Standing in Rich Place: Electrifying the Multiple-Text Edition

Or, every text is multiple

A paper written for the meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America, 2002.

Abstract

In 1996, W. Speed Hill listed eight different kinds of editions being created by current editors, one of which was the hypertext edition. In the six short years since then, the hypertext edition has blossomed to the extent that it includes within its one category many of the different kinds of editions Hill listed. This paper reviews the way the new medium has been used thus far in the development of editions, discusses some of the challenges that editors face as they work in the new medium, and explores issues in the further development of electronic texts, especially in the way that multiplicities can more accurately -- and more dramatically -- be represented in a medium that allows for a dynamic rather than static text.

Table of contents

• Speed Hill's taxonomy of types of editions
• Some examples of published electronic texts
• Challenges faced by editors in the electronic medium
• New readings, new interactions
• Vertical and networked readings
• Works Cited