Prospectus

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Literature: Editing Donne from manuscript

Course
2009-2010

Description

Interactive research seminar involving acquisition of palaeographical skills (learning to read Jacobean secretary and italic hand), as well as learning to use a specially designed collation program. Lo-tech meets hi-tech.

Teaching method

Two-hour seminar per week

Admission requirements

Reasonable knowledge of Dutch (see below).

Course objectives

To attempt to arrive at a manuscript-based “mini-edition” of one of Donne’s 220-plus poems that first appeared in print two years after his death and in certain cases 38 years after.

Required reading

  • John Donne’s Poetry (Norton Critical Edition), ed Donald R. Dickson, 2006.

Test method

See above. All participants who complete the course will get a “sufficient” grade; those who want or require a quantitative grade should consult me before the course starts. As the course may well involve comparison with Constantijn Huygens’ draft translations, in his holograph in the KB in The Hague, some knowledge of Dutch will be necessary.

Time table

The timetable will be available from June 1st on the Internet.

Information

English Department, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102c. Phone: 071 527 2144, or by mail: English@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Registration

Students can register through U-twist before 15 July, After 15 July students can only register through the Departmental Office.

Blackboard

A Blackboard site will be made available.

Remarks

A visit to the KB to see the Huygens mss will be arranged. Several scribal mss in English are available in scanned form on CD-rom to assist with the palaeographical (first) part of the course. There is also (for instance) a University of Cambridge online “course” www.english.cam.ac.uk/cres/ehoc/intro.html which participants should consult before the Leiden course begins