Textual Histories is a third-year English seminar at NUI Galway. The theme of the seminar in 2014-15 is ‘Materiality and Meaning’:
The book communicates to its reader through the text that it bears, but it also communicates evidence of its own physical construction. Throughout history, the varying means of books’ manufacture have had a direct and tangible impact on their texts. This course examines how the materiality of the book influences its meaning, and what the consequences are for authors, readers, scholars, and editors. Through a mixture of lecture, demonstration, and discussion, the group will examine the codex, the digital book, and other text-bearing objects. We will combine historical survey and hands-on examination of books in order to understand the importance of the textual medium when studying literature. Reading will include Finkelstein & McCleery, eds. An Introduction to Book History (2nd ed.) and Blayney, The First Folio of Shakespeare.
Textual Histories is taught by Dr Justin Tonra
email: justin.tonra [at] nuigalway.ie
Room 303, Tower 1
office hours: TUE 1100-1200 and THU 0900-1000 (drop-in); WED 1200-1300 (digital).
Textual Histories 