My monograph from the Tennyson Society is finally out! It arrived as a stressful personal week was already taking a turn for the better, and what a gift. The project grew out of a question posed by my supervisor during my PhD first-year review: “Why don’t you look more into the contents of the glossary?” […]
Tag Archives: Manuscripts
A shock in the stacks
The defining goal of academic research is to create new knowledge. In literary studies, I’ve taken it as pretty much a given that there’s very little in the way of new facts to be discovered from scratch, though there is plenty of work to be done in assembling the many facts into sensible shape to […]
Shoveling sand & celebrating
Last year, I watched a documentary that depicted one scholar’s efforts to determine exactly how much of his ear Van Gogh cut off. That may not seem like a lot with which to fill an hour, but it was the most accurate portrayal of the research process I’ve ever seen. It can take a long time […]
Minute marginalia with a big story
The photo above has a story that exemplifies what bibliographical detective work can reveal. First, I must introduce you to John Mitchell Kemble, one of my favorite Victorians. He was one of the first modern scholars of Old English — he produced the first British edition of Beowulf — and he did a lot to bring good […]