People: Janice Radway
A FEELING FOR BOOKS
She always loved books, including 'middlebrow' books like Marjorie Morningstar and To Kill A Mockingbird, typical Book-Of-The-Month Club selections. As an academic immersed in 'phenomenological theories' of literature, however, she also had to read the likes of James, Faulkner and Pound. But now, Janice A. Radway, '71, Ph.D. '77, can have her cake and eat it too. She just published A Feeling For Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste and Middle-Class Desire (University of North Carolina Press, 1997), in which she analyzes how BOMC has succeeded in marketing mass culture. Scholars have anticipated this book, since Radway is a leader in what the Chronicle of Higher Education calls 'the booming interdisciplinary field of cultural studies.'
A literature professor at Duke and acting director of graduate studies, Janice is president-elect of the American Studies Association. Her previous book, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature, has sold 30,000 copies since 1984 and blazed a trail for the emerging scholarship. 'I was shocked,' says Janice of the book's success. 'I was a young assistant professor trying to do some good intellectual work, but I had no idea that it would capture the moment.'
Her current book goes several steps farther, advancing a position on reading--one that takes anthropological and sociological factors into account--that could be more controversial. 'My hope is that it will spark debate,' says Janice.
A native of New Jersey, she came to MSU to study journalism, but quickly moved to English. 'I had a wonderful experience,' she recalls. 'I was involved in sports, so that aspect was fun. Being in Honors College allowed me to do all sorts of bizarre things and gave me great curricular freedom. I liked the size. And of course, MSU is a truly beautiful campus.'
Her latest book, A Feeling For Books, has not been made available to the BOMC as a monthly selection.
