Typographical Antiquities In brief Title - Typographical Antiquities Organiser - Scottish Writing in the Nineteeth Century (SWINC) Format - A round-table discussion followed by Professor Deidre Lynch's lecture Venue - 50 George Square Reserve your free ticket on Eventbrite About the event Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century (SWINC) is delighted to welcome Professor Deidre Lynch (Harvard University), one of the world’s foremost scholars of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature, to deliver her lecture ‘Walter Scott’s Typographical Antiquities’. The lecture will be preceded by a round-table discussion chaired by Bob Irvine (University of Edinburgh), which will focus on antiquarianism, material texts and historicism, particularly manuscripts, digital texts and textual editing in the present moment. Find speaker bios on the SWINC website Walter Scott’s Typographical Antiquities Abstract by Deidre Lynch Building on recent work by Ina Ferris and Yohei Igarashi, this paper traces in the Waverley Novels and in Scott’s favourite among them, The Antiquary, especially, Scott’s bemused response to his contemporaries’ investigations of the history of the printed book. It reconstructs his insights into the vexed relationship between the nascent disciplines of bibliography and book history on the one hand, and the protocols of modern print communication on the other. At the opening of the nineteenth century, antiquarian aficionados of “blackletter learning” believed themselves to be paying homage to the printed codex and honouring its communicational efficacy. Others, however, surveyed their curious studies and their editions, transcriptions, and experiments with facsimile editions and traded their bibliomania for bibliophobia, accusing them of interrupting the smooth cultural transfer of the past and unleashing into the public sphere so many zombie books (Thomas Carlyle, for instance, sputtered about “Dead sham-living books”). This early book history was as associated with illegibility and communicational impasses as it was associated with reading. As Scott recognised, the study of typographical antiquities produced an identity crisis for the book, disaggregating its parts and impairing its integrity. It made it harder to think of the book as being all of a piece, and by unsettling books’ relationship to presence and the present unsettled the study of the past. How to attend This is an in-person event. It is free and everyone is welcome. Spaces are limited so please reserve your seat on Eventbrite. Book now on Eventbrite Are you interested in a PhD in English Literature? We offer two PhDs: one in English Literature; and one in Creative Writing. Working with colleagues in LLC and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about PhD study with us Apr 21 2023 16.00 - 20.00 Typographical Antiquities Join Scottish Writing in the Nineteeth Century (SWINC) for an in-person round-table discussion, followed by a lecture by Professor Deidre Lynch (Harvard University) on the material contexts that have shaped writing and reading of literature in the modern era. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square Register now on Eventbrite
Typographical Antiquities In brief Title - Typographical Antiquities Organiser - Scottish Writing in the Nineteeth Century (SWINC) Format - A round-table discussion followed by Professor Deidre Lynch's lecture Venue - 50 George Square Reserve your free ticket on Eventbrite About the event Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century (SWINC) is delighted to welcome Professor Deidre Lynch (Harvard University), one of the world’s foremost scholars of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature, to deliver her lecture ‘Walter Scott’s Typographical Antiquities’. The lecture will be preceded by a round-table discussion chaired by Bob Irvine (University of Edinburgh), which will focus on antiquarianism, material texts and historicism, particularly manuscripts, digital texts and textual editing in the present moment. Find speaker bios on the SWINC website Walter Scott’s Typographical Antiquities Abstract by Deidre Lynch Building on recent work by Ina Ferris and Yohei Igarashi, this paper traces in the Waverley Novels and in Scott’s favourite among them, The Antiquary, especially, Scott’s bemused response to his contemporaries’ investigations of the history of the printed book. It reconstructs his insights into the vexed relationship between the nascent disciplines of bibliography and book history on the one hand, and the protocols of modern print communication on the other. At the opening of the nineteenth century, antiquarian aficionados of “blackletter learning” believed themselves to be paying homage to the printed codex and honouring its communicational efficacy. Others, however, surveyed their curious studies and their editions, transcriptions, and experiments with facsimile editions and traded their bibliomania for bibliophobia, accusing them of interrupting the smooth cultural transfer of the past and unleashing into the public sphere so many zombie books (Thomas Carlyle, for instance, sputtered about “Dead sham-living books”). This early book history was as associated with illegibility and communicational impasses as it was associated with reading. As Scott recognised, the study of typographical antiquities produced an identity crisis for the book, disaggregating its parts and impairing its integrity. It made it harder to think of the book as being all of a piece, and by unsettling books’ relationship to presence and the present unsettled the study of the past. How to attend This is an in-person event. It is free and everyone is welcome. Spaces are limited so please reserve your seat on Eventbrite. Book now on Eventbrite Are you interested in a PhD in English Literature? We offer two PhDs: one in English Literature; and one in Creative Writing. Working with colleagues in LLC and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about PhD study with us Apr 21 2023 16.00 - 20.00 Typographical Antiquities Join Scottish Writing in the Nineteeth Century (SWINC) for an in-person round-table discussion, followed by a lecture by Professor Deidre Lynch (Harvard University) on the material contexts that have shaped writing and reading of literature in the modern era. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square Register now on Eventbrite
Apr 21 2023 16.00 - 20.00 Typographical Antiquities Join Scottish Writing in the Nineteeth Century (SWINC) for an in-person round-table discussion, followed by a lecture by Professor Deidre Lynch (Harvard University) on the material contexts that have shaped writing and reading of literature in the modern era.
