Dedalus Books is a British
publishing company
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
specialising in
European literature
Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...
. As stated on their website, Dedalus specialises in "its own distinctive genre, which we term distorted reality, where the bizarre, the unusual and the grotesque and the surreal meld in a kind of intellectual fiction which is very European."
Established by Geoffrey Smith, Eric Lane and
Robert Irwin, Dedalus was launched on 30 November 1983 with the publication of three novels including Irwin's ''
The Arabian Nightmare
''The Arabian Nightmare'' is a novel by Robert Irwin published in 1983.Stableford, Brian, "Irwin, Robert (Graham)" in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', edited by David Pringle. St. James Press, 1996, p. 301–3. ''The Arabian Nightmare'' wa ...
'' and Smith's vampire novel ''The Revenants'' (bylined "Geoffrey Farrington").
["Dedalus" in ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'' by ]Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...
. Scarecrow Press,Plymouth. 2005. (pp. 103-4) Dedalus publishes novels and anthologies, featuring both contemporary and historical European works. Dedalus publishes both translations and original English language works. Dedalus brought a number of European writers such as
Sylvie Germain
Sylvie Germain (born 1954 Châteauroux, Indre) is a French author.
Early life and education
During her childhood, with her three brothers and sisters, she moved from city to city, depending on the assignments her sub-prefect father received.
In ...
and
Herbert Rosendorfer Herbert Rosendorfer, 2009
Herbert Rosendorfer (19 February 1934, in Bolzano – 20 September 2012, in Eppan, South Tyrol) was a German jurist, writer, historian, and composer.
Biography
Herbert Rosendorfer was born in the village of Gries (curren ...
into English for the first time, and also published numerous anthologies of
fantastic
The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces.
Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, charac ...
literature, such as
''The Dedalus Book of Polish Fantasy'' (1996) edited by
Wiesiek Powaga.
Michael Dirda
Michael Dirda (born 1948) is a book critic for the ''Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.
Career
Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda took an M.A. in 1974 a ...
has praised Dedalus' output, describing them as "the premier publisher of
decadent, turn-of-the-last--century European fiction" and stating "there are superb Dedalus anthologies of Portuguese
and Polish fantasy".
[Michael Dirda,"In which our columnist rounds up a selection of amusing books for serious vacationers".
''The Washington Post'', P. T15, August 2003.]
Dedalus is partially funded by the
Arts Council of England
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...
. Dedalus Books ought not to be confused with the Irish imprint, Dedalus Press (founded 1985) which publishes contemporary Irish poetry and poetry from around the world in English translation.
References
External links
Dedalus Books homepage
{{Authority control
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom