Branding Books Across the Ages
Strategies and Key Concepts in Literary Branding
Helleke van den Braber
Jeroen Dera
Jos Joosten
Maarten Steenmeijer
Lieke Deinsen
Nina Geerdink
Paul Hulsenboom
Maaike Koffeman
Gaston Franssen
Rob Schoor
9789463723916
372 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
For many, literature and marketing are considered opposite phenomena. This book discusses cases in which the two are closely connected. It argues that literature is subject to the same mechanisms as other commercial products: our experience of literary texts is prefigured by brands, trademarks that identify a product and differentiate it from its competitors. From the early modern period onwards, literary authors and their texts are constantly ‘branded’ and have been both the object and the trailblazer of a complex marketing process. The authors of this volume analyze this branding process throughout the centuries, focusing on the Netherlands. To what extent is our experience of Dutch literature prefigured by brands, and what role does branding play when introducing European authors in the Dutch literary field (or vice versa)? By answering these questions, Branding Books Across the Ages seeks to show how literary scholars understand branding – a phenomenon that has long been intertwined with literature.
Author Bio
Helleke van den Braber holds an endowed chair in Patronage Studies at Utrecht University (the Netherlands), and is director of studies of the Department of Literary and Cultural Studies at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands), where she coordinates MA programmes in ‘Cultural Policy and Patronage’ and ‘Creative Industries’.
Jeroen Dera is Assistant Professor of Dutch Literature at Radboud University. His research concerns contemporary poetry, literature education, and the relation between literature and the media industries.
Jos Joosten is Professor of Dutch Literature at Radboud University. He is a member of the research group SCARAB (Studying Cultural Infrastructure and Reception Across Borders) and has published several articles and books on the theory and practice of literary criticism and book reviewing.
Maarten Steenmeijer is Emeritus Professor of Modern Spanish and Spanish American Literature and Culture at Radboud University, and specializes in reception and translation studies.
