Who paid for modernism
Subtitle: art, money, and the fiction of Conrad, Joyce, and Lawrence
By: Joyce Piell Wexler.
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Fayetteville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924 -- Relations with publishers; Joyce, James, 1882-1941 -- Relations with publishers; Lawrence, D. H. 1885-1930 -- Relations with publishers; English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Modernism (Literature) -- Great Britain; Novelists, English -- 20th century -- Economic conditions; Authorship -- Economic aspects -- Great Britain; Capitalism and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Authors and publishers -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century; Authors and readers -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century
Description: Modernist authors faced a dilemma in trying to find their place in the expanding publishing industry of the early twentieth century. As the literary market grew, the possibility of monetary success increased. At the same time, the spectacle of many inferior writers becoming rich made serious artists renounce popularity in favor of a discriminating minority audience.

Modernist authors were haunted by the contradictions in Gustave Flaubert's model of the author as professional; writers had a higher aim than money, yet they expected to be paid for their work. Modernists resolved this dilemma by addressing both issues: they made their fiction difficult, to demonstrate their indifference to sales, and they generated publicity to attract patrons and readers.

Who Paid for Modernism? examines how three modernist authors - Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, and D. H. Lawrence - coped with the contradictory models of authorship they inherited. All three wished to reach a wide audience, produce an impact on society, and make a living from their writing, but they found that these aims were incompatible with maintaining their artistic integrity.

While the literal answer to the question "Who paid for modernism?" is that patrons, literary agents, and commercial publishers paid authors, there is also a figurative answer. Authors themselves paid for modernism by giving up the wide audience their ambitions desired and their talents deserved.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-151) and index.