In her essay Textual Scholarship Leah S. Marcus broadly defines textual scholarship as not only “almost everything that literary scholars do” but also refers to “those branches of literary study that analyze or determine the specific forms in which written texts reach readers” (143). Written text has come a long way through history showing that textual scholarship as a whole has been a product of progression as well. Through the past, written text made its way to readers in the best ways possible. Today, it seems to get to readers in every possible way. We read text in books, on billboards, in newspapers, magazines, on cereal boxes, and even more than ever, on our computer screens—like you are doing now. What the future holds for textual scholarship is impossible to know for sure. We’re barely turning a corner in online technology and we have still to see what lies on the other side (still unaware of exactly how many “corners” we have left to turn). Computer technology has taken editing and revision to a whole new level. Novels are written, edited, printed and on market shelves in record time. Writers can cut, paste, copy, and spell check their way through the grueling process of writing and re-writing—now at the control of a few fingers and a small tool named after a household pest. Technology and advancements in the internet have taken written word to realms past scholars would have never thought possible—couldn’t have even imagined. And where it’s headed, we’ll never really know until we get there.
We are a part of a generation on the fence. We are not where we were in the eighties and early nineties, yet we are not quite where we will be in another decade or so. Technology has advanced so quickly that there is no way for us to know (or fathom without actually being there) where it is exactly it’s taking us. The way we communicate has evolved to the point where even the word “text” has taken on a whole new meaning—it’s moved from a noun to being a verb as well. What such changes mean for textual scholarship is yet to be seen, but from the looks of it so far, it’s going to be something very interesting. Those of us who are “computer savvy” will feel right at home with new developments to come and the rest of us who are reminiscent of paper and pencil (the kind you actually have to sharpen), well, we’ll have to do what it takes to get up to speed and start getting computer literate real fast. It’s impossible to know exactly where all this is going, but it’s that impossibility that brings a sense of urgency to those of us not yet ready to finish turning the corner.
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Sometime I forget this: "Today, it seems to get to readers in every possible way. We read text in books, on billboards, in newspapers, magazines, on cereal boxes, and even more than ever, on our computer screens—like you are doing now." It's good to be reminded every once and a while that a "text" can be anything that conveys a message, that gives meaning to the viewer. Now I just have to remember to just K.I.S.S. I think that would make my writing a whole lot better.
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