AustLit

'The ability of literary prizes to sway literary tastes and shape cultural discourse has long been explored through the decisions made by the prize judging panel. The jury of experts, who bring with them symbolic capital and are often regarded as representing a nation’s sophisticated literary palate, have been the subject of extensive scholarship. However, there is a selection process that occurs prior to the commencement of the official or public adjudication. The entry guidelines for individual literary prizes ensure that particular authors and titles will not, or cannot, be considered for the prize and are, therefore, excluded from the symbolic and economic rewards that come with being shortlisted for and winning a literary prize. How do literary prize eligibility requirements limit access to the prestige and promotion that comes with a literary prize? How does the issue of exclusivity influence the ways prizes run, the winners that are chosen and, ultimately, the field-wide conceptions of prize-winning writing?' (Introduction)

'We live in unsettling times. This isn’t news — both the mainstream media outlets and their alt-news adversaries agree on this point, even if they disagree about what, exactly, has gone wrong. As unnerving as the last few American decades have been, it feels as if the last couple of years have been quantifiably different from what came before, and that the wall that once separated reality from fiction has been beaten into a pile of stones.' (Introduction)

'No one has written better than Henry James about the vocation o: writing, its isolate ecstasies and public humiliations, and the implacable demands it places upon those who devote their lives to its practice. Take the 1888 novella The Lesson of the Master, in which a tyro scribe enters the circle o: Henry St George, a literary eminence now past his prime. In a series of conversations, the senior writer tutors the junior in the inescapable trade-off literature will require of him. It seems he must choose between the lone.y perfection of art and the disabling entanglements of marriage and children.' (Introduction)