On the author-publisher relationship

Abstract

In the context of studies on the history of literary publishing, and based on a recent reflection by historian Roger Chartier, I’m attempting to systematize publishing as “a permanent dialogue, sometimes difficult, sometimes friendly, between the publisher and the authors”. In this direction, the publisher-author relationship is analyzed in three periods: first, during the second half of the 19th century, in the transition from a patronage regime to a capitalist market; second, during the boom of Latin American narrative, the last great moment of internationalization of our literature, when the figure of the literary agent made his appearance; third, already in the 21st century, during the fast-paced concentration of the publishing market, in what has been called publishing without publishers.