AJ34130 Constructing the Book, Reconstructing the Text

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2017

The course is not taught in Autumn 2017

Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Tomáš Kačer, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
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: 0/15, 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" and Keats's "Eve of St. Agnes"; the textual dilemmas that surround the editing of Middleton, Hopkins, and others; the history of the role of the editor, particularly from Shakespeare to Milton; and the importance of layout in Whitman's "Drum-Taps," which draws into question contemporary movements in hypertext design.
Syllabus
  • Session 1: John Keats’s “The Eve of St. Agnes.” Read the following: 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); 595-601 (Notes). 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
  • Session 2: Hamlet Trinity. Read the following: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, edited by Ann Tompson and Neil Taylor (in the Arden 3 Series) (London: Thomson Learning, 2006). From the Introduction: “The Challenge of Editing Hamlet” (pp. 8-13), “The Composition of Hamlet” (pp. 74-94), and from the Appendices, nos. 1-4, pp. 465-552. 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. 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). 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
  • Session 3: Mediating Middleton. Read the following: Gary Taylor, “What is a File?” 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. 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. Suzanne Gossett, the Introduction to Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s Philaster, edited by Suzanne Gossett (in Arden Early Modern Drama series) (London: Methuen Drama, 2009), pp. 1-102
  • Session 4: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Windhover.” Read the following: John Pick, edited, Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Windhover (in the Merrill Literary Casebook Series) (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing, 1969). Norman H. MacKenzie, edited, The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. xxv-lxxiv (“Introduction”); 144-147 (“The Windhover” and MS plates 1-3); 376-384 (Commentary on “The Windhover”). Norman H. MacKenzie, edited with annotations, transcriptions, and an introduction, The Later Poetic Manuscripts of Gerard Manley Hopkins (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1991), pp. 1-20 (“Introduction”); pp. 120-125 (MS plates for “The Windhover”)
  • Session 5: History of Editing: Milton and Shakespeare. Read the following: Marcus Walsh, Shakespeare, Milton and Eighteenth-Century Literary Editing: The Beginnings of Interpretative Scholarship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Ann Thompson, “‘Making Him Speak True English’: Grammatical Emendation in Some Eighteenth-Century Editions of Shakespeare, with Particular Reference to Cymbeline,” in Joanna Gondris, edited, Reading Readings: Essays on Shakespeare Editing in the Eighteenth Century (London: Associated University Presses, 1998), pp. 71-85. Fredson Bowers, “Principle and Practice in the Editing of Early Dramatic Texts”, in Textual & Literary Criticism (Cambridge: CUP, 1966), pp. 117-150. 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
  • Session 6: Walt Whitman’s “Drum-Taps.” 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,” in Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens, edited, A Companion to Digital Literary Studies (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008).
  • Session 7: Student Presentations. These presentations will be based on commissioned papers.
Literature
    required literature
  • Norman H. MacKenzie, edited with annotations, transcriptions, and an introduction, The Later Poetic Manuscripts of Gerard Manley Hopkins (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1991), pp. 1-20 (“Introduction”); pp. 120-125 (MS plates for “The Windhover
  • 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
  • Suzanne Gossett, the Introduction to Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s Philaster, edited by Suzanne Gossett (in Arden Early Modern Drama series) (London: Methuen Drama, 2009), pp. 1-102
  • Ann Thompson, “‘Making Him Speak True English’: Grammatical Emendation in Some Eighteenth-Century Editions of Shakespeare, with Particular Reference to Cymbeline,” in Joanna Gondris, edited, Reading Readings: Essays on Shakespeare Editing in the Eighteen
  • Norman H. MacKenzie, edited, The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. xxv-lxxiv (“Introduction”); 144-147 (“The Windhover” and MS plates 1-3); 376-384 (Commentary on “The Windhover”)
  • Kenneth M. Price, “Electronic Scholarly Editions,” in Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens, edited, A Companion to Digital Literary Studies (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008)
  • 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
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet, edited by Ann Tompson and Neil Taylor (in the Arden 3 Series) (London: Thomson Learning, 2006). From the Introduction: “The Challenge of Editing Hamlet” (pp. 8-13), “The Composition of Hamlet” (pp. 74-94), and from the Append
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
  • Gary Taylor, “What is a File?”
  • John Pick, edited, Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Windhover (in the Merrill Literary Casebook Series) (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing, 1969)
  • 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)
  • Fredson Bowers, “Principle and Practice in the Editing of Early Dramatic Texts”, in Textual & Literary Criticism (Cambridge: CUP, 1966), pp. 117-150
  • 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
  • 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”)
  • 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
Teaching methods
Seminar of 3 hours conducted every other week
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
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every other week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2017, recent)
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