(Mis)reading the Market? The Publishing Business and Theory Transfer

Abstract

This article explores the difficulties involved in theory transfer in the humanities from Germany to the English-speaking countries as they appear from the perspective of the publishing industry. Drawing on interviews with publishing professionals in Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, it considers the relationship between academic, commercial, and broader cultural trends. Structural differences in academe and the publishing industry on both sides of the Atlantic are shown to lead to conflicting expectations, while an unequal language barrier seems to work against German scholars and publishers. Thus programs on the part of political and industry bodies in Germany to support the translation and publication of German scholarship have proved vital. Yet beyond such institutional considerations, fostering a broader understanding of an interest in contemporary German culture, as a context in which theory might be understood, remains a challenge.