A Skeptic Among Scholars
August Frugé on University Publishing
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- $23.99
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
When August Frugé joined the University of California Press in 1944, it was part of the University's printing department, publishing a modest number of books a year, mainly monographs by UC faculty members. When he retired as director 32 years later, the Press had been transformed into one of the largest, most distinguished university presses in the country, publishing more than 150 books annually in fields ranging from ancient history to contemporary film criticism, by notable authors from all over the world. August Frugé's memoir provides an exciting intellectual and topical story of the building of this great press. Along the way, it recalls battles for independence from the University administration, the Press's distinctive early style of book design, and many of the authors and staff who helped shape the Press in its formative years.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This lucid memoir by the former director of the University of California Press should appeal to those interested in a nuts-and-bolts look at the world of academic publishing. When Fruge arrived in 1944, the press was both physically and intellectually on the university's periphery. Fruge instituted professional business practices, increased the press's power within the university and, in the 1950s, led the press beyond regionalism to develop strengths in Latin American books and in English and American literature. In one of several intriguing anecdotes Fruge reflects on publishing Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan, offering no definitive opinion on whether Castaneda was bluffing. He describes the press's role in launching Film Quarterly (a not-yet-famous Pauline Kael was considered as a possible editor) and the cost-cutting tactic of farming out editing. Fruge, who retired in 1976, offers some time-earned wisdom: university presses should avoid publishing original fiction, since a successful author will eventually leave for a commercial press, and he says the best list is generated by concern for both intellectual quality and market appeal--``We are not missionaries.'' Photos not seen by PW.
