Introduction : prizes and the study of culture -- Part I. The age of award -- Prize frenzy -- Precursors of the modern cultural prize -- The logic of proliferation -- Prizes as entertainment -- Part II. Peculiarities of the awards industry -- The making of a prize -- Taste management -- Trophies as objects of production and trade -- Part III. The game and its players -- Scandalous currency -- The new rhetoric of prize commentary -- Strategies of condescension, styles of play -- Part IV. The global economy of cultural prestige -- The arts as international sport -- The new geography of prestige -- Prizes and the politics of world culture -- Appendix A. The rise of the prize -- Appendix B. Prizes and commerce -- Appendix C. Winner take all : six lists
Summary
"This is a book about one of the great untold stories of modern cultural life: the remarkable ascendancy of prizes in literature and the arts. James F. English documents the dramatic rise of the awards industry and its complex role within what he describes as an economy of cultural prestige."--Jacket
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 346-390) and index
