Material text, immaterial text, and the electronic environment

Abstract

Digital modes of editing ask us to re-examine the past century of editorial theory and to situate emerging editorial approaches within this history. Using the computer as a new textual medium has brought about a renewed interest in the conditions for representation. This article concerns itself with how books and computers, respectively, represent texts, and how critical editing mediates or organizes those representations. It was written in 1997 as a critical response to J.J. McGann's essay 'The Rationale of Hypertext'.