The Production of Literary
Research Sources
Types of Literary Scholarship
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Journal articles
Conference papers
Essays
Books
Dissertations
Who Writes Literary Scholarship?
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Professors
Graduate students
Independent scholars
Types of Literary Research Sources
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Primary
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Secondary
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Tertiary
Primary sources
Primary sources are the raw data of literary
research. Examples include:
AND
A primary work often appears in the form of an
unpublished manuscript (MS).
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources interpret primary sources.
Examples include:
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critical articles
book reviews
biographies
Secondary Sources: Examples
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Critical articles
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Book Reviews
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Biographies
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary sources synthesize work reported in
primary and secondary sources. Examples
include:
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Tertiary Sources: Examples
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Dictionaries
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Encyclopedias
Creative Sources in Literature
Creative works (e.g. novels) generate the flow
of scholarly information in the form of
secondary and tertiary works.
Flow of Scholarly Information
Scholarly Flow of Information
The following slides illustrate the flow of
information (primary, secondary, and tertiary)
using a famous late 19th century short story.
Scholarly Flow of Information
On June 6 and 7, 1890, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote
her notable short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” in
Pasadena, California.
The next slides will illustrate the flow of scholarly
information using “The Yellow Wall-Paper.”
Flow of Information: “Yellow Wall-Paper”
Flow of Information: “Yellow Wall-Paper”
Once Gilman’s manuscript is published in the form of an edition, it is read
and reviewed, which generates interest in the story. As such, additional
editions of the YWP are published.
Eventually, the story attracts the attention of scholars who critique the
story within the context of formal literary theories. Subsequently,
scholars build upon the work of earlier YWP scholars.
As interest in YWP increases, there is a demand for more information
about Gilman’s life and work. Consequently, her other work such as,
Herland, is published as well as her diaries and autobiography.
Gilman becomes well-established in the canon of American literature.
Editions of Primary Works
Once an author releases the manuscript (MS) to her editor, she
relinquishes a certain amount of control over how the MS is
treated.
The MS becomes a collaborative effort between the author and all
those (editors, proof-correctors, and publishers) who have an
opportunity to alter the text.
The author must depend upon the editor and others to create a
reliable, authoritative text.
Primary Sources: Types of Editions
The author’s MS may be produced in a variety of
editions to satisfy needs of different types of readers.
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Facsimile*
Variorum*
Authoritative
Mass market/trade*
E-text*
*For definitions of these terms, click here for glossary.
Authoritative Texts
The authoritative text is most often used by
scholars/critics for close readings of literary
texts.
Authoritative Editions
What is an authoritative edition?
An editor’s best estimate of the work as the author
might have expected her first audience to read it.
The following slides demonstrate what happens when a
MS falls into the hands of incompetent editors, proofcorrectors, and publishers.
Editor’s Misreading of Robert
Southwell’s Letter to Samuel Pepys
Authoritative edition:
[I] lost my health by sitting many years near an inck bottle.”
Unreliable edition:
“[I] lost my health by sitting many years near a sack bottle.”
According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, in Southwell’s time
“sack” indicated a class of white
wines. So, according to this edition,
Southwell admits to being a
drunkard!
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Corrupted
Editions
Stevenson’s editor, Sydney Colvin, consistently
misread Stevenson’s texts, for example:
box becomes fox
cottage becomes cabbage
bloody becomes beastly
bugger becomes beggar
A.L. Rowse’s Corrupted Text of Romeo
& Juliet
Authoritative Shakespeare edition: “ Romeo, Romeo,
wherefore art thou Romeo”
Rowse’s edition: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore are
you, Romeo”
Rowse’s revisions change the
meaning of the line. Juliet
wonders where Romeo is when,
in fact, she is lamenting his
Montague heritage.
Expurgated Texts: Sniffing Out the
Smut
Older editions of these texts eliminated
passages deemed “obscene” by editors:
Richard Wright’s Native Son
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
Chaucer’s Wife of Bath
The previous examples demonstrate how
unreliable texts of primary works can adversely
affect the way a scholar interprets meaning.
Corruption of a Text: YWP
Over the years, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow
Wall-Paper” has suffered from the incompetence of
several editors.
The following slides illustrate the evolution of unreliable
editions of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow WallPaper.”
Yellow Wall-Paper: Publication History
While the YWP has been published continuously by the popular
press since 1892, Hedges’ 1973 edition triggered interest among
literary scholars.*
*The following is based on Julie Dock’s discussion of the YWP.
Yellow Wall-Paper: Corruption of a Text
The following slides provide some examples of
how incompetent editors created unstable
texts of the “The Yellow Wall-Paper.”
YWP: Authoritative text
Below is a line from an authoritative edition of
YWP:
John laughs at me, of course, but one expects
that in marriage.
YWP: Corruption of the text
Compare the line from the previous slide with the lines
(below) published in two unstable editions. Note that
each edition dropped the word “marriage.” As such,
meaning becomes ambiguous.
Edition 1: John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that. (expects
what? that he thinks the narrator funny? that she is a silly woman?
that John is a jerk? that the house is spooky?)
Edition 2: John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in men.
(expects what? is the narrator bashing men?)
YWP: Section Breaks
Gilman uses journal entries throughout her story to depict the mental state
of the narrator. To indicate each break, Gilman uses a series of asterisks (*).
Unfortunately, several editors disrupted Gilman’s section breaks.
These editors either eliminated or added section breaks. Consequently,
these editorial decisions changed the character, mood, and emotional state
of the narrator.
Yellow Wall-Paper: Corrupted Section
Breaks
How do I know my text is authoritative?
The best way to determine the authority of an
edition is to read scholarly reviews of the
edition.
Scholarly reviews will assess the quality of the
edition by evaluating the copy-text used by
the editor.
To establish an authoritative edition, a
competent editor chooses a reliable copytext or base text.
A copy-text can be the author’s manuscript
(MS) or an earlier published version of the
primary work.
In order to determine the best copy-text, the
editor compares different versions of the
primary work. Versions could include the
author’s mss and/or previous published
editions.
For example, Julie Dock chose the version of
the “The Yellow Wall-Paper published in The
New England Magazine in January, 1892.
Her edition influenced subsequent editors to
publish competent texts of YWP.
Authoritative Editions
Using sound textual principles, scholarly editors:
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Explain the method used in determining the copytext on which the edition is based.
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Cleanse text of corruptions
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Place the work in context
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Discuss conventions, styles, traditions
Current Authoritative Editions
It is important that scholars have the most recent,
reliable edition because it will incorporate:
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uncollected work
Incorporate recent research
Remember! Beware of an edition’s claim of authoritativeness.
You must verify the claim with scholarly book reviews.
To locate scholarly book reviews of literary
editions, go to the course home page and
click on “Searching for Book Reviews.”
Summary
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Three types of literary sources (primary, secondary, tertiary)
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Creative works (e.g. novels) generate the flow of scholarly
information.
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Five types of literary editions (Facsimile, Variorum
Authoritative, Mass market/trade, E-text)
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Authoritative editions are crucial to critical interpretations
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Locate authoritative editions via scholarly book reviews.