|
|
|
Reading at the Beach: The Pleasures of Literary Festivals.
Wenche Ommundsen, School of Literary and Communication Studies, Deakin
| [ Go to this paper in the timetable ] |
University
Literary festivals, like other tourism events, are attracted to water (Byron Bay, Sydney, Vancouver, Queenscliff). Combining pleasures of the body with pleasures of the mind they make their appeal at a number of levels and cater for readers with different types of investment in literature as a cultural institution. This paper, based in part on a recent survey of festival organisers and audiences, traces the cultural functions of writers and texts in the context of the festival and speculates on the nature of audience pleasure.
