ASECS is the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
The proposed session is “Letters and the Editor” [Kathryn L. Steele.
401 W. Brooks, BL4, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-2121;
Email: [email protected]]. Description below:
This panel seeks an interdisciplinary examination of eighteenth-
century letters as archival sources. What did the earliest editors of
letters do to them? Are current editorial, curatorial, and
bibliographic practices keeping up with scholars’ needs? What are our
scholarly and instructional demands of the letter? Are those demands
at odds with letter-writers’ often expressed desire for privacy?
Papers might examine the eighteenth-century’s publication
expectations (including publication through coterie circulation of
manuscripts) of this key genre, or later periods’ expectations–
including, but not limited to our own. Explorations of these issues
through a look at specific writers or circles, or from broad,
methodologically-oriented perspectives will be welcome.
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