Margaret Atwood and the Labour of Literary Celebrity

The study of literary celebrity is increasingly pertinent in a world where writers are more than ever obliged to take part in marketing processes through book tours, readings, literary festivals, and digital interaction with readers. Coming from a long-standing Atwood specialist, Lorraine York’s latest book Margaret Atwood and the Labour of Literary Celebrity is a welcome follow-up to York’s ongoing research on the relationship between Canadian writers and literary fame, a topic also approached by European scholars (Becker, Huggan, Somacarrera). As the recipient of many literary prizes, Margaret Atwood is the one Canadian writer who can clearly be called a literary celebrity, and, as York points out in a 2006 discussion, she is a canny agent, very involved in shaping the discourses surrounding her celebrity (“Biography” 28). Developing this idea, York′s book is the first to study the Marxist concept of hidden labor — also known as human capital — behind the scenes of Atwood′s literary renown. Starting from the insight that celebrity is “a star text” (Dyer), York has gone on to explore Atwood’s stardom “as the product of the labor of many other agents in dialogue with celebrated [. . .] editors, agents, office staff, publishers, publicists, and the like. (8). One misses, perhaps, the inclusion of her translators, who, as professionals within the literary system, have a crucial role in the international projection of writers (Lefevere 9). York′s volume prioritizes Pierre Bourdieu′s notions of cultural and symbolic capital. Symbolic capital is the degree of prestige and consecration a cultural artifact accumulates, whereas cultural capital is transmitted and acquired through a complex process of legitimation negotiated through the interactions between the producers and consumers of symbolic goods. York amply demonstrates that Atwood has skillfully managed to balance both

Art · Cultural capital · Literary criticism · Literature · Marxist philosophy · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Symbolic capital · Canadian Identity and History · Short Stories in Global Literature · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction · History · Law

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