1、Back to the Future: The Preposterous Art of Collecting Contemporary Literary Archives,Stella Halkyard John Rylands University Library University of Manchester,The Modern Literary Archives Programme was established in 1991 and its purpose is to:,1. foster and promote the learning and enjoyment of mod
2、ern, recent and contemporary literature amongst members of the public, special interest groups, students and scholars from Britain and abroad.2. support the research, teaching, and learning of the staff and students of The University of Manchester.3. make the Collection widely accessible by providin
3、g: a reader and enquiry service; exhibitions; close up sessions; seminars; lectures; poetry readings, and other events.4. collect archives and manuscripts in the field of modern literatures in English as described in the JRULs collecting policy. 5. care for the Collection of Modern Literary Archives
4、 to approved professional standards of stewardship. 6. offer advice to professional peers relating to literary archive and manuscript curatorship and take an active part in the work of GLAM, the Group for Literary Archives and Manuscripts.,Origins and Etymologies of the Collection,Modest origins - t
5、he core collection that we started with comprised of only three archives: Papers of the poetry magazine Critical Quarterly.Personal Papers of the writer Norman Nicholson (1914-1987). 3. Archives of the literary publishing house Carcanet Press, and P.N. Review.,The Advisory Board for the Modern Liter
6、ary Archives Programme,Professor Michael Schmidt, O.B.E., F.R.S.L. Dr Chris McCully (Chair) John McAuliffe Matthew Welton Dr Bill Hutchings Dr Robyn Marsack Dr Michael Powell Library personnel including the University Librarian, the Head of Special Collections, and relevant curators.,What Have We Co
7、llected?,1. An excellent representation of modern, recent and contemporary literatures in English including: significant 20th- and 21st-century poets and novelists; poetry in English from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, North and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Africa, and t
8、he Caribbean; writing which acknowledges ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. 2. An excellent representation of the history and development of publishing during the 20th and 21st centuries. 3. An excellent representation of translations into English of the works of significant 20th- and 21st-century wr
9、iters from across the world. 4. An excellent representation of the materiality of visual and literary texts. 5. An excellent representation of literary and artistic networks especially where they engage with The University of Manchester and the North West region of England. In particular, the Collec
10、tion demonstrates the strong contribution Manchester, and the North West region has made to the national and international literary scenes.,Developing the Collection of Modern Literary Archives,Papers and archives which develop and augment the breadth and depth of the Librarys holdings in recent and
11、 contemporary poetries in English.Papers of significant, twentieth century poets, and other writers, writing in English, especially where they, or their circle, are already represented in the Collection.Papers and archives which articulate the histories and development of literary publishing.Papers
12、and archives which acknowledge the ethnicity, gender, or sexuality of creative writing.Papers and archives which contain a representation of significant recent and contemporary poets, and other writers, who have connections with Manchester University or the North of England.Holdings of criticism, fr
13、om the twentieth century and recent and contemporary periods.Relevant printed books and magazines.,The Order of Things: the preposterous lifecycle of literary creation (1),Stage 1 Avant-Texte (generated by the author) The pre-compositional phase. Record types: Maybe references are made to an idea fo
14、r a writing project on a website, in a diary, blog or email/letter. The compositional phase. Record types: notes, sketches, drawings, work plans, rough drafts, and re-workings as well as letters, emails, blogs, diaries.,The Order of Things: the preposterous lifecycle of literary creation (2),Stage 2
15、 Texturalization (generated by the author, editors, publishers) The pre-publication phase. Record types: corrected fair copies and annotations. Publication phase. Record types: authors proof copies, editors proofs, collated proofs, other production records such as those relating to book jacket desig
16、ns (analogue and digital).,The Order of Things: the preposterous lifecycle of literary creation (3),Stage 3 Post-Text (generated by writers, readers, critics) Post-publication phase. Record types: authors annotated editions of a printed work/electronic editions/interactive literary works in web-base
17、d formats, reviews, critical response, readers responses blogs, commentaries, readers groups, websites and social networks sites.,The Order of Things: the preposterous lifecycle of literary creation (4),Stage 4 Posthumous Reputation of the Work and its Author (generated by Literary Community - criti
18、cs and scholars sometimes many generations after the authors death). Record types: variorum editions of the corpus of the work, critical works, websites, publishing records, records generated by Literary Estates and Author Societies.,Pierre Bourdieu from The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on A
19、rt and Literature, 1987,The literary community or field is. an independent social universe with its own laws of functioning, its specific relations of force, its dominants and its dominated, and so forth. Put another way, to speak of “field” is to recall that literary works are produced in a particu
20、lar social universe endowed with particular institutions and obeying specific laws This universe is the place of entirely specific struggles, notably concerning the question of knowing who is part of the universe, - - who is a real writer and who is not?,What do we do?,Embrace the snap shot method o
21、f collecting and:Surround ourselves with advisors and advocates who are already embedded within the literary community.Resist the allures of the purely Imperial Mode of Collecting which privileges the papers of writers of a canonical status above all others. Develop documentation strategies to ensure we acquire a full range of archives that have been generated by various literary activities.,Questions, Comments, Suggestions?,Contact: stella.halkyardmanchester.ac.uk,
