Résumés
Abstract
Gerald Murnane retired from writing in 1995. His experimental fiction had never won major awards or sold well. In 2009, he published a new novel, Barley Patch. Murnane subsequently become an international success who was profiled in The New York Times and The New Yorker (twice). He could claim major writers—J. M. Coetzee, Jon Fosse, Joshua Cohen, Teju Cole, and Ben Lerner—as admirers, and had high prestige publishers in the US, the UK, and Australia. How did Murnane go from cult author to a major international writer? This essay tracks the material reception of Murnane’s post‑retirement writing, and the network of actors who boosted his reputation. It presents an account of the way that highbrow literature is transmitted transnationally and compares this to Lawrence Rainey’s account in Institutions of Modernism (1998) to understand how online reception has changed the way that highbrow literary authors are made visible to readers.
Keywords:
- Avant‑garde,
- reception,
- Australian literature
Résumé
Gerald Murnane a pris sa retraite de l’écriture en 1995. Sa fiction expérimentale n’avait jamais remporté de grands prix ni rencontré le succès commercial. En 2009, il a publié un nouveau roman intitulé Barley Patch. Murnane est ensuite devenu un auteur à succès international, faisant l’objet de portraits dans The New York Times et The New Yorker (à deux reprises). Il a pu compter parmi ses admirateurs des écrivains majeurs tels que J. M. Coetzee, Jon Fosse, Joshua Cohen, Teju Cole et Ben Lerner, et il a été publié par des maisons d’édition prestigieuses aux États‑Unis, au Royaume‑Uni et en Australie. Comment Murnane est‑il passé du statut d’auteur culte à celui d’écrivain international de premier plan? Cet essai retrace la réception matérielle de l’oeuvre de Murnane après sa retraite, ainsi que le réseau d’acteurs ayant contribué à valoriser sa réputation. Il propose une analyse du mode de transmission transnationale de la littérature highbrow, en la comparant au récit proposé par Lawrence Rainey dans Institutions of Modernism (1998), afin de comprendre comment la réception en ligne a transformé la visibilité des auteurs highbrow auprès du public.
Mots-clés :
- Avant‑garde,
- réception,
- littérature australienne
Parties annexes
Bibliography
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