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A Comparative History of the Literary Draft in Europe
Edited by Olga Beloborodova and Dirk Van Hulle
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXV] 2024
► pp. 141–159

1.2.4
Anglophone traditions

Dealing with drafts of modern literary manuscripts

Spurred on by new editions of works of modern literature in which manuscript materials are often extant, editorial theory since the 1980s has been laying the groundwork for the wider introduction of a genetic perspective on the works of Anglophone authors. Resistance to the idea from the 1940s is traced. The editing of writers’ journals during the 1970s–1990s shows a hesitation to follow the brave lead of the Harvard edition of Emerson’s Journals in recording in-text cancellations and additions. Editors’ conceptions of the reader of their editions have evolved since 1950. The advent of the Cornell Wordsworth and Cornell Yeats editions broadened understanding of the editorial-archival function; the method has become accepted as the base-line responsibility of digital editors.
Keywords: draft manuscript, genetic criticism, genetic edition, anglophone scholarly editing, archival reporting, version, Emerson’s Journals, Cornell Yeats, editorial theory, reading
Article outline
  • The 1950s–1960s, and barbed-wire editions
  • Letters editions
  • Editions of literary works in MS, and of writers’ journals
  • Genesis on the table
  • The Cornell Wordsworth and the Cornell Yeats
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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