Alice Grundy
Editing Fiction: Three Case Studies from Post-war Australia
2022, Cambridge University Press
Editing Fiction considers the collaborative efforts of literary production as well as editorial practice in its own right, using case studies by Australian novelists Jessica Anderson, Thea Astley and Ruth Park. An emphasis on collaboration is necessary because literary criticism often takes books as finite, discrete works rather than the result of multiple contributors, engaged to differing degrees. The editorial process always involves a negotiation over edits for the sake of the work, taking its potential reception or projected sales into account. Through examination of the archives, this Element shows that editing can be formative, limiting, commercially directed, a literary collaboration – or a mix of all these interventions. For editors and scholars alike, the Element examines practices of the recent past, seeking to determine the responsibilities of editors and publishers to authors, the text itself and to society; and the interrelation of editorial work, social conditions and market forces.
About the Author
Dr Alice Grundy is an editor, researcher and teacher, with over 15 years’ experience working in book publishing, and a Visiting Fellow at ANU. She has worked for the public service and has taught at the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Melbourne and Australian National University. She completed a PhD on editing and publishing history at ANU, the first half of which became Editing Fiction: Three case studies from Post-war Australia, published by Cambridge University Press.
