Literary Agents and American Literature

FAIN: FEL-288569-23

Laura Beth McGrath
Temple University (Philadelphia, PA 19122-6003)

Research and writing for a book examining the role of the literary agent in shaping the marketplace and the literary attitudes of readers. 

Literary Agents and American Literature rewrites 20th- and 21st- Century American literary history around the field’s most central and overlooked figure: the literary agent. As intermediaries between author and publisher, agents manage both the artistic and the corporate development of the book. Their negotiation between the domain of literary value and the commercial imperatives of publishers is at the heart of contemporary literary production. Weaving together historical case studies, ethnographic interviews with literary agents, and large-scale data analysis, Literary Agents and American Literature shows how agents have shaped the literary field. By examining the strategies by which agents condition authors to write in and for conglomerates, I trace a crucial feedback loop in institutional influence, showing how it is possible that publishing’s corporate structures manifest in contemporary fiction. Ultimately, this project offers an account of the ways that commerce shapes culture.