Dear Friends,
Please forgive the (sort of) circular!
I have signed on
as the editor of a new monograph
series, "Society,
Culture, and Text in Late
Antiquity," published by
Palgrave Macmillan. I am writing to
let you know about
the series, and to invite you to
consider publishing in
it.
Over the last thirty years Late
Antiquity has become a
hot field as opposed to the
“What?-field” it used to be.
Medievalists have always welcomed Late
Antiques (witness
the burgeoning Late Antique program at
Kalamazoo and at
Leeds) and now even the border to the
Classical world is
increasingly passable (witness
developments at the more
conservative APA). There is a
tremendous amount going on
in our area all over the world. But
there are still not
enough venues for English language
publications in Late
Antiquity and particularly for ones
that are not
primarily historical. I am hoping that
this new series
may open up new possibilities for our
inclusive “Long
Late Antiquity,” running from the 2nd
century CE down to
the 7th century CE (100-700 CE).
This series is intended to be
variegated in nature and
will address an intended audience of
classicists,
medievalists, and some general
readers, as well as
specialists on Late Antiquity. The
disciplinary purview
will likewise be broad and will
include literature,
history, religion, philosophy,
material culture
(archaeology and art history), as well
as history of
scholarship. Interdisciplinary or
multi-disciplinary
approaches will be particularly
welcome. Monographs are
likely to predominate, but edited
collections will find a
place as well as the occasional
translation or hard-toclassify
item.
Manuscripts should be learned,
original, lively,
passionate, fresh-voiced, incisive,
and, ideally interor
multi-disciplinary. The recondite is
by no means ruled
out, but this is not the series for
fundamental
contributions to technical scholarship
or for the average
revised dissertation. The authors
should have an ear for
tradition and for quality as well as
something new to
say. Contributions that know how to
tell a tale
effectively and make primary sources
come alive are
particularly welcome. Books in this
series should, as
appropriate, speak to the imagination
too. The quirky or
offbeat can be delightful, and, in its
place, the
personal. The purely gimmicky,
however, is another
matter. Readability is desirable;
surfeits of post-modern
jargon not so.
By providing a new and serious venue
for cutting-edge
readable research, we hope that this
monograph series may
help to shape and expand our field. In
addition to the
openness to new scholarship described
above, "Society,
Culture, and Text in Late
Antiquity" should appeal to
scholars for several other reasons. At
a time when many
academic presses are cutting or
eliminating their lists
in the humanities, Palgrave Macmillan
is unusual in
making a new (and double) major
financial and
intellectual commitment to our field.
(In addition to
"Society, Culture, and Text in
Late Antiquity," it is
also inaugurating a monograph series
on "The New
Antiquity," edited by Matthew
Santirocco).
Our flier can be downloaded at:
http://mittellatein.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_
platinumlatin/Society__Culture__and_Text_in_Late_Antiquit
y.pdf
Volumes in the series will be
published in hardback
format and will regularly be between
70,000 and 100,000
words in length. Authors with original
MSS that fall in
between an article and a monograph in
length (25,000-
50,000 words) should consider
publishing in Palgrave’s
innovative new venue, Palgrave Pivot
under the auspices
of the Late Antique Series:
http://www.palgrave.com/pivot/
In addition, Palgrave's author
services are outstanding:
the referee process is expeditious,
and, once a
manuscript has been accepted, the time
from its delivery
to actual publication is six months.
Palgrave still
provides its authors with copyediting,
and produces
beautiful volumes, both in terms of
design and also the
accuracy of copyediting and
proofreading (I speak as a
recent Palgrave contributor). You are
very probably
familiar with Palgrave’s “The New
Middle Ages,” edited by
Bonnie Wheeler:
http://www.palgrave.com/products/series.aspx?s=NMAG. Our
books will be similarly produced.
Finally, as one of the
world's largest and most respected
academic publishers,
Palgrave has unparalleled global
reach. Thus, books in
this series will be priced
competitively, brought out
simultaneously in both print and
e-book format, promoted
aggressively online, in print, and at
professional
meetings, and marketed effectively
around the world.
Once the initial print run is sold
out, books will remain
available through print-on-demand and,
when warranted,
through second editions. I would be
delighted if you
would let me know whether you have a
manuscript for which
our series might be appropriate.
Please do inform your
colleagues of this publishing
opportunity and above all
suggest to me the names of some of
them whose work might
find a good home here. I am, of
course, also available to
discuss possible projects by email
(danuta.shanzer@univie.ac.at) or Skype (allowing for
time-zones!); please don't hesitate to
be in touch with
me directly.
With warm regards,
Danuta
