Mark McGurl is the Albert Guerard Professor of Literature at Stanford University. His last book, The Program Era, won the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism. He previously worked for The New York Times and The New York Review of Books.
As Mark McGurl suggests in this deep dive into the ubiquitous reach of 'the world's biggest bookstore,' in the age of Amazon, 'every novel is a genre novel.' -Lit Hub ( Most Anticipated Books of 2021 ) Provocative ... [McGurl] raises significant questions about the state of publishing. -Publishers Weekly Consumers might find in McGurl's book a warning to stay as far away as possible and seek out better forms of discovery than Amazon's website, like visiting an indie bookstore, asking a friend, or reading a magazine-looking for anything but what rises to the top of the feed. -New Republic McGurl here argues that the retail behemoth that once proudly called itself Earth's Biggest Bookstore has blurred, to the point of indistinction, the alleged line between literary and genre fiction. Proving, perhaps his point: a visit to Professor McGurl's book's page on Amazon leads one to Psions of SPIRE bundle: Vol. 1, a box set of paranormal, LGBTQ-fantasy romances by Alex Silver. -Globe and Mail In this provocative literary history, McGurl draws a line between Amazon's distribution model and the dissolution of genre boundaries, arguing that Amazon's algorithm has effectively turned all fiction into genre fiction. In lucid and well-argued prose, McGurl raises important questions about just where all this disruption is taking us. -Esquire (Best Books of Fall 2021) In the last couple decades, Amazon fundamentally transformed the business of bookselling, changing how customers buy their favorite titles and disrupting supply chains around the world. But how has the company also impacted writing on an aesthetic level? That's one of the questions driving this study of modern literature from critic and professor Mark McGurl. -Thrillist (24 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Fall) In Everything and Less, accomplished literary critic Mark McGurl makes the case that the online superstore has also changed the way that we read. -The Week (15 books to read this fall) Provocative ... [McGurl] raises significant questions about the state of publishing. -Publishers Weekly In Everything and Less, accomplished literary critic Mark McGurl makes the case that the online superstore has also changed the way that we read. -Jeva Lange, The Week Consumers might find in McGurl's book a warning to stay as far away as possible and seek out better forms of discovery than Amazon's website, like visiting an indie bookstore, asking a friend, or reading a magazine-looking for anything but what rises to the top of the feed. -Kyle Chayka, New Republic