• Recall this Book 67: Everything and Less: Mark McGurl on Books in the Age of Amazon

    Author(s):
    Elizabeth Ferry, Mark McGurl, John Plotz
    Date:
    2021
    Subject(s):
    Amazon.com (Firm)
    Item Type:
    Podcast
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/y7r7-fg87
    Abstract:
    What do you make of Amazon: The new Sears Roebuck? A terrifying monopoly threat? Satisfaction (a paperback in your mailbox, a Kindle edition on your tablet) just a click away? John and Elizabeth speak with Stanford English prof Mark McGurl, whose previous books include the pathbreaking The Program Era. Mark faces that question squarely in his terrific new book, Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon: if you want to know even more about it, check out the NY Times review by RTB's own book-history maven, star of RTB 46, Leah Price. Mark ponders when service became an idiom for the relationship between writer and reader and how strong a claim he is willing to make about Amazon's impact on the modern novel (pretty strong!). Finally, he tackles the key question: is the genre of "Adult Diaper Baby Love" (a breakout hit in Kindle sales; google it at your peril!) the perfect metaphor for Amazon's effort to soothe, pacify and succor its infantilized consumer-base?
    Notes:
    https://doi.org/10.48617/pod.261
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Podcast    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    11 months ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

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