The Business Case for Diversity: Hari Kunzru's Transmission as Commentary on Racialized Literary Promotions

Abstract: This essay argues that Hari Kunzru's Transmission allegorizes the experiences of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) authors, implicitly querying Penguin's self-branding as an antidote to racialized disparities in literary production. Transmission self-reflexively critiques the influence of publishing agents helping author postcolonial and similarly constructed niche genres of literature. Through this critique, the novel figures the distance a work's nominal author has from controlling reception over their oeuvre and persona. Transmission is also canny about casting Penguin's diversity initiatives as injecting sought-after authorial brands into the market, something this essay also works to critique.