Books out of Print
Author(s): Evelyn Avery
Source: MELUS, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1976), p. 13
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic
Literature of the United States (MELUS)
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BOOKS OUT OF PRINT
Evelyn Avery
Towson State College
Open query to all publishers: How do you determine which books re-
main in print and which do not? There must be a formula, a set of
guidelines, perhaps a Blue Book which you consult. Why else would
you publish Zora Hurston's Jonah's Gourd Vine and not Their Eyes Were
Watching God? Why print Alice Walker's short stories and not The
Third Life of Grange Copeland? What caused you to print Anzia
Yezierska's Bread Givers and to drop Hungry Hearts? Given the popu-
larity of the film Hester Street and the novel The Rise of David
Levinsky, why isn't Abraham Cahan's Yekl, The Imported Bridegroom
available? What has happened to A Dream of Kings and to other novels
by Harry Mark Petrakis? Why have you ignored Mario Puzo's The Fortu-
nate Pilgrim and reprinted The Godfather for the umpteenth time?
Surely more than a desire for profit motivates you. If you could il-
luminate us about your decision-making process, everyone would be
spared much anguish. Certain courses might not be offered if key
texts were definitely not available. College book stores would no
longer be harrassed about shipments that were never sent. Syllabi
could be prepared in advance and not subjected to last minute re-
visions after the term has started. Finally our students would bene-
fit from the increased efficiency. Better communication between pub-
lishers and professors can only profit both.
BOOKS WELCOMEDBACK INTO PRINT
Pietro Di Donato's Christ in Concrete is, at last, available in paper-
back (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc.). its in
Moreover, place
the Italian-American novel can now be seen in comparison with other
novels long out of print and almost totally forgotten. The National
Italian American News (26 Court St., Brooklyn, N. Y., 11242) has an ex-
tensive list of reprints, similar to the Arno series. Rose Basile Green
points out Golden Wedding by Jo Pagano, The Soul of an Immigrant by Con-
stantine M. Pannunzio, Golden Gate by Valenti Angelo, Olives on the Ap-
ple Tree by Guido D'Agostino, Sons of Italy by Pascal D'Angelo, The
River Between by Louis Forgione, The Fire in the Flesh by Garibaldi M.
Lapolla, and, "for amateur word-hounds," Mario Pei's The Story of Latin
and the Romance Languages. There is also a reprint of the Collected
Poems of Arturo Giovanitti, and many historical Gio-
studies, including
vanni Ermenegildo Schiavo's monumental Italian-American Vol-
History,
ume I and Volume II. Still missing are Jerre Mangione's Night Search
and Mario Puzo's The Fortunate Pilgrim.
Literature of the American Indian by Thomas
Peek is now available E. Sanders and Walter W.
in paper at only $4.95. The edition retains 60%
of the material of the original edition so
and is still the only avail-
abile anthology edited by American Indians.
13
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