Dissertation Information for Mary Biggs NAME: - Mary Biggs
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of Chicago (USA) (1986)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Warden Boyd Rayward - Abraham Bookstein - Howard W. Winger
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: The publishing of American poetry: 1950-1980
Abstract: This study explores, among other things, the publication patterns, decision-making methods, experiences with publishers and editors, and pleasures and stresses, of 203 living poets residing in the United States. An effort was made to capture the publishing-related experiences of America's most honored living poets, as well as those of a complementary, fairly represe.ntati ve group of serious poets with substantial publishing histories, including at least one book each, but no major awards. The two groups were split into "older" poets (i.e., those who published a book before 1965) and "newer" poets (i.e., those whose first books came out in 1970 or later). This was done to permit comparison by period of career commencement. Bibliographic and biographical data were gathered and analyzed for all poets. In addition, the poets were surveyed using a questionnaire which asked about their poetry-writing and -publishing experiences, their rewards, and their goals. Responses were received from 148 (73%). No "scientific" study capable of proving that poets' careers take specific shapes, or that each type of publication and publisher plays a specific role, was thought possible. The populations of poets and periodicals and book presses are too diverse and dynamic to permit reliable description. All that could be done was to build an analysis, leading to suggestive conclusions, on admittedly partial data. While one cannot generalize with confidence about the entire realm of American poetry publishing using this study as one's basis, it does bring systematically gathered evidence to bem' upon beliefs held by many poetry writers, publishers, and readers. Among the most striking findings are: the commercial presses' decline, from the 1950s to the early 1970s, as publishers of new poets; the dominant importance, among all groups of poets, of the independent little magazine as avenue of exposure for new work; the lack of agreement among poets regarding the most significant writers and publishers of poetry; and the high degree of dispersion of poets' publications among many journals and presses.
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MPACT Scores for Mary Biggs A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-03-16 10:42:28
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