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Sunday, 30 December 2012

Urban Book Publishers Reflect A Literary Genre

By Carmella Rolls


Urban book publishers may be in the business of city life but the name of such a firm does not necessarily imply that it is a city firm as opposed to a country one. There is a genre of literature that is distinguished by a particular world view often typified as being that of low social and economic status and therefore discontented.

Works that fall into the genre tend to be set in cities and the less wealthy parts of cities. Typically works take the point of view of people who consider themselves to be disadvantaged by virtue of who they are and where they live.

A mark of this genre is that social conventions and niceties of conventional behavior are often flouted, perhaps deliberately as a gesture of defiance. Situations true to life feature largely illustrating the reality of life in some places. The tone of the texts to be dark and pessimistic, as is the quality of life that people seem to resent, as though someone else is responsible for it.

Urban book publishers could also be the title of a publishing house devoted to the improvement of communities. By publishing the works of urban fiction writers they might seek to educate and enhance the status of inner city residents. Many communities that live in social isolation and squalor have created their living conditions for themselves and only they can change them.

Some publishing companies might take it upon themselves to attempt to improve things in alienated and downtrodden communities. They might publish texts written from the point of view of victims, create designs and training manuals that will be relevant to certain communities and localities. Such initiatives need to proceed with caution. The balance between telling an audience that it has something wrong with it and trying to help is precarious.

In some cases communities that are regarded with distaste from afar are happy to take the benefits of being regarded as victims but unwilling to change the very things that horrify aspirant benefactors. In Africa there is a preponderance of oral cultures and very large discrepancies between the written word and actuality. A country may have the most advanced written constitution in the world that is in practice ignored by ruling politicians who carry on living according to tribal mores.

Urban book publishers can play useful role in communities that have a weak tradition of writing. By publishing texts that are relevant to people not used to reading or following written instructions they might work slowly to transform communities and cultures. A problem could be that as a community becomes more literate the very causes upon which it rests might vanish.




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