Dr Mathelinda Nabugodi organises ‘Creative, Critical, Editing: A Virtual Symposium’ at IES, University of London, Thursday 22 April and Friday 30 April 2021

Thursday 22 April 2021, 17:00-18:30
and
Friday 30 April 2021, 11:00-12:30, 14:00-15:30
Creative critical approaches are having a growing impact on how we do research in the humanities – from practice-based work in art, drama and performance, to creative writing, visible and interventionist modes of translation and annotation, autoethnography and experimental ways of curating archival resources. At the same time, the digital humanities are offering new avenues for disseminating creative critical work – enabling a mixture of textual, audible and visual formats, interactive elements, audience participation and a more international scope. But the rise of the digital has also taught us to appreciate the materiality of the book in new ways even as Zoom reminds us of the joys of personal interactions.

We propose to make connections between these various developments through the concept of ‘editing’ – a practice that can take many forms: an edited collection of essays, a scholarly edition of canonical texts (from the Bible to contemporary poetry), an artistic practice (artist’s books, exhibitions), an advertising gimmick (a special edition of scented candles), a form of censorship (redacting out sensitive material). We are hoping to bring together scholars and critics, archivists and librarians, artists and creative practitioners, textual and digital editors and other thinkers – within and beyond the academy – in a virtual symposium that will explore the work of editing in its various facets.

We will start off with a virtual roundtable on 22 April 2021, 17:00-18:30, featuring:

Ruth Abbott – Caroline Bassett – Deborah Bowman – Susan Greenberg Tim Mathews – Wim van Mierlo – Emily Orley – Marta Werner – John Schad

The roundtable will also be an opportunity for us to launch workshop materials that will be made available online between Thursday 22 April – Friday 30 April.

These materials comprise (1) video recordings that provide some theoretical contexts for creative approaches to editing, and (2) practical writing and editing exercises to complete in advance of the virtual workshop session on Friday 30 April, when we convene on Zoom for two 90-minute sessions, 11:00-12:30 and 14:00-15:30, to discuss our work and exchange ideas.

The workshop materials have two themes

  • Intentionality and Translation (led by Christopher Ohge and Mathelinda Nabugodi)

Authorial intention has had a mixed reception in academic discourse, yet intentionality remains an indispensable concept for the editor and artist who seeks to establish texts out of a chaos of drafts. We will look at some examples from Melville and Shelley to explore how intentionality matters – and how it differs in translation.

  • Embodiment and Annotation (led by Mathelinda Nabugodi)

All reading is embodied: the reader sits or stands, perhaps hungry, restless, or in need of the loo, using their hands to turn the page or scroll down the screen. Traditionally, editing ignores such factors: here, we will use annotation as a way of capturing the bodily experience of reading.

If you have any questions, please contact Mathelinda Nabugodi on mn539@cam.ac.uk.

Link to registration page.

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