Keeping Short Works Permanently in Print
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1Podras.
When I first became aware that LOA was soliciting financial support to keep main-series volumes permanently in print, the asking price was $50,000. Years later, the price became $60,000. I see now that it is up to $75,000. Inflation. One thing that has been a constant up until now is that it has (to my knowledge) only been main-series volumes that were the objects of such solicitations.
In browsing through LOA's web site recently, I saw a list of all of the volumes for which permanently-in-print contributions are being sought. The list is disheartenly long. In skimming quickly down the list, one item jumped out at me. The last entry is Richard Wright's The Man Who Lived Underground. That is not a main-series volume. That is a change.
Some years ago in this forum, there was a debate about how LOA could publish such works as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and keep it permanently in print. The assumption was that LOA's pledge of permanency only applied to main-series volumes. Mockingbird is too short for a main-series volume by itself. Lee's first and only other attempt at a novel, Go Set a Watchman, is not worthy of LOA's regard. What LOA did with The Man Who Lived Underground is, IMHO, the answer. Publish worthy short works as non main-series volumes and keep them permanently in print anyway. So simple.
It might be that LOA has been doing this for some time and I am just catching on. It would be nice to know for sure and to know what other LOA non main-series publications have that permanency attribute. When LOA deliberately attaches the permanency attribute to a work, it effectively becomes canonical. Those works should be highlighted.
In browsing through LOA's web site recently, I saw a list of all of the volumes for which permanently-in-print contributions are being sought. The list is disheartenly long. In skimming quickly down the list, one item jumped out at me. The last entry is Richard Wright's The Man Who Lived Underground. That is not a main-series volume. That is a change.
Some years ago in this forum, there was a debate about how LOA could publish such works as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and keep it permanently in print. The assumption was that LOA's pledge of permanency only applied to main-series volumes. Mockingbird is too short for a main-series volume by itself. Lee's first and only other attempt at a novel, Go Set a Watchman, is not worthy of LOA's regard. What LOA did with The Man Who Lived Underground is, IMHO, the answer. Publish worthy short works as non main-series volumes and keep them permanently in print anyway. So simple.
It might be that LOA has been doing this for some time and I am just catching on. It would be nice to know for sure and to know what other LOA non main-series publications have that permanency attribute. When LOA deliberately attaches the permanency attribute to a work, it effectively becomes canonical. Those works should be highlighted.
2euphorb
>1 Podras.:
Good catch. I just perused that list and found five more items for which funding is sought to keep them permanently in print that are also not main-series volumes. These include: Arendt's On Lying and Politics; Harold Bloom's The American Canon; Ed Hirsch's The Heart of American Poetry; the MAD Files; and Women's Liberation. Perhaps there are others that my brief perusal missed.
Good catch. I just perused that list and found five more items for which funding is sought to keep them permanently in print that are also not main-series volumes. These include: Arendt's On Lying and Politics; Harold Bloom's The American Canon; Ed Hirsch's The Heart of American Poetry; the MAD Files; and Women's Liberation. Perhaps there are others that my brief perusal missed.
3Podras.
>2 euphorb: The MAD Files??!? I loved MAD Magazine and plan to get The MAD Files when it comes out, but this surprises me. I can see the logic behind preserving the other titles in perpetuity, but ...
4CrazyGayUncle
As I finally spend a few minutes in the group chats, I wonder about combining this idea with another. Could some of these shorter, LoA-worthy, works be collected into anthologies? I stumbled across the list of works available for permanent support a few weeks ago and, other than noting the length of the list I didn't pay particularly close attention to this possibility. Granted, this would be a significant request on our part and I'm sure that the LoA has enough on their plate.
