The Virago story : assessing the impact of a feminist publishing phenomenon / Catherine Riley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Riley, Catherine E., author.

Series:

Protest, culture and society ; v. 23.

Protest, culture and society ; volume 23

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminism--Great Britain.

Feminism.

Women publishers.

Great Britain.

Women publishers--Great Britain.

Physical Description:

190 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2018.

Summary:

The 1970s witnessed a renaissance in women's print culture, as feminist presses and bookshops sprang up in the wake of the second-wave women's movement. At four decades' remove from that heady era, however, the landscape looks dramatically different, with only one press from the period still active in contemporary publishing: Virago. This engaging history explains how, from modest beginnings, Virago managed to weather epochal transformations in gender politics, literary culture, and the book publishing business. Drawing on original interviews with many of the press's principal figures, it gives a compelling account of Virago's place in recent women's history while also reflecting on the fraught relationship between activism and commerce.

Contents:

Part I 1973-83

Chapter 1 Virago's Hands-on Brand of Feminism p. 9

Chapter 2 Changing the Literary Landscape p. 32

Part II 1983-94

Chapter 3 'Alternative, Autonomous, and Viable': Feminist Publishing and the Mainstream p. 49

Chapter 4 Fragmenting Feminism and Diversifying Women's Writing p. 64

Part III 1994-2004

Chapter 5 Working Women and the Changing Face(s) of the Book Industry p. 85

Chapter 6 Third Waves and Disconnections p. 104

Part IV 2004-17

Chapter 7 Virago's Place in the New Millennium's Literary Marketplace p. 121

Chapter 8 Twenty-First-Century Feminism(s) and Viragos Role for Women's Writing p. 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 162-181) and index.

ISBN:

1785338080

9781785338083

9781785338557

OCLC:

1005105357