Literary Advice, British Fiction 1880-1914 and the Birth of the Creative Writing Industry

A groundbreaking exploration of the development of the literary advice industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this book examines popular author guides of the period, offering insight into the origins of writing advice, and reconstructing debates about the relationship between the author and their public, literary value and the teaching (and teachability) of creative writing. Making clear connections with the advice offered to aspiring writers today, Paul Vlitos historicizes the fields of creative writing and literary criticism, tracing to their origins some of the enduring platitudes of pedagogy whilst studying the matrix of attitudes and circumstances out of which they emerged.Works explored include Percy Russell’s The Literary Manual; or, A Complete Guide to Authorship (1886) and The Author’s Manual (1890), Leopold Wagner’s How to Publish a Book (1898), George Bainton’s The Art of Authorship (1890), Walter Besant’s The Pen and the Book (1899), E.H.Lacon Watson’s Hints to