AJ34130 Constructing the Book, Reconstructing the Text

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Tomáš Kačer, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 5/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course will provide an opportunity for students to consider, in greater depth, historical as well as contemporary issues surrounding book production, editorial processes, authorial and publishing strategies, book-sale practices, and library cataloging. It will examine the stages that alter a text as it progresses from first manuscript-draft to published volume, as well as the following: the extrinsic social, political, economic, and practical influences involved in the issuance of works such as Shakespeare's "Hamlet"; the textual dilemmas that surround the editing Hopkins, and others; the history of the role of the editor, particularly of Shakespeare; and the importance of layout in Whitman's "Drum-Taps," which draws into question contemporary movements in hypertext design.
Learning outcomes
The successful participants of this course will develop an understanding of historical as well as contemporary issues surrounding book production, editorial processes, authorial and publishing strategies, research practices, and academic editorship.
Syllabus
  • Session 1: Extrinsic elements of book editing. Read: Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art (Maldon, MA: Polity Press, 1996), pp. 1-46 (“Prologue”); pp. 47-173 (“Part I”); watch the film Genius (2016), dir. M. Grandage.
  • Session 2: History of editing, Shakespearan textology. Read the following: John Jowett, Shakespeare and Text, Oxford Shakespeare Topics series (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor, edited, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, pp. 74-94 (“The Composition of Hamlet”); Optional: ibid., pp. 139-164 (“1.1” of Hamlet Q2 (1604-5)); Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor, edited, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Texts of 1603 and 1623, The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, pp. 1-12 (“The relationship of this volume to the Arden Hamlet”); Optional: ibid., pp. 41-53 (“Scene 1” of Hamlet Q1 (1603)); pp. 173-185 (“1.1” of Hamlet F1 (1623)); Recommended: Bruce R. Smith, editor, The Cambridge Guide to the World of Shakespeare, vol. 1 (Cambridge: CUP 2016), pp. 323-373 (“Printing, Publishing, Textuality”).
  • Session 3: Walt Whitman’s “Drum-Taps” and challenges of digital editions. Read the following: Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley, edited, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Reader’s Edition) (New York: New York University Press, 1965), pp. xxvii-liii (“Introduction”); 279-327 (“Drum-Taps”); Ed Folsom, “Appearing in Print: Illustrations of the Self in Leaves of Grass,” in Ezra Greenspan, edited, The Cambridge Companion to Walt Whitman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 135-165; Kenneth M. Price, “Electronic Scholarly Editions,” Chapter 24 in A Companion to Digital Literary Studies, edited by Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008)
  • Session 4: Student Presentations. These presentations will be based on commissioned papers.
Literature
    required literature
  • Ed Folsom, “Appearing in Print: Illustrations of the Self in Leaves of Grass,” in Ezra Greenspan, edited, The Cambridge Companion to Walt Whitman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 135-165
  • Elizabeth Cook, John Keats (in the Oxford Authors series) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. xvii-xxxvi (“Introduction”); 252-264 (“The Eve of St. Agnes”); 273-274 (“La belle dame sans merci”); 544-556 (Appendices I & II, Variants of the poems)
  • Kenneth M. Price, “Electronic Scholarly Editions,” in Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens, edited, A Companion to Digital Literary Studies (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008)
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet: The Texts of 1603 and 1623, edited by Ann Tompson and Neil Taylor (in the Arden 3 Series) (London: Thomson Learning, 2006). From the Introduction, pp. xi-xv, 1-12
  • Shakespeare and text. Edited by John Jowett. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007, 229 p. ISBN 0199217076. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. The rules of art : genesis and structure of the literary field. Translated by Susan Emanuel. First published. Cambridge: Polity, 1996, xviii, 410. ISBN 9780745611525. info
    recommended literature
  • W. W. Greg, The Editorial Problem in Shakespeare: A Survey of the Foundations of the Text, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954), “Prolegomena” (pp. vii-lv)
  • Marcus Walsh, Shakespeare, Milton and Eighteenth-Century Literary Editing: The Beginnings of Interpretative Scholarship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997)
  • Jack Stillinger, Reading “The Eve of St. Agnes”: The Multiples of Complex Literary Transaction (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 3-33
  • Jack Stillinger, “American Novels, Authors, Agents, Editors, Publishers”, Chapter 7 of Multiple Authorship and the Myth of Solitary Genius (Oxford: OUP, 1991), pp. 139-162
  • Fredson Bowers, “Principle and Practice in the Editing of Early Dramatic Texts”, in Textual & Literary Criticism (Cambridge: CUP, 1966), pp. 117-150
  • Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley, edited, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Reader’s Edition) (New York: New York University Press, 1965), pp. xxvii-liii (“Introduction”); 279-327 (“Drum-Taps”)
  • Gary Taylor, “The Tragedy of Macbeth: A Genetic Text,” in Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture, general editors Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 690-703
  • Lois Potter, “Editing Desdemona,” in Ann Thompson and Gordon McMullan, edited, In Arden: Editing Shakespeare (in The Arden Shakespeare series) (London: Thomson Learning, 2003), pp. 81-94
  • Gary Taylor, “Preface: Textual Proximities,” in Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture, general editors Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 24-28
Teaching methods
Seminar work, student presentations, conference paper on an approved topic.
Assessment methods
Marks will be based on the student's preparation for and participation in the seminars, as well as for composing and delivering a conference paper on an approved topic. As is consistent with Doctoral level studies, in terms of the final mark, emphasis will be placed on precision, knowledge base, and originality of thought.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: Bloková výuka.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2021, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2023, recent)
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