The Grove Press Reader 1951-2001

by S.E. Gontarski (Editor)

In 1951 Barney Rosset acquired Grove Press and proceeded to build it into one of the most controversial and influential houses of the era, publishing Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, D. H. Lawrence, Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, the Marquis de Sade, Frantz Fanon, and many others. For nearly three decades, readers sought out and read books because they were Grove books. In celebration of the past half-century, Grove Press is now offering a collection of the seminal writers it has published over the past fifty years. The reader opens with an introductory overview by noted Beckett scholar S. E. Gontarski, which recounts Grove Press's early days as a small upstart house, the battles against censorship, the halcyon years and the less profitable times, the attacks by militant feminists and Cuban emigres, and the merger with Atlantic Monthly Press. The book includes selections of works by authors from William Burroughs to Will Self, Jean Genet to Dennis Cooper, Marguerite Duras to Jeannette Winterson, and Samuel Beckett to Tom Stoppard. There are letters between editors and authors, as well as retrospective essays by Grove's key publishers and editors. Organized chronologically, The Grove Press Reader is both an anthology of excellent writing and a commemoration of a spirit of independent publishing that has flourished for fifty years and will continue to thrive in the new century.

Genres: Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2000

About the author

S.E. Gontarski is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University, USA. He has been awarded four National Endowment for the Humanities research grants, has twice been awarded Fulbright Professorships, has been Guest Editor of the following: American Book Review, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, and Modern Fiction Studies and most recently Drammaturgia. He is the author or editor of 29 books, including Samuel Beckett: The Complete Short Prose, 1928-1989 (1996), The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett, Volume IV: The Shorter Plays (1999), A Companion To Samuel Beckett (2010), Beckett after Beckett (ed. with Anthony Uhlmann, 2006), The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett: A Reader's Guide to His Life, Works, and Thought (with C. J. Ackerly, 2006), The Grove Press Reader, 1951-2001 (2001), Modernism, Censorship and the Politics of Publishing (2000). He is also General Editor of two book series: "Crosscurrents: Comparative Studies in European Literature and Philosophy" and "Anthem Studies in Theatre and Performance."

Reviews

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

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