Towards a Modern Synergy: Cultural Massification and the Compartmentalization of Books and Publics in Argentina and Brazil (1920-1960)

Abstract

Drawing on and articulating insights from the history of the book and the sociology of culture, this paper analyzes changes to the distribution models used by a number of publishers in Argentina and Brazil during the first half of the twentieth century, in order to provide a grounded theorization of literary massification. Around 1920, Claridad, Babel, and Monteiro Lobato sought to integrate two circuits "newsstands and bookstores" whose divide had a structuring function in the literary sphere. Rendering these spaces complementary, I argue, entailed a transformation from material to discursive modes of compartmentalizing books and publics. The development of what I call a discursive infrastructure, made chiefly of advertising and reviews, is a key element that made possible one of massification´s defining features: the coexistence of conflicting but mutually visible modes of appropriation.