New Directions Publishing Corp. was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin, then a Harvard University sophomore. The company was incorporated in 1964 as the New Directions Publishing Corporation and operates from New York City, and its books today are distributed by WW Norton & Company.[1]
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New Directions History
New Directions was born of Ezra Pound's advice to the young James Laughlin to "do 'something' useful" after finishing his studies at Harvard.[2] Laughlin's response was to found a press committed to publishing experimental writing. Initailly, this ambition to act as a venue for innovative work manifested itself in roughly annual anthologies of new writing, each titled "New Directions in Poetry and Prose" with either a year or a volume number after it (e.g., "New Directions in Poetry and Prose 1941" or "New Directions in Poetry and Prose 11"). Writers whose early work was published in these anthologies include Dylan Thomas, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov, James Agee, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The New Directions "annuals", as they are generally called, soon broadened their focus to include quality contemporary writing of all genres, though the work included tended to represent a more intellectual side of American writing as well as a considerable amount of literature in translation from modernist authors around the world. Several collections of highlights from the annuals were published, including "Spearhead" (1947), which included work from the first ten years. The last of the annuals was published in 1991.
James Laughlin also initiated the publishing of a number of thematic "series," in some cases offering subscriptions to the series in a manner similar to that of magazine publishers. The New Directions "Poet of the Month" series consisted of thin volumes of either lengthy individual poems or small collections of poems by one author, and were released on a monthly basis. A larger "Poet of the Year" volume was issued once annually. Each volume was published by a different small press and released by New Directions. The Series was discontinued after a few years.
The publication "Directions" began in 1941 as a quarterly soft-bound journal, with each edition dedicated to a single author or work in prose. Early issues included a collection of short stories by Vladimir Nabokov and a play by William Carlos Williams. The subscription model did not take hold, and later editions in the series were published in more traditional form and sold as individual works and not just to subscribers. Another short-lived New Directions periodical, Pharos, was discontinued after its fourth number was published in the Winter of 1947.
Other notable undertakings include the "New Classics" and "Modern Readers" series, which reissued recent books that had gone out of print but that New Directions believed deserved to become classics. These reprints including such works as Exiles and Stephen Hero by James Joyce and, most famously, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The "New Classics" series became, along with the "Annuals," one of the signature series of New Directions and helped to build the reputation of a number of works that are now considered "classics." The "Makers of Modern Literature" series published criticism and literary histories of major figures in or influences on modern literature. [3]
In 1977, New Directions was presented with a Carey Thomas Award special citation for distinguished publishing in experimental literature. Its authors have won numerous national and international awards, including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (Octavio Paz, Kamau Brathwaite), and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.
The current focus of New Directions is three-fold: discovering and acquiring many new contemporary international writers and introducing them to the US (among these are: W.G. Sebald, Roberto Bolano, Javier Marias, Cesar Aira, Inger Christensen, Laszlo Krazsnahorkai, and Yoko Tawada); maintaining a tradition of publishing new and experimental American poetry and prose (recent poets include National Book Award winner for poetry Nathaniel Mackey, Forrest Gander, Eliot Weinberger, Michael Palmer, Susan Howe, Thalia Field, Peter Cole, and Will Alexander); and reissuing New Directions' classic titles in new editions with introductions by highly praised writers and artists, including: Jonathan Lethem (Nathaniel West's Miss Lonelyhearts and the Day of the Locust]]), William Gibson (Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths), Susan Sontag (Leonid Tsypkin's Summer in Baden-Baden), Edwidge Danticat (Rene Philoctete's Massacre River), Sue Monk Kidd (Thomas Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation), John Ashbery (Alvin Levin's Love is Like Park Avenue), Devendra Banhart (Kenneth Patchen's We Meet), Will Self (Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi), and Jeanette Winterson (Djuna Barnes' Nightwood).
In February 2009, New Directions made headlines when their poet Allen Grossman won the Bollingen Prize in American Poetry, a prize that recognizes either the most outstanding volume of poetry published in the last two years or a lifetime of distinguished achievement in the field.[4] In the same month, New Directions was also celebrated for its publication in translations. Takashi Hiraide's For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut, which was translated from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu and published by New Directions, was honored by Melville House and Three Percent as the best work of poetry in translation published in 2008. Most recently, in August 2009, Albanian poet Luljeta Lleshanaku was awarded the Vilenice Kristal prize for world poetry.
New Directions Authors
New Directions was the first publisher of such notables as Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, and Henry Miller. Today, they are noted for their enduring commitment to publishing innovative prose and poetry, as well as a broad spectrum of works in translation. Their authors include:
American Literature
Central American, South American, and Caribbean Literature
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British, Canadian, and Australian Literature
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European Literature
Chinese and Japanese Literature
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Middle Eastern and Indian Literature
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Jacket Design and Colophon
After the time of World War II, New Directions developed a close relationship with artist Alvin Lustig, who designed modernist abstract book jackets. Lustig was ultimately responsible for developing a distinctive style of dust jacket that served as a New Directions hallmark for many years. The company's colophon is a figure of a centaur based upon a sculpture by Heinz Henghes, and usually appears on the spine of New Directions books.
External links
- New Directions Publishing Corp. Website
- Will Hall Books-- Checklist of early authors and books published by New Directions Press
- Alvin Lustig
- New Directions Vice President Declan Spring interviewed on publishing in a recession
Further reading
Laughlin, James. The Way It Wasn't. Ed. Barbara Epler and Daniel Javitch. New York: New Directions, 2006.
Sources
- ^ Laughlin,James Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
- ^ New Directions website, www.ndpublishing.com
- ^ Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University. Call No.: MS Am 2077. Date(s): ca. 1933-1997. New Directions Publishing Corp. Records: Guide. Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Records of New Directions Publishing Corporation largely from the Norfolk, Connecticut office of the founder, James Laughlin, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 © 2000 The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
- ^ Poetry at Beinecke Library webpage http://beineckepoetry.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/allen-grossman-wins-bollingen-prize-in-american-poetry
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