March 3, Update

I'm thrilled that we had perfect attendance last week at the LC. Direct and material experience with the objects that we're studying is crucial to understanding their social, political, aesthetic, etc dimensions. The sense of touch--the haptic sense--is often overlooked when it comes to the apprehension of literature. We tend to think of what I'll call "the literary experience" as happening only through the eyes and ears. What is the role of touch? I"m not talking about the kind of nostalgic response people often have about "curling up with a book" but something on a deeper level. Let's talk about this in class today.

Now for some news. I've written up a new blueprint for our remaining sessions. It is not exhaustive, this blog will continue to the "voice of authority" when it comes to directions and reading assignments and other such matters. I'll distribute paper copies of this in class this afternoon. I'm also dropping a pdf file on to the drop site; it's called Week by Week.

Unfortunately, I have to renege on my plan to bus up to the NY Chapbook Festival. It turns out that I want to hear a lecture tomorrow (March 4) at the Library of Congress: Mark Samuels Lasner on late Victorian book collecting. Let me know if you're interested in attending; it promises to be wonderful. If anyone does go up to NY for the chapbook festival, they can substitute a short review of the event for the Mimeo Mimeo review due on March 24. See me for details.

Next week, March 10,  your first paper is due at the start of class. It does not have to involve primary research; that's only one option (and a difficult one under a short time frame). It would be perfectly fine to do a close "Sherlock Holmes" type  of reading/examination of one particular text object. It is possible to conduct such research with digital facsimiles, but be aware of the inevitable information loss that will occur (see my first note above). You might also find a topic in the secondary reading you want to explore further. See me if you have questions. The earlier the better. I'm expecting the papers to present ideas not merely rehearse facts. Your paper should have some kind of argumentative edge to it; it shouldn't be a chronicle or a hagiography. We're going to talk more about this in class today.