Advanced Literary Studies (Fall 2007)

An introduction to English graduate work by way of three foundational concerns—the texts, archives, and professions of literary study. We first take up books themselves as objects of study: descriptive and analytical bibliography, consideration of editorial practices and textual studies, as well as book history (including etexts). Next we turn to what archives are and how we may regard them critically, how we find and use primary materials such as manuscripts and letters, and the ways we research secondary bibliographies using traditional sources and electronic databases. We then conclude with considerations of the profession: the history of what we do, including critical-theoretical approaches in advanced studies, as well as the conventions and forms of scholarly presentation, writing, and publication. A hands-on course involving guest presenters, various projects (including some "field-work" in the DeGolyer and Bridwell libraries), several short papers and some oral presentation, our work will require readings in essays and chapters on topics outlined above, as well as of various English and American literary texts, and intensive studies in one especially problematic example—most likely Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor.