Dedalus Books is an
independent publishing company based in
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
, England. Publisher Eric Lane has said, "We like the bizarre, the grotesque, the surreal and the clever, preferably in the same book. We call this kind of book, distorted reality. For instance David Madsen’s ''Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf'',
Sylvie Germain’s ''The Book of Night'' and
Vladimir Sharov’s ''Before and During''. Three perfect examples of what we are looking for." Prize-winning Dedalus writers have included novelist
Andrew Crumey and translator
Margaret Jull Costa.
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'' 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 (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...
. Scarecrow Press,Plymouth. 2005. (pp. 103-4)
As well as English-language literature, Dedalus publishes world literature in translation. It brought acclaimed European writers
Sylvie Germain and
Herbert Rosendorfer into English for the first time. African writers have included
Najwa Binshatwan and
Dina Salústio
Dina Salústio (born 1941) is a Cape Verde, Cape Verdean novelist, who is the first woman from the country to publish a novel, and the first writer from the country to have a novel translated to English.
Biography
Dina Salústio is the pseudo ...
. Dedalus also publishes
classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...
literature by authors including
J.-K. Huysmans and
Octave Mirbeau, and has published several anthologies of
fantastic
Fantastic or Fantastik may refer to:
Music
* ''Fantastic'' (Toy-Box album)
* ''Fantastic'' (Wham! album)
* '' Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1)'', an album by Slum Village
* '' Fantastic, Vol. 2'', an album by Slum Village
* ''Fantastic'' (EP), an EP by ...
literature.
Dedalus is partially funded by the
Arts Council of England. When funding was withdrawn in 2010, Dedalus launched a petition whose signatories included
J.M. Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...
and
Jonathan Coe, and the Arts Council relented, granting £26,900 for "the commissioning and publishing costs of new literary fiction in translation and the origination of new English fiction".
Michael Dirda
Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working 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 ea ...
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 Books is 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.
See also
* ''
The Dark Domain'', a 1995 book by that press
References
External links
Dedalus Books homepage
{{Authority control
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Publishing companies established in 1983
1983 establishments in England
Companies based in Cambridgeshire