Chetham's Library Postgraduate Conference - January 23rd, 2009

Reading Material: Technology, Text, Interpretation

The sun and moon from the Nuremberg Chronicle

With Keynote Speaker Professor William H. Sherman

Register now!

Why wait? Please email christopher.plumb@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk to get your name on the list!

Call for Papers

We invite postgraduate students from any discipline to submit abstracts on aspects of their book history related research. Submissions that respond to the title ‘Reading Material: Technology, Text, Interpretation’ in any way are welcomed; but some issues you may wish to consider include:

• The effects of technology on the material nature of texts in any historical period. Are concepts such as the 'book' losing their currency in contemporary culture and scholarship?
• The methods & approaches needed to read material successfully. How do established fields of enquiry act as a help or hindrance for interpreting text? Does reading material present a challenge to what have become established fields of study?
• The benefits of a reading of materiality. What sorts of novel interventions in critical discourse can the interpretation of material enable?

Participants might reflect on the place of texts in museums, archives and libraries and their curation, collection and interpretation; the concept of ownership, copyright & materiality; the role of multiple agencies involved in the production of texts - publishers, authors, readers and others - and how these may affect the form, function and reception of the text; the emergence of digital fictions, hypertext, e-libraries, or the implications of technology for archiving.

This one-day conference is intended to foster intellectual and social interaction and we look forward to a diverse range of responses to these themes.

Keynote Speaker

Our keynote speaker will be Prof. William H. Sherman of the University of York.

Thanks to ...

Participation in this conference has been generously funded by The University of Manchester School of Arts, Histories, and Cultures, The Bibliographical Society and Martineau. Lunch will be provided at the Manchester Cathedral Refectory. The conference will conclude at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate, with a final lecture and a wine reception kindly sponsored by the Rylands.

With the kind support of
the Bibliographical Society