Digitization Of Manuscripts Research Articles

Edition Visualization Technology Project

Reviewed by: Edition Visualization Technology Project Hannelore Segers Edition Visualization Technology Project. http://evt.labcd.unipi.it/ With the establishment of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) and its straightforward guidelines, scholars and organizations have gained access to a useful and popular standard for creating digital editions. These guidelines have proven to be particularly helpful for researchers in the field of digital manuscript studies, not least because even people who are relatively inexperienced with coding languages can quickly learn the tagging process for marking up their own text. Yet while TEI is an approachable option for the creation of an edition, it does not offer standard ways to publish that edition or to leverage the full potential of the initiative’s customizability. Once a markup has been completed, many scholars must still turn to specialist assistance as they attempt to visualize and publish their edition, whether that be on a single device or on a website. This situation may be about to change, thanks to the Edition Visualization Technology Project (EVT). The initiative is an offshoot of another project, the Digital Vercelli Book, an online digital edition of the tenth-century Codex Vercellensis, which is currently being developed by a team of student researchers at the University of Pisa, under the supervision of Professor Roberto Rosselli Del Turco. EVT’s goal is to create a lightweight, open-source tool that can bridge the gap between TEI markup and web visualization, and its user base would be editors and scholars who may not be familiar with web programming or do not have access to host resources for digital editions. At present, there are two versions of the tool: the first iteration, EVT 1, which is still supported and available for download; and EVT 2, which introduces new features but is currently in beta. EVT 1 was specifically designed to give users the ability to create an image-based digital edition combining manuscript images and a TEI-encoded transcription. One of its most attractive features is its power to integrate images of the manuscript into a digital edition. Not only does it facilitate distribution of both the images and the edition to a wide audience of researchers, but it can be easily employed in an educational context—for example, in discussions on paleography or codicology. Particularly impressive is its image-text linking function, inspired by Martin Holmes’s Image Markup Tool, which highlights parallel lines in both the image and the TEI-encoded text. [End Page 340] Unfortunately, EVT 1, while able to create a diplomatic and diplomatic-interpretative edition, cannot produce a critical edition of the text. For scholars who want to create traditional critical editions of texts rather than focus on the transcription of individual codices, this presents a crucial limitation. To remedy that issue, the creators developed EVT 2, which allows uses to construct a critical apparatus, a sources apparatus, a variant heat map, witness collation, and other features of the TEI parallel segmentation method allowing variants of a text to be expressed with an <app> element. We can see this critical edition in action in the experimental encoding of the Edizione Logica Avicennae, which encodes all variants of the text. (A sample edition extract was accessed through the EVT download.) Importantly, EVT 2 lets users customize their interaction with the witnesses; for instance, scholars may choose to access the different witnesses in a synoptic view or to focus on one witness and display the apparatus either within or separately from the text. In the case of the Edizione Logica Avicennae, the apparatus can also distinguish and separate variants that are orthographic in nature. (Of course, the encoding also makes this possible.) Both EVT 1 and EVT 2 offer many customizable features, and I will mention a few that in my view have especially great potential. Available in both versions is support for named entities and integration of the VisColl software tool. This is important for two reasons. First, for ease of searchability, most TEI users avail themselves of the many possible tags for names of places, persons, and organizations. EVT offers them the possibility of displaying the editor-created lists of named entities on the eventual webpage, thereby establishing...

Reconstructing collaborative (self-)translations from the archive: The case of Samuel Beckett

When literary authors translate their own work, they sometimes collaborate with other writer-translators. While such “collaboration” is often acknowledged on the title pages of the resulting publications, the nature of each joint venture is typically very different in practice. Surviving archival traces often allow for a more detailed reconstruction of the varying working methods that were adopted for every co-translation, but it would be naïve to assume that even the most completely preserved record will make it possible to conclusively identify the function of every participant in the creative process. In this article, we will combine genetic criticism and genetic translation studies on the one hand, with microhistorical and social approaches to translation on the other, as complementary methodologies to further investigate the understudied notion of collaborative (self-)translation. By using as our test case the extant draft versions and other related materials that document the collaborative relationships between Irish bilingual author Samuel Beckett and his co-translators in French, English and German, the purpose is to show that a process-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to translation can help overcome some of the challenges and limitations presented by digital editions and archives such as the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP).

Manuscripts of Azimkhoja Eshan and his Dewans

This article provides information about the life and work of the sheikh and poet Azimkhoja Eshan, who lived and worked in the literary environment of Kokand in the late XVIII and early XIX centuries, and the known manuscripts of his works. In particular, the manuscripts of his office are stored in the fund of the State Museum of Literature named after Alisher Navoi of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan under the number No-189, the fund of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhan Beruni of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Professor Hamid Sulaymon Manuscripts No. 6354, inventory digital manuscript No-5992/II kept in the main fund of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhon Beruni of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, main features of manuscripts No-6209, No-6750, No-6806 information about.

TOWARDS CRITICAL EDITION OF LOLIMBARAJA’S VAIDYA-JEEVANA INCORPORATING THE IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES DEEPIKA BY RUDRABHATTA AND GUDARTHA DEEPIKA BY HARINATH GOSWAMI

The manuscripts preserved acts as valuable treasure of knowledge which can be utilized for the wellbeing of present generation as well as to pass on to the next generation. A thorough study on Deepika and Gudartha Deepika commentaries on Lolimbaraja's Vaidya jeevana, present in the form of manuscript in oriental research institute libraries has been brought much information that is new for present understanding. The present study focuses on treatment aspects of various diseases and preparation of yogas with easy available drugs in present clinical practice and better development of Ayurvedic practices. The study is based on the technical method of critical edition in order to update &amp; conserve the medical knowledge dealt in Deepika and Gudartha Deepika commentaries on Lolimbaraja's Vaidya jeevana. Objective: 1. To collect and decipher two important commentaries on Lolimbarajas vaidya Jeevana 2. To collate and critically edit the two important commentaries on Lolibarajs Vaidya Jeevana to know their contributions. Methodology: The study is based on seven plus five (total 12) manuscripts and all were in Devanagari script and their details are as below. 1. R-1 to R 7 are - Obtained from BORI, Pune : Acession numbers as - 1093/ 1886-92, 463/ 1895-98, 353/ 1879-80, 948/ 1891-95, 178/ 1882-83, 618/ Vi¾-1, 306/ Vi¾.1 2. H-1 to H 4 are -Obtained from BORI, Pune; Accession numbers as- 462/1895-98, 913/ 1887-91, 635/ 1895-1902, 238.B/ A 1883-84 and IX 3. H-5 - Obtained from Zen library, Arrah, Bihar; Accession number 76/42. Digitization of manuscripts, editing and analysis of mutual relationship among collected copies of Manuscripts, transliteration of all extant of copies selected for Critical edition and Critical Edition with English Translation of the Text is being done. Conclusion By observing all internal and external evidences, Deepika by Rudrabhatta and Gudartha Deepika by Harinatha Goswami are the well known commentaries on Lolimbaraja’s Vaidya jeevana pertaining to early and late 17th CAD respectively. These all contributions enhance the richness of Ayurveda in modern era. KEYWORDS: Critical edition, Deepika, Rudrabhatta, Gudartha Deepika, Goswami Harinatha, Vaidya Jeevana, etc.

Digital Archiving of Manuscripts freedom to Access the Glorious Indian Cultural Heritage Resources

Explore the accessibility of manuscripts, facilities and services provided in the Library, Kundakunda Jnanapitha, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Discuss about the manuscripts containing the glorious ancient knowledge of Indian heritage and treasure. The main objective was to identify the satisfaction level of the users regarding collection, services, facilities, especially manuscripts resources provided by the library and find out the major problems encountered to access the digital manuscripts available in the Kundakunda Jnanapitha library. A well structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. 150 questionnaires were distributed among the users and 122 were received and analysed. The maximum respondents (78.68 %) had high satisfaction with digital manuscripts and 80.32 per cent indicated less number of terminals as very high problem. Consequently suggests improvement strategies for better utilisation of the library resources.

The Trail, the Archive, the Museum, and the Book: Confronting Materiality in Literary Studies

Abstract This article examines the persistence of the notion of the immaterial text in literary studies, now decades into the so-called material turn. Digitization of manuscripts increasingly confronts us with the facts of textual materiality and material authorship, yet many scholars remain ill-equipped to engage these traces in order to expand the possibilities of textual interpretation. The journeys of Peter Handke’s notebooks serve as a case study on how to interrogate various definitions of text and methodological approaches that reinforce an understanding of texts as immaterial. This article thus elucidates the conceptual and methodological impediments to more comprehensively integrating materiality into interpretation; an uneasiness, for example, about approaching authorship—the process and agency of textual production—lingers despite resurrections since the Author’s “death” and more recent transdisciplinary retheorizations of agency. The article finally looks to reflections on materiality in another field, art history, to clarify the reasons that integrating materiality into interpretative criticism remains so difficult, so that the field might begin to move beyond these obstacles.

Digitization of Batak Manuscripts Using Methods Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ)

Digitalization of the Batak manuscript itself is still done manually. [2][4] Dr. Uli Kozok has made a Batak script font that can run on Windows, Linux, and Apple OSX but there is no system that can digitize Batak manuscripts properly. There is no system that can digitize the Batak manuscript itself automatically. Therefore, we need a system that can digitize Batak manuscripts. This system was built by applying the LVQ Method. Batak manuscript digitization in .jpg format is used as an image input file for the recognition process. Then image pre-processing including grayscale, contrast, thresholding, and segmentation is done in order to facilitate the recognition of Batak documents and recognition as a result of document recognition. The application of LVQ method can digitize the Batak manuscript well and in accordance with what is desired. This is supported by an accuracy rate of 97.9%. Based on system testing, the absence of training data in the input document, the letters are unclear, the position of the letters is not appropriate and the background in the document is still noise which greatly affects the success rate of the system in recognizing Batak script documents.

Pioneer dataset and automatic recognition of Urdu handwritten characters using a deep autoencoder and convolutional neural network

Automatic recognition of Urdu handwritten digits and characters, is a challenging task. It has applications in postal address reading, bank's cheque processing, and digitization and preservation of handwritten manuscripts from old ages. While there exists a significant work for automatic recognition of handwritten English characters and other major languages of the world, the work done for Urdu lan-guage is extremely insufficient. This paper has two goals. Firstly, we introduce a pioneer dataset for handwritten digits and characters of Urdu, containing samples from more than 900 individuals. Secondly, we report results for automatic recog-nition of handwritten digits and characters as achieved by using deep auto-encoder network and convolutional neural network. More specifically, we use a two-layer and a three-layer deep autoencoder network and convolutional neural network and evaluate the two frameworks in terms of recognition accuracy. The proposed framework of deep autoencoder can successfully recognize digits and characters with an accuracy of 97% for digits only, 81% for characters only and 82% for both digits and characters simultaneously. In comparison, the framework of convolutional neural network has accuracy of 96.7% for digits only, 86.5% for characters only and 82.7% for both digits and characters simultaneously. These frameworks can serve as baselines for future research on Urdu handwritten text.

New Trends in the Digitization of Manuscripts and Scientific-Reference Apparatus of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents

New Trends in the Digitization of Manuscripts and Scientific-Reference Apparatus of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents

Returning to Mark 16, 8

Article in OA on Peeters website. The present article offers a first presentation of a five-year research project on Mark 16 financed by the SNSF. It first surveys the variety in recent scholarly opinions on the end of Mark’s gospel after several decades of nearly unanimous agreement that Mk 16,8 constituted the original ending. The possibility to look online at digital manuscripts increases the NT scholars’ aware-ness of the three witnesses that present the end of Mark’s gospel in verse 8: 01, 03 and 304. Secondly, the article discusses the most recent hypothesis on Mk 16,8 by Stephen Hultgren. Starting from the assumption that there may be a link between Dan 10,7 and Mark 16,8, Hultgren draws attention to the widespread motif of having fear in front of a divine epiphany. Finally, the article paves the way for further inquiries in order to take into account the diversity of early Chris-tian readings in Mark 16.

NASKAH MELAYU DIGITAL: SEBUAH INOVASI SUMBER KAJIAN PENDIDIKAN ISLAM BERBASIS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

This paper aims to find out the digital Malay manuscript as a source of studies in the field of Islamic education. Malay manuscript is one of the nation's documents written manually using Arabic-Malay characters and in Malay. This means that the Malay manuscript is a stroke of the local genius of the nation and is an intellectual icon of the people of his day. But along with advances in technology, the Malay manuscript also experienced development through this technology by means of digitalization. In terms of methodology, this paper is a study of historical and cultural heritage involving Malay manuscript, so this study uses descriptive qualitative methods that are linked to analysis and interpretation and finally focuses on content analysis. At the end of the study it was found that in addition to the Quran and Hadith which are the sources of Islamic education studies, it turns out that the digital Malay manuscript can be used as the next source, because the Malay manuscript is a legacy of cultural heritage that is loaded with noble values of life such as social, political, religious, educational, culture, economics, language, literature and so on. Therefore, digital Malay manuscript is an ICT-based innovation that can be used as a source of study of Islamic education. Digital Malay manuscripts are very easy to obtain because in various places where Malay manuscripts have been digitalized, scientists can use them. In addition, digital Malay manuscripts can be accessed through the internet with various sites.

The Pentimenti Principle

Abstract Considering deleted passages in a manuscript as a draft’s “draff,” this article investigates the status of such cancelled passages. Since they did not make it into the published text, are they still part of that work, or where do they belong? The proposed pentimenti model suggests a possible answer to this question by comparing cancelled passages to what in the visual arts are the visible traces of earlier painting beneath the top layer. The manuscripts of Beckett’s Fin de partie / Endgame in the recent digital genetic edition of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project serve as a case study to illustrate this pentimenti model.

10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018

PrefaceThe construction industry has accepted innovation and safeguarded great extent of sustainability by creative applications in design and construction practices. A sustainable structure or construction practice implicates that it is judiciously deployed to challenges faced by modern construction industry. As a matter of fact, the innovation in this field has kept developing or evolving to meet the expectation of ever more demanding design requirements in addition to persistent needs for change and improvement in performance. The problems faced contemporarily by the construction industry may not necessarily identical as in the future. Nevertheless, innovation and developments should not be ceased in order to offer cost effective sustainable solution that can change these challenges into opportunities.The School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), organised this International Conference to discuss the challenges as well as innovations in regards to sustainable construction industry, which including new materials, technologies, environmental concerns and economic factors to enhance its excellence. This is done by gathering Engineers, designers, researchers, scientists and scholars from different countries all around the world to celebrate the excellence in sustainable structure and construction practices. This conference dealt with key technical under the theme of “Sustaining the world with better structures and construction practice”. Over 65 papers were presented by authors during this Conference and these are compiled in a single volume conference proceeding.The event was co-organized with Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM). The organisation is gratefully acknowledged for their indispensable support. Organising a Conference is immense and substantial. Assistances and helps from all those involved are gratefully acknowledged, particularly the members of Technical and Supporting Committee for their supports from start to finish; the Authors and the Session Chairs for their invaluable contributions.This Proceeding has been completed via camera-ready copy printed from the digital manuscripts submitted by the authors and editing has been limited to the least, where it was considered unavoidable.Tan Sri. Datuk. Prof. Dr. Ir. Ts. Tr. Ar. Noor Nabilah Sarbini

Dirk Van Hulle, The Making of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape / La Dernière Bande

The Making of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape / La Derniere Bande is number three of the printed volumes which complement the online resources of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP). The BDMP brings together the extant manuscripts, scattered across many collections world-wide, relating to the creation of individual Beckett works, enabling a detailed comparison of the different stages of composition. Since, as Stan Gontarski has argued (1985), Beckett often undertook a process of ...

Databases for Specialized Audiences: An Exploration of Online Access to the Nontextual Features of Greek New Testament Manuscripts

AbstractSince the beginning of the century, the digitization of medieval manuscripts has been a major concern of institutions in the possession of such material. This has led to the massive production of digital surrogates for online display. Preservation condition and temporal and spatial limitations are no longer restrictions for accessing these objects, making them easily available to a potentially larger public than before. The databases created for hosting the surrogates are designed for different categories of audience, with various standards in mind and different levels of technical sophistication. Although primarily accessed for the texts they bear, the digital surrogates of manuscripts are also the object of study of a specialized group of users interested in their physical features. This review will discuss whether databases that comprise digital surrogates of Greek New Testament manuscripts built by different types of institutions are efficient in addressing the needs of this admittedly small audience. I examine questions of content, interface, organization, and rationales behind the choices of their creators.

The Bible in Arabic: Digital Resources and Future Challenges

Abstract The aim of this article is to discuss the current state of Arabic Bible studies from a Digital Humanist perspective. It presents an overview of the current existing digital resources, such as digital manuscript collections, and underlines the importance of developing digital projects for the study of Arabic versions of the Bible with a focus on the New Testament. It will also shed light on future challenges and the urgent needs of the scientific field in order to harness the full potential of digital scholarship.

Notes and Comments

Notes and Comments Arpad V. Klimo Association News The annual meeting of the American Catholic historical Association will be held in New York City from Friday, January 3, to Monday, January 6, 2020. The headquarters and sessions will be in the Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, with the Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church, 30 West 16th Street, between 5th Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue), and a reception at the nearby Old Town Bar. Registration opens on the new ACHA website www.achahistory.org. in late September. The American Society of Church History will be headquartered in the Parker New York Hotel, 64 West 39th Street. The over-arching theme of its conference will be "Whose America: New Perspectives, Contours, and Connections in Church Histories." For more information, please see www.churchhistory.org. Fellowships The Newberry Library of Chicago is offering for academic year 2020-21 Long-Term Fellowships for postdoctoral scholars in continuous residence at the Newberry for periods of four to nine months at the rate of $4,200 per month to conduct research in its collections and to participate in active intellectual exchange in it programs. The deadline for application is November 1, 2019. Short-Term Fellowships for postdoctoral scholars, PhD candidates, and those with terminal degrees who live and work outside the Chicago metropolitan area are available for one to two months at the rate of $2,500 per month. The deadline is December 15, 2019. For more information, contact research@newberry.org. The Istituto Sangalli of Florence, Italy, is offering three residential fellowships worth €2,000.00 for young scholars in religious history and religious studies. The deadline is October 15, 2019. See https://www.istitutosangalli.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Call-TSFF-2020-en.pdf. Prize The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University is offering a prize of $1,500 for an essay about Catholicism in the Western Hemisphere by a new scholar whose PhD or ThD was awarded no earlier than 2013. The essay must have been published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or scholarly collection within twelve months of the deadline of February 15, 2020. Special consideration will be given to essays that advance the understanding of historically underrepresented Catholics (e.g, of Latino/a, Indigenous, African, or Asian heritage). Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, [End Page 588] abstract of 500 words, essay of 12,000 or less words in either English or Spanish, documentation of its acceptance and timetable for publication, and a letter from a colleague or mentor in the relevant field testifying to the essay's contribution to Catholic studies. The winner will be announced in April 2020. For more information, contact caca@fordham.edu or https://www.fordham.edu/homepage/6592/new_scholar_essay_prize_for_catholic_studies_in_the_americas Conferences On October 17, 2019 the Vatican Apostolic Library will host a conference as part of its "Cultural Agenda" to be held in the Barberini Hall on the "Mellon Project" that deals with annotated manuscripts using IIIF. Two sessions will explain some of the technical work behind the project. Session I will treat software and platforms for interoperability, digital manuscript futures, coordination of the project, and lessons learned. Session II will be dedicated to web thematic pathways (e.g., Latin and Greek paleography, Latin classics, Vatican palimpsests, and the manuscripts of Duke Federico da Montefeltro). In the Salone Sistino will be an exhibition of some selected original manuscripts. Participants need to pre-register. See https://www.vaticanlibrary.va. On November 13–15, 2019 the Istituto Maria SS.ma Bambina in collaboration with the Sezione Romana dell'Associazione Internazionale di Studi Tardo Antichi will sponsor an international conference on the theme "Pagani e cristiani: conflitto, confronto, dialogo. Le trasformazioni di un modello storiografico." Among the papers to be presented are: "'The Last Pagans of Rome': la fine del paganismo a Roma, tra consensi e polemiche" by Ritsa Lizzi Testa; "'Il regno dei cieli si fa strada con violenza' (Mt 11: 12). Variazioni storiografiche sul ruolo della violenza nel confronto tardo-antico tra cristiani e pagani" by Giovanni Filoramo; "Pagani e cristiani ancora: nuove metodologie per nuovi...

The Making of Samuel Beckett's "En Attendant Godot"/"Waiting for Godot" by Dirk Van Hulle and Pim Verhulst, and: The Making of Samuel Beckett's "Fin de Partie"/"Endgame" by Dirk Van Hulle and Shane Weller

Reviewed by: The Making of Samuel Beckett's "En Attendant Godot"/"Waiting for Godot" by Dirk Van Hulle and Pim Verhulst, and: The Making of Samuel Beckett's "Fin de Partie"/"Endgame" by Dirk Van Hulle and Shane Weller Alan W. Friedman (bio) THE MAKING OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S "EN ATTENDANT GODOT"/"WAITING FOR GODOT," by Dirk Van Hulle and Pim Verhulst. Volume 6. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2017. 381 pp. $47.95 paper. THE MAKING OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S "FIN DE PARTIE"/"ENDGAME," by Dirk Van Hulle and Shane Weller. Volume 7. Brussels: Bloomsbury Press, 2018. 371 pp. $47.95 paper. The Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), of which these two volumes are the most recent publications, intends eventually to trace the complete textual history of the works of Samuel Beckett in twenty-six volumes, adding at least one a year until the project is complete. The project also offers an online platform that digitally reunites all extant manuscripts of Beckett's works that are now dispersed over multiple libraries (most notably, the Centre for Manuscript Genetics at the University of Antwerp, the Beckett International Foundation at the University of Reading, and the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin), and provides twenty-six corresponding modules with such research tools as transcriptions, a search engine, a detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts, an electronic apparatus variorum, and an analysis of the textual genesis.1 Drawing on Beckett's letters, diaries, annotations, and the like, Dirk Van Hulle and his collaborators seek to enable scholars and other readers to access the available manuscripts of all of Beckett's writings and thus to study their relationships and genesis, while also helping to preserve them by keeping them removed from direct contact with researchers. The series, which was awarded the Modern Language Association of America's 2018 prize for a Bibliography, Archive, or Digital Project, has previously published the following volumes: 1. Stirrings Still/Soubresauts and Comment Dire/What Is the Word; 2. L'innommable/The Unnamable; 3. Krapp's Last Tape/La Derniere Bande; 4. Molloy; and 5. Malone Meurt/Malone Dies. Each of the volumes includes a complete descriptive catalog of all relevant manuscripts, including drafts and notebook jottings; a critical and historic reconstruction of the text, including its genesis; the process of composition, publications, and productions; and a detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts through online modules that comprise digital facsimiles and transcriptions of all the extant manuscripts. Each volume situates a Beckett work in the context of his overall career, its genesis as multiple texts (in English, French, and, where relevant, German), and the changes he made for theatrical productions and post-genesis publication. Whether or not one is interested in the minutiae of changes from one manuscript or print text to the next that are enumerated in the [End Page 196] many charts and comparative lists contained in these volumes, the sixth and seventh of the series, they contain numerous gems and nuggets that reveal much about the processes that led to the writing, translating, publication, and staging of these two extraordinary plays. For example, in "Beckett's Tragicomedy," the introduction to the Godot volume, Van Hulle and Pim Verhulst trace Godot's few and little-known "Theatrical Precursors"—Le Kid, "a burlesque of Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century four-act tragedy, Le Cid," as well as a take-off of Charlie Chaplin's 1921 film, The Kid; Mittelalterliches Dreieck (Medieval Triangle); "Human Wishes"; and Eleuthéria—and their paving the path to Beckett's first great dramatic achievement (Godot 29, 30).2 And then Godot is envisaged as not only Beckett's first great theatrical success but in a sense also his last, for its evolution beyond its initial publication and production is equally compelling in itself and as grist for this project: "Beckett continued revising Godot from its inception in the late 1940s to the late 1980s. It is thus the one play that not only accumulates his early experiences with theatre, but also his later evolution as a playwright and director of his own plays" (Godot 38). One of my favorite threads in "Fin de Partie"/"Endgame," edited by Van Hulle and...

The pixelated text: Reading the Bible within digital culture

This article looks at Bible engagement in a digital age, focusing both on multimedia engagement with the Bible through the ages and on the changes that new technologies bring to the reading process, and asking some questions about our use of different technologies for different tasks. The article opens up the new possibilities afforded to scholars through the digitization of manuscripts and libraries, but also looks at the limitations of digital Bibles in their current forms. What new areas of research do the digital humanities open up for us?

Samuel Beckett's ‘Psychology Notes’ and The Unnamable

This essay reexamines Samuel Beckett's The Unnamable by treating his ‘Psychology Notes’ as part of the genetic dossier for this text. By developing a parallel between The Unnamable and ‘textbook’ psychoanalysis in terms of a shared obsession with abjection, the essay will demonstrate that some of the symptoms and obsessions suffered by the unnamable voice (‘prison psychosis’, ‘coprosymbolism’ and ‘genital discharge’) are traceable to the Notes. At the same time, the commitment to cure, control and explanation in psychoanalysis is resisted, and Beckett's text ultimately stages a failed talking cure. The genetic identification of these intertextual connections is enhanced by the availability of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP). Using the same scholarly tool, the essay also examines some of the variations between the English and the French versions of the text, in order to shed further light on the significance of the Notes to the manuscript corpus of L'Innommable/The Unnamable.