Dirk Van Hulle

Aware of the act of writing as a temporal process, many modernist authors preserved numerous manuscripts of their works, which themselves thematized time. Textual Awareness analyzes the writing processes in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, and Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus and relates these to Anglo-American, French, and German theories of text. By relating theory to practice, this comparative study reveals the links between literary and textual criticism. A key issue in both textual criticism and the so-called crisis of the novel is the tension between the finished and the unfinished. After a theoretical examination of the relationship between genetic and textual criticism, Dirk Van Hulle uses the three case studies to show how?at each stage in the writing process?the text still had the potential of becoming something entirely different; how and why these geneses proceeded the way they did; how Joyce, Proust, and Mann allowed contingencies to shape their work; how these authors recycled the words of their critics in order to inoculate their works against them; how they shaped an intertextual dimension through the processing of source texts and reading notes; and how text continually generated more text. Van Hulle's exploration of process sheds new light on the remarkable fact that so many modernist authors protected their manuscripts, implying both the authors' urge to grasp everything and their awareness of the dangers of their encyclopedic projects. Textual Awareness offers new insights into the artificiality of the artifact?the novel?that are relevant to the study of literary modernism in general and the study of James Joyce, Marcel Proust, and Thomas Mann in particular. Dirk Van Hulle is Assistant Professor of English and German Literature, University of Antwerp.

A Genetic Study of Late Manuscripts by Joyce, Proust, and Mann

Textual Awareness

The New Cambridge Companion to Samuel Beckett offers an accessible introduction to issues animating the field of Beckett studies today.

The New Cambridge Companion to Samuel Beckett

Olga Beloborodova

Literary drafts are a constant in literatures of all ages and linguistic areas, and yet their role in writing processes in various traditions has seldom been the subject of systematic comparative scrutiny. In 38 chapters written by leading experts in many different fields, this book charts a comparative history of the literary draft in Europe and beyond. It is organised according to eight categories of comparison distributed over the volume’s two parts, devoted respectively to ‘Text’ (i.e. the textual aspects of creative processes) and ‘Beyond Text’ (i.e. aspects of creative processes that are not necessarily textual). Across geographical, temporal, linguistic, generic and media boundaries, to name but a few, this book uncovers idiosyncrasies and parallels in the surviving traces of human creativity while drawing the reader’s attention to the materiality of literary drafts and the ephemerality of the writing process they capture.

A Comparative History of the Literary Draft in Europe

The text of Finnegans Wake is not as monolithic as it might seem. It grew out of a set of short vignettes, sections and fragments. Several of these sections, which James Joyce confidently claimed would "fuse of themselves", are still recognizable in the text of Finnegans Wake. And while they are undeniably integrated very skillfully, they also function separately. In this publication history, Dirk Van Hulle examines the interaction between the private composition process and the public life of Joyce's 'Work in Progress', from the creation of the separate sections through their publication in periodicals and as separately published sections. Van Hulle highlights the beautifully crafted editions published by fine arts presses and Joyce's encouragement of his daughter's creative talents, even as his own creative process was slowing down in the 1930s. All of these pre-book publications were "alive" in both bibliographic and textual terms, as Joyce continually changed the texts in order to prepare the book publication of Finnegans Wake. Van Hulle's book offers a fresh perspective on these texts, showing that they are not just preparatory versions of Finnegans Wake but a 'Work in Progress' in their own right.

Pre-Book Publications of Finnegans Wake Fragments

James Joyce's 'Work in Progress'

Mark Nixon

This new issue of Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui contains three sections: Beckett and Romanticism, the conference proceedings of Beckett at Reading 2006, and finally a collection of miscellaneous essays. In the past few decades there have been scattered efforts to address the topic of Beckett and Romanticism, but it remains difficult to fathom his ambiguous and somewhat paradoxical attitude toward this period in literature, music and art history. Although far from being a comprehensive examination, the dossier on “Beckett and Romanticism” represents the first sustained attempt to give an impetus to the study of this complex theme. Presented here are contributions on Beckett's attitudes toward Romantic aesthetics in general, including notions such as the sublime, irony, failure, ruins, fragments, fancy, imagination, epitaphs, translation, unreachable horizons, the infinite, the infinitesimal and the unfinished, but also on Beckett's reading about the Romantic period, his affinity with specific Romantic artists and their influence on works such as Murphy, the trilogy, Krapp's Last Tape andAll Strange Away. The second part of the current issue presents a selection of papers given at the Beckett at Reading 2006 conference in Reading, organised by the Beckett International Foundation to honour the writer's centenary. Reflecting the importance of the Beckett Foundation's Archive to scholars, many of these essays present new empirical research in the field of manuscript studies. Further areas of research are illuminated by other contributions which, together with the essays contained in the 'Free Space' section, show the importance and benefits of scholarly dialogue and cross-fertilization between different approaches in current Beckett Studies.

Beckett and Romanticism : Beckett at Reading 2006

All Sturm and No Drang

First performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1958, Krapp's Last Tape has since become widely celebrated as one of Samuel Beckett's most important and powerful plays. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'La dernière bande'/'Krapp's Last Tape' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: - A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages - A critical reconstruction of the history of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history - A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Krapp's Last Tape'/'La derniere bande'

Pim Verhulst

Originally published in French as Malone meurt in 1951 and later translated into English by the author himself, Malone Dies is the second novel of Samuel Beckett's Trilogy. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Malone Dies'/'Malone meurt' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages A critical reconstruction of the history of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Malone Dies'/'Malone meurt'

Part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), this account is an examination of Samuel Beckett’s writing, tracing his creative process and reconstructing the genesis of his bilingual works. Analyzing notes, manuscripts, and typescripts, it reconstructs the dynamics of the author’s composition process on the basis of this often fragmentary material. This enlightening volume also provides what the MLA Committee on Scholarly Editions refers to as a "textual essay,” containing a statement of the editorial principles and practical methods of the BDMP.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's Stirrings Still / Soubresauts and Comment Dire / What Is the Word

This book of collected essays approaches Beckett’s work through the context of modernism, while situating it in the literary tradition at large. It builds on current debates aiming to redefine ‘modernism’ in connection to concepts such as ‘late modernism’ or ‘postmodernism’. Instead of definitively re-categorizing Beckett under any of these labels, the essays use his diverse oeuvre – encompassing poetry, criticism, prose, theatre, radio and film – as a case study to investigate and reassess the concept of ‘modernism after postmodernism’ in all its complexity, covering a broad range of topics spanning Beckett’s entire career. In addition to more thematic essays about art, history, politics, psychology and philosophy, the collection places his work in relation to that of other modernists such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, as well as to the literary canon in general. It represents an important contribution to both Beckett studies and modernism studies.

Beckett and Modernism

This book introduces genetic criticism as a reading strategy which investigates the origins and development of texts over time. Using case studies including Samuel Beckett and Ian McEwan, Van Hulle discusses the concrete and more abstract dimensions of this approach.

Tracing Creativity in Literature

Genetic Criticism

First performed in 1953, Waiting for Godot is Samuel Beckett's masterpiece and one of the most important dramatic works of the 20th century. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot'/'En attendant Godot' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages A critical reconstruction of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot'/'En attendant Godot'

Edouard Magessa O'Reilly

Originally published in French in 1951 and translated into English by the author himself four years later, Molloy is the first novel of Samuel Beckett's Trilogy, continued in Malone Dies and The Unnamable. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Molloy' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages A critical reconstruction of the history of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Molloy'

David Tucker

Revisiting Molloy, Malone meurt / Malone Dies and L’Innommable / The Unnamable

Sònia Boadas

Paola Italia

Giulia Raboni

Marco Presotto

Margherita Centenari

Francesco Feriozzi

Carmela Marranchino

 Pim Verhulst

A stark departure from traditional philology, What is Authorial Philology? is the first comprehensive treatment of authorial philology as a discipline in its own right. It provides readers with an excellent introduction to the theory and practice of editing ‘authorial texts’ alongside an exploration of authorial philology in its cultural and conceptual architecture. The originality and distinction of this work lies in its clear systematization of a discipline whose autonomous status has only recently been recognised (at least in Italy), though its roots may extend back as far as Giorgio Pasquali. This pioneering volume offers both a methodical set of instructions on how to read critical editions, and a wide range of practical examples, expanding upon the conceptual and methodological apparatus laid out in the first two chapters. By presenting a thorough account of the historical and theoretical framework through which authorial philology developed, Paola Italia and Giulia Raboni successfully reconceptualize the authorial text as an ever-changing organism, subject to alteration and modification. What is Authorial Philology? will be of great didactic value to students and researchers alike, providing readers with a fuller understanding of the rationale behind different editing practices, and addressing both traditional and newer methods such as the use of the digital medium and its implications. Spanning the whole Italian tradition from Petrarch to Carlo Emilio Gadda, this ground-breaking volume provokes us to consider important questions concerning a text’s dynamism, the extent to which an author is ‘agentive’, and, most crucially, about the very nature of what we read.

What is Authorial Philology?

Shane Weller

Originally written in French and first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1957, Samuel Beckett's Endgame is widely regarded as one of his most important works. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame'/'Fin de partie' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages A critical reconstruction of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame'/'Fin de partie'

The twentieth century has been called 'the golden age of the modern manuscript,' a time when the historical value of early manuscripts as a record of a writer's thought processes came to be fully recognized. Drawing on the critical tools of French genetic criticism, Modern Manuscripts explores the development of early 20th century literary texts, from source texts and early notes, through successive draft manuscripts to publication and successive editions. Historicizing these modernist processes of writing, Dirk Van Hulle contrasts these twentieth century manuscripts with the development of Charles Darwin's text for On the Origin of Species, itself a formative intellectual influence on modern writing. Exploring the writings of such writers as Joyce, Woolf and Beckett, this is an important study that will open up new avenues of thought for scholars of Modernist literature, material culture and book history.

The Extended Mind and Creative Undoing from Darwin to Beckett and Beyond

Modern Manuscripts

The first study examining the importance of the marginalia, inscriptions and manuscript notes in the 750 volumes of Beckett's library.

Dirk Van Hulle

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