Pluto Press Cultural & Media Studies E-Newsletter
January/February 1999
Welcome to the debut of the Pluto Press Cultural & Media Studies
E-Newsletter! Pluto Press is Britain's leading independent book publisher
of works by and for the broad left community. This newsletter is designed
to give you up-to-date information on important books in the fields of
cultural and media studies.
If you would like to request a hard copy of our latest catalogue, please
e-mail us. Or if your e-mail address has been inadvertently added to our
mailing list, just send an e-mail to let us know that you would like your
name removed and we will do so.
Contact details for Pluto can be found at the end of this e-mail.
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NEW WEB SITE: www.plutobooks.com
Pluto Press will be relaunching its web site this spring. The new site will
provide secure on-line ordering and list all currently available titles. We
are hoping that the site will provide a voice for the left community with
discussion groups and author forums to encourage political dialogue. As the
site is still a work in progress, we welcome your suggestions.
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BOOK LAUNCH:
Join Pluto and the French Institute in celebrating the publication of John
Phillips's FORBIDDEN FICTIONS: Pornography and Censorship in
Twentieth-Century French Literature on 15 February 1999 at 6:30 pm. Come
along and hear John discuss the book and partake in a glass of wine at the
French Institute, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT.
The event is free and open to the public.
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PLUTO IN THE NEWS:
HIDDEN FROM HISTORY: 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Against
It by Sheila Rowbotham was mentioned in a GUARDIAN (25 January 1999, G2
section, Women's page) article on important women of the millennium.
Rowbotham was cited for furthering the cause of feminism more than other
better-known feminists, such as Germaine Greer, through her pioneering
scholarship.
Our introductory study of Julia Kristeva by Anne-Marie Smith, was
positively reviewed in the TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (8 January 1999):
'Makes an excellent introduction to Kristeva in its enthusiasm and
generosity ... lucid and well-conceived.' JULIA KRISTEVA: Speaking the
Unspeakable is part of our Modern European Thinkers Series. If you have an
idea for the series, send us a book proposal (for more details on how to
submit a proposal, scroll down to the end of this e-mail).
The TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (18 December 1998) also recently reviewed two
of our American Studies titles. In a joint piece on James Annesley's BLANK
FICTIONS: Consumerism, Culture and the Contemporary American Novel and Josh
Cohen's SPECTACULAR ALLEGORIES: Postmodern American Writing and the
Politics of Seeing, the TLS states: 'Both undertakings deserve applause;
each is a genuine and timely attempt to find a new grammar for a new
American writing.'
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NEW PUBLICATIONS IN CULTURAL AND MEDIA STUDIES
FIGHTING FICTIONS
War, Narrative and National Identity
Kevin Foster
War fictions are generally regarded as the end product of the experience of
battle. In FIGHTING FICTIONS, Kevin Foster challenges this notion to offer
a radically new definition of war fictions; one in which nationhood, class,
gender and race both constitute, and are in turn reinforced by, our
experience of war. Covering the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and
the Gulf War, but focusing on the conflict in the Falklands, Foster surveys
an extraordinarily broad range of material - media accounts,
reconstructions, film, memoirs, government briefings and histories of war,
and even the diplomatic exchanges which take place before the onset of
hostilities. Debunking cherished myths about British nationhood, history
and heroism fostered during the Falklands and Gulf conflicts, this
fascinating study establishes a new model for the definition and analysis
of the fictions of war.
Kevin Foster teaches English and Communication Studies at Monash
University, Victoria, Australia.
January 1999 *192 pages
Pb: 0 7453 0955 0 * 12.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 7453 0956 9 * 40.00 pounds sterling
World Rights
LIBERATING CYBERSPACE
Civil Liberties, Human Rights & the Internet
Edited by Liberty
Drawing on the expertise of campaigners, lawyers and academics as
well as technology specialists, LIBERATING CYBERSPACE is the first volume
to assess the human rights implications of the Internet, and of the
arguments mounted by would-be regulators. Contributors from Britain and the
United States examine a range of topics, from copyright and encryption to
free speech, privacy and freedom of information. The role of European
policy is also highlighted. A series of critical case studies considers the
potential of the Internet for promoting women's rights internationally; its
role in the recent McLibel campaign; its scope for enhancing democracy;
moral panics and censorship, and the problems of hate speech. An additional
chapter examines the potential of the Net for experimenting with different
gender identities. Controversial and topical, LIBERATING CYBERSPACE sheds
valuable
new light on some of the fundamental issues of modern global communication.
Liberty (the National Council for Civil Liberties) is Britain's leading
campaign body working for the promotion of civil rights. Their guide to
civil liberties, YOUR RIGHTS is also published by Pluto Press.
January 1999 * 304 pages
Pb: 0 7453 1294 2 * 13.99 pounds sterling
HB: 0 7453 1299 3 * 40.00 pounds sterling
World Rights
FORBIDDEN FICTIONS
Pornography and Censorship in Twentieth-Century French Literature
John Phillips
French culture has long been perceived by the English-speaking reader as
somehow more 'erotic' than its Anglo-Saxon equivalent. FORBIDDEN FICTIONS
is the first English-language study devoted exclusively to the wide
spectrum of French literary pornography in the twentieth century. John
Phillips provides a broad history of the genre and the associated moral and
political issues. Among the texts examined in detail - all selected for
their literary or sociopolitical importance - are landmark works by
Apollinaire, Louys, Bataille, Reage, Robbe-Grillet, Arsan, and Duvert.
Phillips challenges current politically correct trends in literary
criticism and stereotyped censoring discourses about pornography to provide
a new reading of each text and to illustrate the genre's potential for
social subversion. FORBIDDEN FICTIONS addresses the most controversial
issues of contemporary sexual politics, such as objectification,
sadomasochism, homoeroticism and paedophilia, with particular emphasis on
the feminist debate on pornography.
John Phillips is Director of the Humanities at the University of North
London.
January 1999 * 256 pages
Pb: 0 7453 1217 9 * 12.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 7453 1222 5 * 40.00 pounds sterling
World Rights
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN CULTURAL AND MEDIA STUDIES
ART & OUTRAGE
Provocation, Controversy and the Visual Arts
John A. Walker
When art hits the headlines, it is usually because it has caused offence or
is perceived by the media to have shock-value. Over the last fifty years
many artists have been censored, vilified, accused of blasphemy and
obscenity, threatened with violence, prosecuted and even imprisoned. Their
work has been trashed by the media and physically attacked by the public.
In ART & OUTRAGE, John A. Walker covers the period from the late 1940s to
the 1990s to provide the first detailed survey of the most prominent cases
of art that has scandalised. The work of some of Britain's leading, and
less well known, painters and sculptors of the postwar period is
considered, such as Richard Hamilton, Bryan Organ, Rachel Whiteread, Reg
Butler, Damien Hirst, Jamie Wagg, Barry Flanagan and Antony Gormley.
Included are works made famous by the media, such as Carl Andre's Tate
Gallery installation of 120 bricks, Rick Gibson's foetus earrings,
Anthony-Noel Kelly's cast body-parts sculptures and Marcus Harvey's
portrait of Myra Hindley. Walker describes how each incident emerged,
considers the arguments for and against, and examines how each was
concluded.
John A. Walker is Reader in Art and Design History at Middlesex University.
The author of a number of books on art theory and aspects of popular
culture, his previous Pluto titles include ART IN THE AGE OF MASS MEDIA and
DESIGN HISTORY AND THE HISTORY OF DESIGN.
January 1999 * 288 pages * 51 b&w photographs
Pb: 0 7453 1354 X * 14.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 7453 1359 0 * 45.00 pounds sterling
World Rights
CULTURAL OFFENSIVE
America's Impact on British Art Since 1945
John A. Walker
The vibrant fine arts and mass culture that the United Stated exported to
Britain in the postwar period had a powerful and far-reaching impact on
many British artists, art students and critics. In a fascinating social and
cultural history covering the period from the 1940s to the 1990s, but with
emphasis on the 1950s and 1960s, John A. Walker offers a scholarly but
accessible account of America's Cold War cultural offensive and the role
played by American artists living in Britain.This is the first text to
document in detail the variegated responses of British artists to postwar
America and its art, criticism and mass media. Their reactions ranged from
Americanism - enthusiasm and compliance - to Anti-Americanism - criticism
and resistance. Covering significant art movements such as Abstract
Expressionism, the Independent Group and Pop Art, Walker synthesises
information from hundreds of published sources and interviews to paint a
vivid picture of a crucial period in British culture. Many of the critics,
painters and sculptors featured - Lawrence Alloway, Peter Blake, Reyner
Banham, Anthony Caro, Clement Greenberg, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton,
R.B. Kitaj, John Latham, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Herbert Read,
Bridget Riley, Larry Rivers - are now internationally famous. The study is
brought up to date with an overview of the decline in American influence
during in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of Brit Art.
September 1998 * 302 pages * 64 b&w photographs
Pb: 0 7453 1311 6 * 14.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 7453 1321 3 * 45.00 pounds sterling
World Rights
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TWO NEW PLUTO CLASSICS FROM JEAN BAUDRILLARD
Pluto Classics are selected for their enduring quality and relevance. They
represent the best work of their authors, all of whose names are synonymous
with radical thinking and excellence in their fields.
FATAL STRATEGIES
Jean Baudrillard
'The world is not dialectical ... madness now rules everywhere.' Jean
Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard is one of France's leading modern thinkers and a scholar
whose work has necessitated major reassessments across several academic
disciplines. Fatal Strategies, first published in France in 1983, comprises
his key writings on postmodernism. In this fascinating collection,
Baudrillard challenges many of our assumptions about the world in which we
live. Claiming that the world is sworn to extremes, he turns received
wisdom on its head, arguing for the triumph of unreason and of the victory
of the pure object and its 'ironic strategy' over the subject. He looks at
illusion, secrets, the visible and the hidden, and claims that the only
possible response to the delirious world is the ultimatum of realism and
the Principle of Evil.
February 1999 * 192 pages
Pb: 0 7453 1453 8 * 12.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 7453 1458 9 * 35 pounds sterling
Pluto Classic Series
World Rights excluding North America
REVENGE OF THE CRYSTAL
Selected Writings on the Modern Object and its Destiny, 1968-1983
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard's work has enraged and baffled critics and commentators in
the English-speaking world for over twenty years. Has he gone beyond a
joke? Or do his writings on the contemporary world and its significance
offer us revelatory insights? One thing is certain: Baudrillard is neither
an easy writer nor a soft target. Revenge of the Crystal supplies a
corrective to those who would dismiss his work as irrelevant - and a
welcome introduction to those who are coming to his work for the first
time. It includes substantial translations of his major writings from the
1960s through to his critiques of consumption and Marxism in the 1970s, and
his more speculative pronouncements in the 1980s on sexuality, the nature
of politics and the effects of the 'image machine' on our imaginations and
systems of meaning.
February 1999 * 208 pages
Pb: 0 74531443 0 *12.99 pounds sterling
Hb: 0 74531448 1 * 35 pounds sterling
Pluto Classic Series
OTHER PLUTO CLASSICS:
Peter Berresford Ellis, A HISTORY OF THE IRISH WORKING CLASS
Augusto Boal, THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED
Noam Chomsky, NECESSARY ILLUSIONS
Lesley Doyal with Imogen Pennell, POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HEALTH
Frantz Fanon, BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS
Edited by Hall Foster, POSTMODERN CULTURE
Peter Fryer, BLACK PEOPLE IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Peter Fryer, STAYING POWER
Susan George, THE DEBT BOOMERANG
Andre Gorz, FAREWELL TO THE WORKING CLASS
bell hooks, AIN'T I A WOMAN
Jack London, PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS
T.H. Marshall & Tom Bottomore, CITIZENSHIP AND SOCIAL CLASS
Eamonn McCann, WAR AND AN IRISH TOWN
Alice Miller, THOU SHALT NOT BE AWARE
Rudolf Rocker, ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM
Sheila Rowbotham, HIDDEN FROM HISTORY
John A. Walker, ART IN THE AGE OF MASS MEDIA
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HOW TO ORDER A BOOK:
Pluto books are available worldwide. If you have any enquiries about
rights, distribution or other matters, please e-mail us.
Orders within the UK and Europe: you can order directly from the internet
from our distributor at www.marston.co.uk
Orders from the rest of the world: e-mail us and we will put you in touch
with your local distributor of Pluto books.
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HOW TO ORDER AN INSPECTION COPY:
Simply send us an e-mail requesting the paperback title you are interested
in considering for course use. All inspection copy requests must state
course title, enrolment and start date. All requests must include a
telephone number at the academic institution where the academic can be
contacted. Copies will be sent out at the publisher's discretion.
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HOW TO SUBMIT A BOOK PROPOSAL:
Due to the large volume of proposals we receive, we ask that you do not
send an unsolicited manuscript and that you do not fax or e-mail proposals.
Please mail your book proposal to the attention of the Editorial Department
of Pluto Press. It should contain the following information: proposed title
and subtitle, a table of contents, an explanation of why the work is
important and/or unique, the book's potential readership, a biographical
note on yourself, estimated final length (our preference would be for a
manuscript of between 50,000 and 80,000 words). Please try to isolate the
strengths of your work and show how it compares with the competition.
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