Making the Archives Talk: New and Selected Essays in Bibliography, Editing, and Book History: 16 (Penn State Series in the History of the Book) - Hardcover

"James West adopts and defends a biographer's approach to textual studies and scholarly editing. For the biographer, there is no source of information, no point of view about the evidence, and no conflicting opinion that is rejected or neglected. The central theme of this book is that textual editing involves constructing narrative explanations for the surviving evidence, giving us purchase on the interpretive consequences of textual variation. As West says, `This is fun. It's what textual editors do.'"-Peter L. Shillingsburg, Loyola University "James West is one of our most accomplished editors and critics. This welcome new collection of essays on modernist prose writers shows him at his best, weaving expertly between general principles and particular texts by Dreiser, Fitzgerald, Styron, and others. A leading intentionalist scholar, West brings a lifetime's knowledge to bear on important works and on the process of constructing them."-George Bornstein, University of Michigan "For many years Jim West has shown that editing literary works is an intensely critical and humane activity that engages the full range of an editor's learning and abilities. The ten previously published essays selected for this volume have been significantly revised so that this book is the single most authoritative reference for these works. . . . Even those who have participated in his luminous career will be eager to read the two new essays. He is one of very few biblio-textual writers whose works are `a good read.'"-T. H. Howard-Hill, University of South Carolina, editor of the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America "Jim West's stories about, and his reflections on, his many years editing the works of such major literary writers as Fitzgerald and Styron are told in a humane, reflective, and pragmatic spirit. West brings intriguing evidence to bear. He shows how the Realpolitik of the book trade, the technical concerns of bibliography, and the crises of cultural politics crisscross the editorial arena, complicating the whole endeavor. This engaging book is a narrative capstone to a distinguished career in scholarly editing and book history."-Paul Eggert, University of New South Wales at ADFA, Australian Research Council "This collection of essays is enthralling to read for many reasons: the author's unique perspective on book history, his insight into the field of scholarly editing, and, especially, a scholar's detailed use of archival collections."-Cheryl Oestreicher, Archival Issues

Making the Archives Talk is a collection of twelve essays by editor, biographer, bibliographer, and book historian James L. W. West III. In these essays, West sets forth his views of editorial theory, archival use, textual emendation, and scholarly annotation. He has published editions of major writings by Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Styron. Drawing on these editions for examples, West defends intentionalist editing and the eclectic emendation of texts. He discusses the treatment of both public documents (novels, stories, and nonfiction) and private texts (letters, diaries, journals, and working papers). Highlights of the collection include "The Scholarly Editor as Biographer," "Editorial Theory and the Act of Submission," "Double Quotes and Double Meanings in Jennie Gerhardt," "Annotating Mr. Fitzgerald," and "The End Is Near." Two of the essays, "Toxic Words and the Editor" and "Keeper of the Flame: Editing the Literary Remains of William Styron," are previously unpublished.