Course Description
Advanced studies in archival research within the context of literary study. Depending on the instructor, the course may concentrate on the original production and circulation of literature, the letters and papers of specific writers, the historical contexts of a literary period, and/or editorial practices.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be responsible for a more extensive
syllabus; for more ambitious and sophisticated research,
analysis, and writing; and for an extended, independent archival
project.
Athena Title
Literature in the Archives
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
All literary study begins in the archive: with the autograph manuscript(s) of an author's poems; the serial publication of a novel later issued as a single volume; the letters he or she exchanged with others; the notebooks, scrapbooks, jottings, and drafts that make up literary composition. Students generally read literary texts in the sanitized context of student editions, but this class will flip students' encounters with literature by having them study literature in its initial, unedited forms. Students will gain skills for dealing with often messy original documents, will practice applying those skills to literary analysis, and will develop the theoretical framework for understanding why archival research is critical to literary study. 1. Students will be able to analyze documentary materials and literary works within the framework of archival research 2. Students will develop their abilities to think critically, argue persuasively, and write incisively about literary and documentary artifacts 3. Students will master archival research skills, including learning the appropriate terminology and the proper handling of original materials 4. Students will understand the theoretical underpinnings of archival study as well as the advantages and limitations of using original documents in literary analysis and will be able to apply those understandings in their assignments 5. Students will reflect critically on the relationship between researchers and archives, original and edited documents, and theories and practices of archival research
Topical Outline
This course will focus on reading literature within the context of archival study with a threefold emphasis: on methods of archival research, on the kinds of literary interpretations enabled by working with original documents, and on theories of the archive and of related analytic, editorial, and/or digitizing practice. The choice and sequence of topics will vary by instructor, semester, and archival materials' availability. A course focused on the literary papers of a specific author or authors may begin with an introduction to the author(s) and their historical period, then proceed to reading the author(s) original letters and notebooks, culminating in literary analysis of those authors' works informed by archival research. In cases where the literary archive may be scattershot or incomplete, as in the manuscript holdings of many women writers and writers of color, a class may study communities of writers and readers in original periodicals, pamphlets, and other printed and rare materials beyond the bound book. A bibliographic approach to the course might focus on the materiality of books and written ephemera. It may introduce students to historical forms of book production (handwritten manuscripts, early printing practices, technological and marketing changes) so that students can analyze the intersection of literature's material forms and textual dissemination. An editorial approach may teach students theories and pragmatic skills of editing in order to produce new editions and/or critique existing ones. In each case, however, students will not only become proficient in archival research, they will also comprehend and apply the interpretive frameworks that mediate between edited literary texts and archival objects.