(with apologies for cross-posting)
The Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will host a two-day workshop on manuscript studies on February 9 and 10, 2007. The workshop's co- directors are Thomas E. Burman (History), Maura K. Lafferty (Classics), and Roy Liuzza (English).
Last year’s workshop discussed the practices of textual editing; this year’s topic is “Everything but the Text,” by which we mean the many different sorts of things that appear above, around, into, beside or between texts in manuscripts: glosses, marginalia, punctuation, running headings, chapter divisions, interpolations, additions, accompanying works, illustrations, doodles, pen trials, bits of stray poetry or prose, pointing fingers, etc. Such material can be easy to overlook, difficult to represent and baffling to explain, but it can also tell us a great deal about how manuscripts, and the texts in them, were read, used, and understood. The theme is meant to be understood as broadly as possible; we would especially welcome participation by scholars working on the relation between text and image, the compilation of anthologies and miscellanies, epigraphy and inscribed objects, page design and meaning, systems for indexing, organizing, or linking commentary to text, and so on.
The workshop is open to scholars and students at any rank and from any discipline. Individual ninety-minute sessions will be devoted to each participant’s project; participants will introduce their material and its contexts, discuss their approaches to working with this material, and exchange ideas and information about how to represent and interpret this important evidence. Like last year, the workshop is intended to be more like a class than a conference; participants will be invited to discuss both their successes and frustrations, and to work together towards developing a repertoire of professional skills for textual studies. We particularly encourage works in progress, the presentation of unusual manuscript problems or practical difficulties, new technologies and experimental models for studying or representing manuscripts. Presenters will receive a stipend of $500 for their participation.
The deadline for proposals is November 15, 2006; please submit a current CV and a two-page letter describing your project to:
Professor Roy M. Liuzza Department of English University of Tennessee 301 McClung Tower Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 or via email to rliuzza@utk.edu.
The workshop is also open to scholars and students who do not wish to present their work but may be interested in learning more about manuscript research in an informal and collegial environment. Non- presenters will not receive a stipend, but are encouraged to participate in discussions and all other activities. Those wishing to attend should contact Professor Liuzza at the above address for more information, or visit the workshop homepage at http://web.utk.edu/ ~rliuzza/workshop/index.html for more information, including a registration form.
Thank you,
Roy Liuzza