The Role of the Periodical Editor: Literary Journals and Editorial Habitus

Abstract

This essay takes an explicitly comparative and typological approach to the role performed by the editors of literary periodicals. Conceptualized through Bourdieu's theory of habitus and drawing on such cases as Ford Madox Ford, John Middleton Murry, T. S. Eliot, and La Nouvelle Revue Française, the essay explores editorial habitus at three levels: those of the individual (personal), the periodical (institutional), and the field (typological). Understanding successful editorial practice as an alignment of dispositions at these three levels not only demythologizes the role of the periodical editor, it also sheds light more widely on the social mechanisms underpinning cultural practice. © Modern Humanities Research Association 2012.

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