flowering of American cinema that it pains me that she has been marginalized. Of course, it's a minor point, as the LOA is to be commended for publishing Kael, Farber, and Agee in any form.
Not to belabor the point, but may I ask how the LOA would feel about publishing another critic outside of literature, but unlike Kael, outside of popular culture? I'm thinking of someone like Clement Greenberg, whose work is mostly short-form reviews of exhibitions, but is as essential in the study of modern art as Pollock or Rothko.
22DCloyceSmith
>Kohoutek
The LOA has been working on several possibilities in art/architecture criticism (including Greenberg) and for cultural criticism in general, both in the series and outside the series, both anthologies and author volumes. We're still in the planning stages, but our first book in this area may in fact be published within two or three years.
One unresolved issue for art criticism in particular is whether the series trim size is the best format for such books. Many of the original texts were illustrated, and others would benefit by the addition of illustrations.
I should add that the permissions challenges for these volumes are a rather expensive nightmare.
The LOA has been working on several possibilities in art/architecture criticism (including Greenberg) and for cultural criticism in general, both in the series and outside the series, both anthologies and author volumes. We're still in the planning stages, but our first book in this area may in fact be published within two or three years.
One unresolved issue for art criticism in particular is whether the series trim size is the best format for such books. Many of the original texts were illustrated, and others would benefit by the addition of illustrations.
I should add that the permissions challenges for these volumes are a rather expensive nightmare.
23geneg
I understand the appeal of licensing intellectual property, but once the property passes beyond the creator (through death or sale) fees for use just become another form of rent-seeking behavior which make disseminating the work needlessly difficult and inefficient. I realize nothing can be done about this, but we should call these things what they are -- Highway robbery.
24euphorb
>David
This is great news about the plans for a cultural criticism series. I hope music criticism is included as well.
>geneg
I can't agree with you more. The US Constitution permits Congress to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." The current practice of extending copyright far beyond an author's lifetime (I think it is currently 90 years) goes way beyond what the constitutional provision was meant to achieve and is nothing short of obscene. I have no idea what the basis for intelelctual property protection is in other countries, but, at least in the US, I have long felt that we have far exceeded the constitutional mandate.
This is great news about the plans for a cultural criticism series. I hope music criticism is included as well.
>geneg
I can't agree with you more. The US Constitution permits Congress to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." The current practice of extending copyright far beyond an author's lifetime (I think it is currently 90 years) goes way beyond what the constitutional provision was meant to achieve and is nothing short of obscene. I have no idea what the basis for intelelctual property protection is in other countries, but, at least in the US, I have long felt that we have far exceeded the constitutional mandate.
25DCloyceSmith
The current law extends copyright 95 years past the date of publication (not composition), although works that had already entered the public domain remained in the public domain--which has caused no end of confusion. Nothing else will enter the public domain until 2018, when copyrights on works published in 1923 will expire (assuming copyright is not extended yet again).
It's no secret that the primary mover behind the extension was Disney, which didn't want to lose the copyright on its characters and films from the 1920s. Which is why the law is named after Sonny Bono, the Congressman who represented Anaheim and who died while he was seeking its passage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
It's no secret that the primary mover behind the extension was Disney, which didn't want to lose the copyright on its characters and films from the 1920s. Which is why the law is named after Sonny Bono, the Congressman who represented Anaheim and who died while he was seeking its passage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
26Kohoutek
Coming from art history, I feel the pain with the licensing issues. It's not uncommon for professors to spend thousands of dollars of their own money just to secure black and white images in their publications. The injustice is compounded by the fact that the fees are not even going to living artists or their estates, but to museums, which are supposedly institutions of public learning.
Regardless, it's wonderful to hear that the LOA is pursuing books on the fine arts. There are many key texts that have languished in out of print, print-on-demand, or just plain bad editions for decades, and even the slightest rectification is a blessing for those in the discipline.
Regardless, it's wonderful to hear that the LOA is pursuing books on the fine arts. There are many key texts that have languished in out of print, print-on-demand, or just plain bad editions for decades, and even the slightest rectification is a blessing for those in the discipline.
27euphorb
> David
I notice that the new list has no volumes from the American Poets Project. I imagine that the Countee Cullen volume will come out whenever it is ready, but it was originally scheduled for fall of 2010. The only 2010 volume in the APP series that actually appeared was Stepehn Foster in the Spring. I just received the Stephen Crane volume (which hasn't yet shown up on the website as anything other than an unlinked mention in the list of forthcoming volumes). So, this series, which started out producing 6 volumes per year, then reverted to two volumes per year, now seems to be issuing (whether by design, or just happenstance) just one volume a year. Has this series been put on the back burner for some reason? Perhaps one or more reasons might include rights difficulties, editorial delay, or just low sales. The original announcement of the series indicated that at least 100 volumes were planned for the series. Just wondering.
I notice that the new list has no volumes from the American Poets Project. I imagine that the Countee Cullen volume will come out whenever it is ready, but it was originally scheduled for fall of 2010. The only 2010 volume in the APP series that actually appeared was Stepehn Foster in the Spring. I just received the Stephen Crane volume (which hasn't yet shown up on the website as anything other than an unlinked mention in the list of forthcoming volumes). So, this series, which started out producing 6 volumes per year, then reverted to two volumes per year, now seems to be issuing (whether by design, or just happenstance) just one volume a year. Has this series been put on the back burner for some reason? Perhaps one or more reasons might include rights difficulties, editorial delay, or just low sales. The original announcement of the series indicated that at least 100 volumes were planned for the series. Just wondering.
28Texaco
David said the Countee Cullen is not going to happen. Something to do with his estate and publishing rights.
29Django6924
>9 Kohoutek:
While I agree with you about Kael's resistance to the Hollywood machine being her strongpoint, that unwillngness to being taken in made her spurn many films that deserved better--and among them I would have to include "One, Two, Three," which is one of the funniest films since Preston Sturges' heyday, and includes a performance by Cagney that is a marvel to behold. Being in the business myself, I am very resistant to Hollywood, but the skill it takes to maintain that kind of performance, and for Wilder, whose comedies I generally dislike as much as I love his serious films ("Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Boulevard" in particular), to sustain the manic tone throughout the shoot--well, these are accomplishments the like of which I haven't seen in recent years, and doubt I'll ever see again.
While I agree with you about Kael's resistance to the Hollywood machine being her strongpoint, that unwillngness to being taken in made her spurn many films that deserved better--and among them I would have to include "One, Two, Three," which is one of the funniest films since Preston Sturges' heyday, and includes a performance by Cagney that is a marvel to behold. Being in the business myself, I am very resistant to Hollywood, but the skill it takes to maintain that kind of performance, and for Wilder, whose comedies I generally dislike as much as I love his serious films ("Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Boulevard" in particular), to sustain the manic tone throughout the shoot--well, these are accomplishments the like of which I haven't seen in recent years, and doubt I'll ever see again.
30DCloyceSmith
>Euphorb:
The Stephen Crane volume won't officially be published until April, but it arrived early so we sent it to subscribers as soon as it came in. I hope to have it on the Web site shortly.
We haven't given up on the Cullen--we have a completely finished book, after all--but it looks grim for the very near future because of the chaotic situation with the estate.
As for the series as a whole, you hit the nail on the head: "rights difficulties, editorial delay, or just low sales" have all been factors in the slowdown of titles (especially the first factor), so that APP has unintentionally become an irregular series. The good news is that sales of a number of backlist titles have actually picked up quite a bit recently; in addition, we are hoping to soon receive funding for a couple of unique, special volumes.
In sum, we haven't yet given up on the series (there are still quite a few subscribers, after all), but we are in the process of re-conceiving title selection and production. A letter to that effect will be sent to subscribers in the coming months, and I do acknowledge and apologize for our neglect and tardiness in getting this message to everyone out there wondering where their next shipment is.
The Stephen Crane volume won't officially be published until April, but it arrived early so we sent it to subscribers as soon as it came in. I hope to have it on the Web site shortly.
We haven't given up on the Cullen--we have a completely finished book, after all--but it looks grim for the very near future because of the chaotic situation with the estate.
As for the series as a whole, you hit the nail on the head: "rights difficulties, editorial delay, or just low sales" have all been factors in the slowdown of titles (especially the first factor), so that APP has unintentionally become an irregular series. The good news is that sales of a number of backlist titles have actually picked up quite a bit recently; in addition, we are hoping to soon receive funding for a couple of unique, special volumes.
In sum, we haven't yet given up on the series (there are still quite a few subscribers, after all), but we are in the process of re-conceiving title selection and production. A letter to that effect will be sent to subscribers in the coming months, and I do acknowledge and apologize for our neglect and tardiness in getting this message to everyone out there wondering where their next shipment is.
31wildbill
I am a subscriber to APP and consider the volumes a valuable part of my library. I read very little poetry until I subscribed to LOA and got the anthologies. The APP volumes have introduced me to some poets such as Kenneth Fearing that I enjoy and never would have heard of without being a subscriber. So I hope some effort will be put into getting the series back on a regular publication schedule and keep expanding my literary horizons.
