The Remains of the Day: Theorizing Archival Marginalia
A One Day Conference at South Bank University – June 1st, 2000
The London Network for Modern Fiction Studies
How do we account for the texts or documents that get left out of
archival studies, e.g., material that is not just ‘at the margins’, but
marginalised? Can we theorize the archival material that constantly
gets abandoned as ‘remainder’, fragment, or indeterminate object? How
do we write about archival material not even recognized as ‘text’ or a
legitimate area of study in the first place?
This conference aims to approach such questions from two main
perspectives:
first, by theorizing the archival processes overall (physical and
conceptual methods of storage, critical approaches to the archive,
etc.), and
second,
by discussing particular archival texts (fragments, marginalia, obscure
documents, etc.)
Issues which might be discussed include the following:
canon formation vs. ‘forgotten voices’
archival resources (abandoned holdings, issues of expense, and so on)
new technologies (opening up access vs. technical issues of
preservation, and so on)
interpretative approaches
relevance/uses of archival material in the humanities (in terms of
archival texts rarely considered part of ‘the canon’)
re-reading/re-theorizing archival holdings
This list is certainly not exhaustive and different ideas/proposals are
invited.
Abstracts or ideas are welcome, from archivists and researchers taking a
variety of critical approaches in any humanities field. Please contact
Dr. Richard Lane at South Bank University, Department of English
Literature, for an informal discussion or to submit your proposal:
[log in to unmask] or 0797 0745 363. If using file attachments,
please use Word for Windows (any PC version).
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