Al,
Re your comments below:
"I wasn't talking about initial publication either, Jim. I
was thinking of books that go out of print and are then
reintroduced. That would include twentieth century classics
like Umberto Eco's FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM, Max Frisch's HOMO
FABER and Hermann Hesse's THE GLASS BEAD GAME, all of which
were out of print in the UK during periods when I used to
work in a bookstore. So was Eric Ambler's entire work. For a
long time."
I see your point, but that's somewhat different from a novel
that's in print virtually continually over a long period of
time, which is what I understodd Miker to be talking
about.
That IS a response to a continuing public demand.
"I'd also suggest that 'the public decides what gets bought'
is only true on a technicality. The public cannot buy what is
not available for purchase. I know many cases where initial
print runs of books have sold out but the publisher hasn't
reprinted."
On the other hand, if a publisher KEEPS a book in print,
continuously, over a long period of time, he is responding to
a public demand. That's more than just a technicality.
And, returning to Miker's "democracy" metaphor, voters can
only vote for candidates who are actually running.
If they don't run, whether because they choose not to
or because their party doesn't give them material support
(the political equivalent of a publisher refusing to keep a
successful book in print), it may make the democratic process
imperfect, but it doesn't make it something other than
democracy.
JIM DOHERTY
__________________________________________________ Do You
Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 13 Jul 2006 EDT