You are very right, but there's one name that deserves to be added to the list: William Dean Howells. He was editor of The Atlantic Monthly, and senior writer for harpers and a slew of others. He was THE tastemaker for American short fiction, and the chief reason that people like Henry James dominated the literary scene rather than us ever getting an American Kipling or another Edgar Allen Poe. He insisted that fantasy and adventure were dreck and that the only REAL fiction was realist social commentary.
You are very right, but there's one name that deserves to be added to the list: William Dean Howells. He was editor of The Atlantic Monthly, and senior writer for harpers and a slew of others. He was THE tastemaker for American short fiction, and the chief reason that people like Henry James dominated the literary scene rather than us ever getting an American Kipling or another Edgar Allen Poe. He insisted that fantasy and adventure were dreck and that the only REAL fiction was realist social commentary.
Oh - thank you for that. My research at the moment is quite on Victorian England, so that'll give me something I can zoom in on for USA. Cheers!!!
This is why self-published fiction grew so fast, because it caters to markets big publishers stopped serving.
Yes - exactly that. With main stream publishers turning away from pulp, it was the only way to make it happen