Authors: Paul Schacht, Elizabeth Witherell, Rebecca Nesvet, Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Fiona Coll, Nikolaus Wasmoen
Date: April 2022
Title: Encountering Walden
Subjects(s): Henry David Thoreau, Digital Humanities, Manuscripts, Editing, Pedagogy
Item Type: Article
Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.55520/NZFJ7888
Abstract: This article focuses on the value of the Walden manuscript for helping undergraduates see a classic text through new eyes. In our experience, undergraduates too often approach culturally revered authors as geniuses whose thoughts arrived fully formed in moments of inspiration and were translated instantly from mind to page. Scrutinizing Thoreau’s numerous revisions to a passage on a single leaf or across multiple versions of the manuscript produces a completely different view of authorship. Modeling those revisions carefully in an encoding language such as the TEI leads to a kind of critical interpretation that constructs meaning partly through an analysis of authorial paths not taken; at the same time, it offers budding editors and digital humanists an introduction to the fundamental principles of editorial and digital practice.The article describe three encounters with the Walden manuscript that demonstrate the different pedagogical possibilities that this resource offers in different contexts, each with its own audience and time-horizon: workshop (brief), course (extended), and scholarly editing community (indefinite).
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International