One Man Zeitgeist: Dave Eggers, Publishing and Publicity

One Man Zeitgeist: Dave Eggers, Publishing and Publicity undertakes the first extensive analysis of the works of Dave Eggers, an author who has grown from a small-time media upstart into one of the most influential author-publishers of the twenty-first century. Eggers' rise to fame is charted in careful detail, offering analysis of the circumstances of his success and their effects on the production of his literary oeuvre. As both a memoirist and novelist Eggers has distinguished himself from his cohort of young American authors by insisting on seizing the reins of his publishing output. The nature of this independent streak is given attention in this study, particularly the cultural circumstances of a digitalised, consumer society in which books and literature are primarily commodities.Hamilton examines this spirit of independence as both a practical and figurative state in Eggers' works, and seeks to address the reasons why in a contemporary, globalised society independence is not only personally gratifying for Eggers but also a popularly successful strategy for producing books.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Finding the "right reader" 2."Just Like You": Fame, Narcissism and the Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 3. Mistakes He Knew He Was Making 4. A Publisher's Progress: You Shall Know Our Velocity and the McSweeney's Publishing Model 5. The Optimist Notes Works Cited Index

About the Author :
Caroline D. Hamilton is a McKenzie Research Fellow in the Department of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne, Australia.She is the co-editor of The Politics and Aesthetics of Refusal (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007).

Review :
"A gorgeous three-dimensional map of Dave Eggers' career to date. Hamilton's fun-to-read, lively prose sketches Eggers' uneasy relation to the publishing and publicity industries, his paradoxical philanthropy, and his bold experiments with voice. Here and there, she tactfully introduces illuminating snippets from cultural critics, but the real highlights of this analysis are the many original provocations that pepper One Man Zeitgeist. In Hamilton's capable hands, Eggers' career gives readers a window into the literary preoccupations of the rapidly graying Generation X. Throughout her discussion, Hamilton smartly diagnoses the prospects of that much-maligned generation's quest for an alternative media culture."-- Caren Irr, Associate Professor of English and American Literature, Brandeis University, USA "Caroline Hamilton is absolutely right when she says that, in the contemporary world, 'it is not books but authors who are judged by their covers.' This is true of no one more than Dave Eggers, one of the most significant figures on the recent U.S. literary scene, a figure alternately adored and reviled both because of his own writing and as a result of his profound influence as an editor and publisher. Poised at the nexus of a number of significant fields, including cultural theory, media studies, the history of publishing, and contemporary literary criticism, One Man Zeitgeist makes a strikingly original contribution to existing scholarship, not only in its local focus - the first full-length, multi-dimensional study of the work and the constructed persona of Dave Eggers - but also in its broader implications for studies of the autobiography, of the place of literature in the contemporary media landscape, and of the role of the author in the culture of celebrity." -- Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Associate Professor of English and Media Studies, Pomona College, USA.