Towards a Modern Synergy: Cultural Massification and the Compartmentalization of Books and Publics in Argentina and Brazil (1920–1960)

Drawing on and articulating insights from the history of the book and the sociology of culture, this article analyzes changes to the distribution models used by a number of publishers in Argentina and Brazil during the first half of the twentieth century, in order to provide a grounded theorization of literary massification. Around 1920, Claridad, Babel, and Monteiro Lobato sought to integrate two circuits—newsstands and bookstores—whose divide had a structuring function in the literary sphere. Rendering these spaces complementary, I argue, entailed a transformation from material to discursive modes of compartmentalizing books and publics. The development of what I call a discursive infrastructure, made chiefly of advertising and reviews, is a key element that made possible one of massification's defining features: the coexistence of conflicting but mutually visible modes of appropriation.