Browse Exhibits (32 total)
Sounding the Name and The Poets Mother
This exhibit contains documents contained in the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Calgary, regarding Robert Kroetsch's poems: Sounding the Name, and The Poets Mother.
The following materials are drafts from Robert Kroetsch's poems, including two photographs that helped to inspire his writing.
The textual images give insight into what the full extent of what Kroetsch's archive looks like, as well as Kroetsch's writing process. The textual pages also include many handwritten notes and annotations in the writers own handwriting.
The Ledger
This exhibit contains material from the Robert Kroetsch file found at the University of Calgary's Archives and Special Collections. The materials include drafts from Kroetsch's 1975 long poem, The Ledger.
This exhibit presents a selection of materials that demonstrate Robert Kroetsch's creative process when writing The Ledger.
Excerpts From The Real World July
The exhibit contains materials from the Archives and Special Collection in the University of Calgary. The materials include Robert Kroetsch's drafts and work on his poem, "Excerpts From The Real World".
In the exhibit, you will be able to see changes throughout the draft, which pinpoints towards Kroetsch's thought process.
There are also pieces of papers, typed and written, letters, and small notes with writing on them.
These items were chosen to demonstrate the variant forms of a single element of poetry that can be found within the Kroetsch archive. By demonstrating the progress of a single passage, from an initial idea handwritten on an envelope, through hand written pages, and those typed both on lined and unlined paper, we hope to give insight into the creative process of Kroetsch's writing.
Demeter in the archive: Narratorial intrusions in the 3rd draft of Robert Kroetsch's The Studhorse Man
This exhibit consists of selected documents from the Robert Kroetsch's third draft of The Studhorse Man. Using Demeter's narratorial intrusions to guide their selection, these passages show both Demeter and Kroetsch's influence in shaping narrative. These influences are revealed through conflations of archival techniques with biographical investigations, processes of artistic creation, and a need for inchoate anecdotes to be ordered and structured to create narrative coherence.
Letters to Salonika, June 26th
This digital exhibit presents materials housed in the Robert Kroetsch archives at the University of Calgary’s Archives and Special Collections. The materials surround letters he wrote to his lover while she was in Greece. These specific pages were written reflecting on her absence on the poet’s birthday, June 26, 1981. The exhibit consists of two typescript versions of Kroetsch's epistolary poem "Letters to Salonika", the first four pages consist of the letter, while the final presents the published poetic materials regarding the same event.
Seed Catalog, Section 7
The images shown here are typescript drafts, with holographic annotation, of Section 7 from Kroetsch’s long poem “Seed Catalogue.” These drafts were chosen with the intent of exhibiting a formally interesting section of this particular archive in its entirety, in order to allow for convenient genetic study of a contained unit. Section 7 of the published poem is interesting for its extrapolation on the poem’s repeated phrase “how do you grow a poet?” unique formal variations, and references to other Canadian literary figures (Kroetsch’s colleagues), such as Al Purdy and James Bacque. Several lines appear in these drafts that do not appear in the published poem, and others are moved out of section 7 to different locations in the published work. Interesting to note as well are the small edits made throughout with attention to word choice and altered tone. Comparative study of these drafts with the published sections of the poem will allow for insights into the relationship between the poem’s structure and content.
The Great War in Translation
The virtual exhibit will pick up on a few main vignettes, or historical narratives, to follow as it presents the Great War through original documents and their translation into modern media equivalents. One major focus will be upon individual creation of media: firstly, involving a pair of brothers from Alberta who both served in WWI, and secondly, involving an Albertan doctor on the front. The other major thematic focus will be the war experience through other lenses: namely that of the First Nations, and through the lens of media made for mass consumption. The storyline is one about media and its reception, and how it shapes our view of events and our understanding of the past, rather than a storyline focused solely on a single individual’s experiences. Instead, the storyline centres on how mass-media translates and communicates such individual experiences to a wider audience—both when the media is originally created (for example through photographs, letters, post cards, cartoons, posters, and art) and to audiences later, who are looking back on past events from both individual and mass-media perspectives.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 1, Chapter 8
In his final draft Mordecai Richler made small changes to the syntax making the work more concise. Richler also made small changes to detail such as changing Benjy’s name from Morris and the initial description of Simcha as “a grizzly man”. From this draft there is also the omission of Simcha comparing his patrons to old women for gossiping and the addition of a description of Simcha’s garden early on in the chapter. There is also the omission of Benjy and Ida taking Simcha for drives as well as the statement that Simcha was never pitied and Simcha’s concern with “old men giving (me) looks”.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Part 2 Chapter 8
In this excerpt, Duddy begins his search for his missing brother, Lennie. In his search Duddy goes to the Calder house in Westmont and to a bar on the McGill Campus but has no success. Throughout the chapter worries of suicide plague Duddy’s thoughts. There are three key changes from the manuscript to the published version of the text. On page 171 of the manuscript, Duddy gets into an altercation with Steve in the bar. However, Duddy’s outburst of violence is omitted from the published text. Richler softens Duddy’s character by removing a scene depicting Duddy’s volcanic temperament. The second differentiation between the manuscript and the published text is the removal of Duddy’s concerns that Leonard committed suicide. Richler omits four instances where death or suicide is explicitly mentioned on pages 170, 171 (twice), and 173. By purposefully omitting references to death in the published version, Richler alludes to Duddy’s worry of Leonard’s suicide in a more nuanced and poignant way. Lastly, Richler leaves evidence of his creative process through holographic markings on the top of page 175 and the back of page 174. Richler’s hand-written notes later become the opening paragraph of chapter 9.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 1, Chapter 3
The typescript examined in this exhibit includes Part One, Chapter Three of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. It begins in the middle of Max’s retelling of the Boy Wonder’s exploits at Eddy’s Cigar and Soda shop, after Duddy has run away from Mr. Cox’s musical evening. Page 19 of the typescript begins midway through Max’s recounting of the Catholic hospital. Of the variants evident in this original typescript from the published text, it can be noted that Richler originally chose to call the Boy Wonder the “Boy Plunger”. Spelling variants of the French word "Rien" are written in the left margin, which signify the decision by Richler to include the French additions of "au revoir" and "Rien" to the published text. On the back of page 19, Richler wrote by hand an addition to Max and Duddy’s exchange about the events at school. This exchange highlights Max’s disapproval of Duddy, as he takes sides with his teacher rather than his son. The typescript on page 20 reveals several significant deletions; Richler writes of Duddy’s sister Elsie, but removes all mention of her in the published version of the text. Additionally, Richler has also removed several sentences of description concerning Josette, the whore. Finally on page 22, Richler has deleted an alternative ending to the chapter. In the typescript, the chapter ends with Duddy running out of the store and venting his emotions. Duddy then goes to a pay phone and calls MacPherson’s house, but the line is busy, therefore removing all responsibility placed upon him concerning Mrs. Macpherson's death. In the published version of the story, the paragraph's deletion causes Duddy to experience remorse over the possibility that his phone call was responsible for her collapse and death.
Merry Christmas From the Front
War doesn't stop the tradition of exchanging season's greetings at Christmas. This exhibit of Christmas cards, pulled from the archives of The Military Museums Library and Archives (University of Calgary), the Archives of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the Archives of the Kings Own Calgary Regiment, the Archives of the Calgary Highlanders, and the Archives of Lord Strathcona's Horse, selects exemplars from various soldiers' papers.
Most of the Christmas cards and ephemera on display come from the collections of individual people—soldiers or their friends and family—who received these items, treasured them for generations, and then donated them to one of the five archives at The Military Museums. Every item has a story attached to it. To learn more about where these cards come from, and to view them, front and back, in greater detail please click on the image, or visit the archives online at https://atomstaging.ucalgary.ca/index.php/military-museums-library-and-archives.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 2, Chapter 10
The excerpt chosen from the manuscript covers Lennie recounting the story behind Sandra's abortion and Duddy's letter reporting Irwin as a communist. On page 187, Lennie directly accuses Duddy of being callous, which is removed from the published edition, making Duddy's redemption as a character more plausible for the reader. It allows for ambiguity of Duddy's character and his potential to be the "gentleman." On page 188, Lennie states that Sandra hemorrhaged during the abortion, which is also removed in the published edition. This removes any adverse consequences of the abortion, making the scene seem less dangerous. It also alleviates Lennie's fault in the matter. On pages 189-191, the manuscript and the published edition contain a modified sequence of events. In the manuscript, Lennie's confession on performing the abortion and Duddy’s convincing Lennie to return home happen consecutively, whereas the published edition separates the two with a night's sleep and Duddy’s return from making work connections. Duddy also justifies being there for "business" in the published version, giving the impression that his actions must always benefit himself in some way. This change makes Duddy seem less caring and more rational and self-serving, especially since Duddy justifies his presence by his own agenda. "Bitch" is changed to "fershtunke tuchos-head" meaning, "crap-head", and using "Daddy" instead of “Paw” changes the tone of the scene, further solidifying Duddy’s immaturity. The Yiddish malediction is likely to portray Duddy within some Jewish grounding. This contrasts with the change in page 191B of Duddy’s letter reporting Irwin, where the language becomes more elevated - Duddy replaces, “talking” with "propagandizing". The text has significant changes that reflect mostly on Duddy's character by deeming him immature in some parts but also selfish and business-orientated.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 2, Chapter 7
The variants and revisions indicated in part two chapter seven typescript of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler are nuanced, but deliberate. Firstly, these selected five pages of the typescript are not consistent with their assigned page numbers in the published novel. The typescript pages read 301-303, and peculiarly, pages 1-2 follow. However, the pages in the novel that are consistent with the content in the typescript read 299-303. Secondly, certain elements of the content changed, including the dialogue between characters. Richler rephrased Duddy Kravitz’s dialogue with Yvette to augment the vileness of Kravitz. The published novel displays an additional line directed at Yvette, “Quack-quack-quack. Can’t you keep your face shut once in a blue moon?” (301). This replaces a simple “Oi” (301), in the typescript, and consequently characterizes Duddy as more vulgar. Thirdly, the typescript indicates that Kravitz requires twenty-seven hundred dollars, however, the published novel changes this amount to twenty-two hundred dollars, suggesting that research was completed in the interest of making this novel realistic. Finally, the extensive handwritten notes on page 303 and on the back of page 2 in the typescript depict Richler’s brainstorming concerning the content of the narrative. These notes are partially consistent with events in the story, including the “fight with grandfather” (2a), reinforcing that changes between the typescript and the published novel are noteworthy and fascinating.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 3, Chapter 1
The typescript included in this exhibit pertains to the opening section of Part 3, Chapter 1 of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. In this section of the novel, Duddy is enjoying the autonomy obtained from his professional successes: he is living independently with Yvette and Virgil, and broadening his horizons by expanding his social circle. Pages 223-227 of the typescript highlight the subtle changes in characterization that Richler made to the finalized version of the text. Details on Virgil’s characterization are removed from the published text, the most notable of which are the omissions of Virgil’s poem (p 223) and his statement that Duddy "could…write better poetry” than him (p 227a). The effect of these omissions is that Virgil’s poetic capabilities are obscured in the published text, while the typescript suggests Virgil’s abilities to be rather humble. Duddy also makes a rendezvous with his classmate Hersh, who used to be “Rabinovitch” in the typescript. Rabinovitch, a “lanky young man with a long wobbly head,” (p 224) is a painter, while Hersh, a “big chunky man with a long severe head,” is a writer. Rabinovitch is also portrayed to be rather sensitive, apologizing to Duddy for his hostility during their initial meeting in this section (p 226). Through Hersh, with his severe appearance and his occupation as a writer, Richler comments on the commercialization of the writing industry in the published text. In the typescript, Duddy is discussing poetry in the company of bohemians, and states that he enjoys the work of E. E. Cummings, “the guy who doesn’t use capitals” (p 225). Duddy mentions his poem “i sing of olaf”, and instead recites an American patriotic song in an offhand, erroneous manner (p 225). With the omission of this scene, Richler obscures Duddy’s rather superficial and pseudo-intellectual air. In the typescript, Duddy’s vulnerability is revealed when he “blushed” at Yvette’s scrutiny of his purchase of Blum’s book of poetry (p 226). When observing Duddy making plans for developing the lake, Yvette sympathizes with him, thinking “poor Duddy” (p 226). These instances are removed from the published text, with the effect that the relationship between Duddy and Yvette is less balanced; Duddy’s dominance in their relationship is emphasized. Duddy’s attempt to justify the scrap deal with Cohen to Mr. Calder, which is hand-written on the final page of this typescript (p 227b), was finalized in the published novel. In this scene, Duddy attempts to impress upon Mr. Calder the personal inconvenience that he is enduring in order to save the latter’s reputation in the Jewish community, when in fact, Duddy is benefiting from a commission. The addition of this scene serves to highlight Duddy’s manipulative nature.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 1, Chapter 10
This exhibit examines the opening sequences of Part 1, Chapter 10 in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. This draft appears to be one of the final drafts before the publication of the novel, as the changes focus on smaller details; the final adjustments of the sentences appear almost verbatim in the final novel. These smaller changes include: changing of Duddy’s “real” job, to his “regular” job, the change of “eighteen dollars per week” to “sixteen dollars a week”, changing “five years” to “finally”, and changing “Uncle Morris” to “Uncle Benjy”. These changes reflect how Richler gained a better understanding of the timeline he wanted to follow in his novel, and the specific facts about the era in Montreal. Most notably is the change regarding Ida’s infertility. In the published novel, the reader is not privy to Ida’s infertility until the end of the novel, believing Uncle Benjy to be the infertile one. This alteration in the published novel creates a redeeming quality in Uncle Benjy’s characterization as he takes the blame for producing no grandchildren. Additionally, the characterization of the workers at Uncle Benjy’s factory, namely Malloy and Esptein, is lessened in the novel in order to abstain from detracting from the novel’s focal character, Duddy.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 3, Chapter 3
This exhibit will focus on chapter three of part three in the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. In this typescript, Richler's edits hold true to the published novel. Richler takes out dialogue that would attribute Virgil's accident to Duddy, and by doing so shifts the responsibilty of the accident. Throughout this chapter, Duddy's character develops into an anti-hero and any sympathy that the audience would have previously felt is edited out of the final draft. In the beginning of the chapter on page 247, Richler crosses out the line where Duddy denies fault in Virgil's accident. This edit further prevents readers from attaching to his character. This chapter poses as the turning point in the novel, to wholly illustrate Duddy as a character without moral boundaries.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Part 1, Chapter 11
This is exhibit focuses on pages 57-61 of part one chapter eleven of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Beginning on page 57, the manuscript depicts the summer Duddy worked as a waiter in a hotel in the Laurentian mountains. At the beginning the hotel Ostrofsky's Castle des Pins is scratched out and replaced with Weidman's. He changes the name of one of the characters from "Fuddles" Herman to Cuckoo Kaplan which was not indicated in the manuscript any further than Cuckoo Kaplan being written in red at the top of the page. At the end of the first paragraph 'At night' is changed to 'After a day's work'. In the middle of the second last paragraph the phrase "but nobody objected to if he tagged along" was removed from the sentence. Richler then describes the various pranks played on Duddy despite his attempts to fit in; these pranks did not make it into the final novel. One of the pranks in the manuscript describes the boys convincing the cook to intentionally make mistakes on Duddy's orders. The final version says "The gift of a bottle of rum insured the cook's good-will- Duddy had no trouble getting his orders". Page 58 begins with a paragraph that was entirely omitted from the final version. In the description of Irwin, Richler changes Duddy’s reaction of not being impressed to not being fooled. Richler’s changes in the final paragraph include a more sexual outlook (women and great danes to women and whips) and at the same time removes Irwin’s action of drugging women’s drinks. On page 59, he makes a lewd comment about Emily Dickenson - these were omitted in the final draft. On page 60, Richler omits certain descriptors that change the atmosphere of Rubin's to a commercial place. There is one instance where Richler changes the description of a floating orange peel to a floating popsicle wrapper. Richler removes the mention of the neighbours bridge and poker clubs. On page 61 the description of Cuckoo has entire sentences crossed out that remove many of his antics. All other changes are Richler’s removal of unnecessary information that does not contribute to further development of the characters or plotline.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XXIX
As Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge point out in their article, “The TransAtlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper’s Weekly”, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins was a heavily commodified publication in both the United States and England in the 1860s (Leighton and Surridge 207). They point out that although there are many interpretations of The Moonstone, all the interpretations looked at by Leighton and Surridge believe that “they are all reading the same text” (Leighton and Surridge 207). However, as the text was commodified and directed toward different audiences in the United States and England respectively, “The Moonstone took on strikingly different forms- and hence different meanings- in different markets” (Leighton and Surridge 207). Looking specifically at Part 29 of the periodical in both Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round, in the journal of Ezra Jennings, the story of The Moonstone is laid out very differently. There is enough consistency in both publications to say that they are giving two tellings of the same story. As in the original oral traditions of tales and stories, a single story may be adapted based on preferences and values of the current audiences. The Moonstone was “cut up” (Leighton and Surridge 207) and tailored and retold to suit specific audiences while still being recognizable. It was then sold on both sides of the Atlantic in its respective forms. The form of both publications is a function of the commodification of literature, specifically showing that The Moonstone is a work that achieved literary prestige as a marketable investment.
Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Surridge, Lisa. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review 42.3 (2009): 207-243. Project MUSE. 7 Oct. 2015. Web.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part I
Wilkie Collin’s The Moonstone is a rich and complex work of literature. Sensationalist novel, mystery, detective fiction, romance, tragedy; it does not wholly adhere to the conventions of any one genre. In 1868, The Moonstone was printed simultaneously in Great Britain (by Charles Dicken’s All the Year Round) and in the United States (by Harper’s Weekly). This was the height Victorian era, a time of imperialism and colonialism. Gary Darden calls this the “Age of High Imperialism” (8). The United States had just come out of five years of brutal civil war (1861-1865). Armed conflict erupted, primarily as a result of decades of tension over the question of slavery. The nation had already dispossessed nearly every indigenous tribe and had its own colonial desires and ambitions. Racial tension was high. At the same time, Great Britain was the most powerful nation in the world, the heart of colonial empire that occupied a fifth of the earth’s surface. During this time an Anglo-American transatlantic discourse existed. By cross-examining the two different publications of The Moonstone we can gain insight into this discourse.
This exhibition analyzes Part I of The Moonstone (January 4, 1868) by focusing on the illustrations and articles that accompany each version of the text. All the Year Round includes various articles, but no illustrations. One article, “Flies,” exhibits blatant and unapologetic imperial ideology regarding white superiority. Harper’s publication of The Moonstone includes illustrations that seem to point the finger at Great Britain, while making America appear more progressive, sympathetic to the plight of the racial other. In terms of black civil rights, significant progress was actually being made in the American South from 1865-1870 (Degala 12-13), but this progressive appearance is undermined by a widespread acceptance of white superiority, which is indicated in an article that accompanies Harper’s version of The Moonstone.
Part I of The Moonstone is a microcosm of a larger transatlantic discourse. Being the first of the series, it is important because it sets the overall ton. The analysis reveals an Anglo-American imperialist connection. Harper’s publisher’sconscious efforts to identify the United States as a socially progressive are self-sabotaged. All the Year Round does not make attempts to apologize for Britain’s imperial arrogance. The exhibition highlights a subtext of white superiority present in both Great Britain and The United States.
Works Cited
Darden, Gary Helm. "The New Empire In The 'New South': Jim Crow In The Global Frontier Of High Imperialism And Decolonization." Southern Quarterly 46.3 (2009): 8-25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Leverenz, Molly Knox. "Illustrating The Moonstone in America: Harper’s Weekly and Transatlantic Introspection." American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography 24.1 (2014): 21-44. Project MUSE. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Pilgrim, David. “The Picaninny Caricature.” Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State University, Oct 2012. Web. 6 Oct 2015.
Sutherland, John. Explanatory Notes. The Moonstone. By Wilkie Collins. New York: Oxford Press, 2008. 467-502. Print.
"The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part IV"
In the January 25th, 1868 edition of Harpers Weekly and All the Year Round, chapters eight and nine of the Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins, was presented in both periodicals. Both publications, though having the same story, altered their reader’s perception of the text due to the accompanying information surrounding the story. Mark Mossman believes that the ideas of abnormalcy and disability are quite prevalent in the Moonstone. Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round also seem to re-enforce the notion of abnormacly and disability, but in a different way. In Mossman’s article “Representations of the Abnormal Body” he argues that “the representations of abnormalcy in The Moonstone become the location of a disabled perspective on the workings of Victorian cultural practice. Collins's writing of physical difference in this 1868 narrative, his consistent placement of images of the abnormal body against images of the normal body, constitutes an early comment on and a potentially transformative critique of those modern practices which excludes the body that is physically and cognitively different” (Mossman 486-7). Mossman seems to fail to represent the true scope of disability and abnormacly due to his focus on the physical body (i.e. actual physical disabilities). The inherent truth about disability is that a person who is disabled is different from the norm. The person is not able to achieve normal societal standards of life due to an inability to act normal (whether it be because of a mental or physical impairment). Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round by no means infer that people from foreign cultures are mentally or physically disabled just because they are from another culture. What the publications do infer by gazing on these foreign cultural practices is the idea which I call “Cultural Disability”. Cultural Disability is the inability to achieve what is considered a normal culture or standard because of the abnormalcy of their cultural practices, or, an inability to achieve the norm because they are different from the person judging their culture. Because these cultures are not able to achieve societal standards of life that are presented as normal by the two publications, they are seen as abnormal, making them Culturally Disabled.
Both Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round sensationalize foreign cultures by highlighting the abnormalcy of their practices and policies. Harpers Weekly, a politically driven publication, sensationalized the abnormal and otherness of foreign cultural practices in a negative context by presenting articles that pointed out the flaws and fearful practices in foreign cultural systems that were different from their own. All the Year Round was a literary publication that was more analytically driven. The publication, in this edition, looked inquisitively upon other cultures. They attempted to maneuver their audience into reading analytically and intellectually.
Though both publications reinforce a normal societal standard, they are able to influence the reader's perception of the moonstone with the accompanying information that was produced alongside the moonstone in the publications. All the Year Round seemed to attempt a greater understanding of the cultural practices of other’s from a western viewpoint rather than propagate a certain ideological bias upon its readership by viewing others negatively, such as Harper’s Weekly attempted.
Mossman, Mark. "Representations of the Abnormal Body in the Moonstone." Victorian Literature and Culture. Vol 37, No. 2, 2009. 483-500. Print.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XII
While both All the Year Round and Harper's Weekly contained the same text- The Moonstone- written by the same author, the text is represented, or "branded" , in very different ways between the two journals. The "brand" under which the text is represented presents a method of marketing the text to the journal's readers. The marketing of the text is based on what the audience would perceive as literary quality, as discussed by Moran in his essay about the marketing of authors in Time Magazine. "Whilst it is true that Time tended to profile authors with serious literary intent... its preoccupation with the author's ability to attract the major literary prizes and the commercial book clubs betrays a notion of literary "quality" rooted in marketplace priorities" (Moran 352). Both All the Year Round, and Harper's Weekly adhere to this pattern as well though the emphasis on what part of the publication would best market the quality of the work differs drastically between them.
All the Year Round does not draw attention to the author of the text, but rather the text itself along with the publisher. The marketability of The Moonstone in this case is the journal in which it is published which was edited by another renowned writer of the time, Charles Dickens.
Conversely, Harper's Weekly publishes The Moonstone under Wilkie Collins' name along with the title of another work by him. In this case the author is the marketable brand rather than the publisher.
Moran, Joe. "The Author as a Brand Name: American Literary Figures and the Time Cover Story." Journal of American Studies29.3 (1995): 349-63. ProQuest. Web. 4 Oct. 2015
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part V
Sensation Fiction and the Common Reader: How Increased Readership Shaped Literary Material in the Victorian Era
As Loesberg describes it, sensation fiction is “something extraordinary, exaggerated, shocking” (125). It is these very traits that attracted what Richard Altick names “the common reader” during the Victorian era. This common reader came to be for several reasons; notably, the increase of industrial work which required some ability to read, the cheapness and disposability of printed matter such as newspapers and periodicals, and a sharp increase of literacy rates from 1841 to 1900, which jumped from 50 percent to nearly 100 percent literacy of the English population, respectively. A growing middle-lower class demanding cheap readership meant a growing demand of a genre that could cater to them. It was authors such as Wilkie Collins that did so, providing numerous serialized sensation novels such as The Moonstone. As Collins writes in A Rogue’s Life concerning the common reader: “where is the man who can get them to amuse themselves? Anybody may cram their poor heads; but who will lighten their grave faces?” (97). To delight and shock was precisely the intention of Collins in many of his works, which would cater to the enjoyment of new, common readers. According to Altick, the common reader had now “extra pennies and shillings” that translated into “a wider consumers’ market for printed matter… stimulating the quest for cheaper materials” (306). These cheaper materials manifested themselves into periodicals and newspapers, such as Harper’s Weekly in the United States and All the Year Round in England. These materials were successful in the middle-lower classes because of their universal nature; periodicals and newspapers appealed to those who found a whole book “too formidable a task” (Altick, 318) and catered to curiosities concerning the happenings of other places in the world (Altick, 318). Therefore, the political, compact nature of these materials made them readable for members of all classes, notably the middle-lower, or “the new reader.” “Less serious students” says Altick, were “confined to penny shockers and sensational weekly papers” (240).
Sensation fiction in itself, I will argue, also catered to the themes and familiarities of the middle-lower class reader. Firstly, appealing to the emotional or “shocking” side of things, they provided newer readers with relatively straightforward plot to follow. Secondly, use of working class narrators, as well as the theme loss or change in identity throughout many of these novels- particularly in The Moonstone- may have also catered to similar, relatable feelings middle-lower class readers experienced during the era. Overall, in a rapidly changing world, Victorian sensation fiction in newspaper periodicals and journals alike catered to a shift in class identity and uniquely accommodated the “new reader” in the Victorian era.
Alitck, Richard. The English Common Reader : A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1957. Print.
Collins, Wilkie. A Rogue's Life. Sutton, 1984. 96-97. Print.
Loesberg, Jonathan. "The Ideology of Narrative Form in Sensation Fiction." Representations 13 (1986): 115-38. Print.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XXXI
The Moonstone, an 1868 novel by Wilkie Collins, exists as one of the many Victorian novels to be published in weekly journals rather than all at once in book form. As a tale that has no problem engaging and enticing readers with its captivating story full of mystery, thievery, and even romance, The Moonstone has little trouble becoming a Victorian bestseller. The work was published concurrently in both the English journal All the Year Round and the American journal Harper’s Weekly, both appealing to a different audience and both intent on luring readers, new and old, to read their print publications.
On the first day of August, in 1868, both of the aforementioned journals published the thirty-first part of The Moonstone, detailing the fifth narrative of the character Franklin Blake, ending in the great and climactic reveal of Godfrey Ablewhite as the stone's thief all along, and his subsequent death. While both journals relay the same set of words printed as they were written by Collins himself, All the Year Round and Harper’s Weekly each have their own unique approach to the text, and appear to have a primary focus and main intention with how they chose to present the journal and Collins’ story.
Each journal utilizes different methods in an effort to entice their readership. Dickens’ All the Year Round uses the print medium to promote the journal itself, placing little emphasis on the stories and capitalizing on Dickens’ reputation in an effort to draw readers. Harper’s Weekly, unlike All the Year Round, concentrates its material on the published works themselves by highlighting the author’s name and ‘richly’ illustrating the story being told, attracting readers by attempting to engage them in the stories and articles. While neither journal features advertisements in this particular installment, All the Year Round appears to prioritize Dickens’ name and notoriety as the main draw while also boasting about the journal’s prestige, leaving Collins’ name out of the publication entirely and instead using page space to spotlight his name and insert Shakespeare quotes as if to imply the deceased playwright is endorsing the journal himself. The pages examined assert and demonstrate the contrast between these two journals, supporting the notion that All the Year Round was concerned with advertising itself as a journal while Harper’s Weekly was determined to promote the individual articles they published.
The Transatlantic Moonstone Part IIX
This Exhibit will focus on the emphasis of the epistolary as seen in Harper's Weekly, The American serialisation of Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone", and how it aids the audience's reading of the text while simultaneously promoting a pro-epistolary lifestyle. In comparison there will also be images centrering on the lack of emphasis on the epistolary as seen in the British serialization All the Year Round, which chooses instead to focus solely on Collins' text. At the time of printing, as noted by David M Henkin in his book The Postal Age, The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth Century America epistles were becoming a "broadly acknowledged utility of everyday life" (37). Soon they were used not just for special ocassions or for foreign correspondences but also to play an "intensely modern function in everyday life" (Henkin IX). From the invention of the stamp to the "Valentine Mania" (Henkin 149) that would sweep the nation, to the carelessness and confusion that would result in the Dead Letter Office, the importance of the Postal System coud no't be ignored, and as this exhbit will show, you couldn't pick up a Harper's magazine without being forced to acknowledge it's prominence. Whether that promininence was fictional, as seen through Wilkie Collins' novel "The Moonstone" or in real life practics of correspondence as depicted througout Harper's Weekly. Furthermore by promoting the idea of the sending and receiving of letters, Harper's Weekly strives, in a greater fashion than All The Year Round, to promote the idea of serialization, which could be argued to be a one way correspondence between a publication and it's reader's. This can be seen in both the American and British publication, though the emphasis is obvoius in Harper's as seen in the photos that comprise this exhibit, through the repeated imagery and use of text that revolve around the physical depiction of the letter and the impact is had on American culture.
Works Cited:
All The Year Round. 22 February 1868. 241-256. Print.
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.
Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. 22 February 1868. Print.
Henkin, David M. The Postal Age, The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Web.
"The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part VI"
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is fascinating because of the way that the story has been used to explore cultural and social context both internally, and externally. Although it could be assumed that Collins had complete control of his narrative, the serial and transatlantic nature of his novel ensured that there was, and is a level of interpretation that he could not regulate.
In Katie Lanning’s article, “2011 VanArsdel Prize Essay Tessellating Texts: Reading The Moonstone in All the Year Round”, Lanning suggests that in the context of All the Year Round, Collins uses Betteredge’s emotional attachment to Robinson Crusoe to create a need, and then embodies the language of commerce to sell the book as a “healing” commodity (2). She also states that “Collins refers to himself as a ‘saleable commodity’ “, and that he understands “his occupation as profitable” (4). However, in view of the variant transatlantic contexts of his serialized article, it is doubtful that Collins could have inserted a large amount of commercial advertisement that was purely of his own devise.
Both Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round are careful to note the permission granted by the author to copy out the original text. However, the mercenary and commercial focus of Harper’s Weekly contrasts strongly with the more literary and creative emphasis of All the Year Round. Within these contexts, the story becomes less of an accurate authorial representation, and more of a purely cultural artifact to be manipulated and crafted by values that far exceed the author’s own writing. The February 8, 1868 edition of Harper’s Weekly is rife with literalism and mercenary emphasis. The bulk of the magazine focuses on facts, rather than fiction, and the overt commercialism of the last page ensures that the reader finishes the paper in a truly wealth-oriented frame of mind. In contrast, the corresponding issue of All the year Round is predominantly stories, with the main commodity manifesting as intellectual creativity rather than economy. These differing values are evident in the articles and stories surrounding the story in both magazines. Since the story is focused on a diamond of great value, this means that the viewers are invited to very different readings of the Moonstone’s importance. Instead of being a pure interaction between author and reader, the object of the Moonstone becomes subject to the values of the cultural view of wealth and commodity.
Lanning, Katie. “2011 VanArsdel Prize Essay Tessellating Texts: Reading The Moonstone in All the Year Round.” Victorian Periodicals Review 45.1 (2012): 1-17. Web.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XXVIII
In Chapter X of The Moonstone, Franklin comes to understand the implications of his situation through a series of materials presented to him. This structure of materials draws parallels to the manner in which the serial novel, and its genre, is presented to contemporary readers. The interplay between sensationalism and realism occurs in both the knowledge Mr. Blake encounters in this chapter, and the material surrounding these publications in their print form. The material culture that is presented in both Harper's Weekly and All the Year Round influence the Victorian reader's interpretation of The Moonstone's genre.
Some scholars argue that "this interplay of realism and sensation, illustrations played a key role, as magazine illustrators frequently referenced the visual strategies of one genre as they worked in the other ... " (Leighton 68). Furthermore, this role of illustration creates "two forms of literacy: first knowledge of inter-pictorality, and second, an awareness of the relationship between illustration and genre" (Leighton 71). However, illustration was not the sole factor to interpret genre, particularly in the case of All the Year Round. The appearance of agony and etiquette columns, personal advertisements, and other text-based materials in the newspaper affect the contemporary reading of The Moonstone. Victorian readers come to understand the texts genre as realist or sensationalist, due to the influence of the material surrounding the text.
Referenced material:
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part IX
Wilkie Collins’s best-selling novel The Moonstone (1868) was serialized simultaneously in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America. The letterpress was consistent on both sides of the Atlantic, but the material formats of Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round differed greatly and subtly shaped the way Collins’s text could be read in each continent. Unlike Charles Dickens’s literary journal All the Year Round, Harper’s Weekly was marketed to a broad audience and included images, lively advertisements, and fun columns like “Humors [sic] of the Day” (Harpers 142). The two journals were evidently marketed towards different readerships, but both found a place for Collins’s sensational novel in their 1868 publications. This transatlantic appeal was due to both parties' careful manipulation of the material conditions of their respective texts. These manipulations helped guide their readers’ interpretations and build appeal for The Moonstone within different communities of readers.
In a recent essay (2014), Molly Knox Leverenz calls for an intratextual analysis (23) of The Moonstone within Harper’s Weekly. While doing so, she adheres to Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge’s assertions that images are not simply reflective of The Moonstone’s plot, but have important generic, thematic, and narrative significance (207). Leverenz argues that the American illustrations in and surrounding the serial parts of Collins’s novel concretize themes from the verbal text and help the text to participate in transatlantic discourses. This move was particularly important because of the jarring effects that the recent Civil War had had on American national identity (Leverenz 21). Much of Leverenz’s essay reflects upon the ways in which the American text uses images to distinguish itself in opposition to English ideology in The Moonstone (28).
Leverenz's essay emphasizes the American editor’s critical stance on English imperialism (24), but this exhibit will instead explore how Harper’s critiques the English class system as it is represented in The Moonstone, chapter XV. Harper’s uses image and formatting to counteract representations of English classism with idealized images of American unification and benevolence. This argument carries into Dickens's All the Year Round, where formatting and layout is manipulated in order to self-consciously critique English society on the same grounds. This is accomplished by juxtaposing The Moonstone with stories that explore taste and the etiquette of British dining.
Note: The images in this exhibition are designed to be explored in the order they appear (from top to bottom).
Works Cited
All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal 29 Feb. 1868. 265-288. Print.
Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization 29 Feb. 1868. 129-144. Print.
Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Lisa Surridge. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review 42.3 (2009): 207-243. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Leverenz, Molly Knox. "Illustrating The Moonstone in America: Harper's Weekly and Transatlantic Introspection." American Periodicals 24.1 (2014): 21-44. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XXI
It remains a mystery how current scholarship of Victorian literature should categorize the novels of Wilkie Collins. For instance, The Moonstone has been read as “the paradigmatic 1860s ‘sensation novel’ and as a generic bridge between the eighteenth-century Gothic and the later nineteenth-century detective story” (Liddle 37). It has also asserted “its self-definition as a sensation novel” according to Leighton and Surridge. Is The Moonstone “the first and greatest of English detective novels” as T.S. Eliot suggests?
In their simultaneous 1868 publications of The Moonstone, both Harper’s Weekly (U.S.) and All the Year Round (U.K) show self-conscious efforts to reinforce the literary mystery and downplay the connection to sensation fiction. There are hints in section XXI (first published May 23 1868) that Collins’ novel supports its own reading as suspense, mystery, or what might anachronistically be called detective fiction. Nearby articles to this section of The Moonstone in both Harper’s and Year Round reflect these elements in discussion of “Knots” and “Riddles”, respectively. These articles also carefully cultivate an understanding of their topics as elevated discourse.
Modern literary critics have studied the popular Victorian genre of sensation fiction and noted its focus on the body, because of the “central interest in producing, and reproducing, affect in the reader” (Kennedy 451). Yet Harper’s and Year Round seem interested in reading The Moonstone, and by extension themselves, as intellectual activities experienced in the mind. This may be emblematic of traditional mind-body dualism, which privileges the rational mind over the emotional body. Both journals try to brand to their audience as highbrow, and even the description “highbrow” clarifies the advantaged term in the mind/body opposition.
The Transatlantic Moonstone: Part XXXII
“Like the diamond itself, the novel glints ambiguously, throwing back different interpretations from its many facets.” –John Sutherland
Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round published Wilkie Collins’ sensation novel The Moonstone simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the United States, in serial from January to August 1868. I noticed immediately that the text of the novel itself was similar, but not the exact same, in the British and American versions. Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge similarly notice that “The Moonstone took on strikingly different forms – and hence different meanings – in different markets” (207), and that as a result “the American Moonstone differed markedly from its British counterpart in All the Year Round” (234).
I will complicate Leighton and Surridge’s idea that The Moonstone took on different meanings in the British and American markets, by emphasizing that the British and American markets crafted different meanings onto The Moonstone. Molly Knox Leverenz recognizes that the American “Harper’s Weekly’s editors were not only aware of but intentionally enhancing the intratextuality of the texts and images printed within its pages” (26). I will show, based on the evidence in the original print publications of The Moonstone in the British All the Year Round and the American Harper’s Weekly, that the British version intentionally lets the story speak for itself, whereas the American version intentionally shapes readers’ interpretations of the story, especially readers’ interpretations of the message or moral, by changing the original punctuation in the last line and by strategically positioning the last chapters within the larger periodical.
Harper’s Weekly obviously wanted to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the release of the final installment of the novel, to exploit readers’ captive attention with a moral goal in mind. Tinsley’s observations that “especially when the serial was nearing its ending, on publishing days there would be quite a crowd of anxious readers waiting for the new number” makes it is easy to imagine captive readers in search of meaning in the text (Sutherland xxxviii), after “THE END”; the end of a story is, after all, usually where the author imparts a message or moral. Collins offers no explicit moral at the end of the story, and instead leaves readers to infer, or even create, meaning. I suggest that Harpers’ Weekly appreciates the role of “periodicals as a means of meaning-making in print culture” (Leverenz 25), and intentionally influences the meaning that readers extrapolate from the story, whereas All the Year Round is less suggestive.
Works Cited
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone: Autograph Manuscript Signed. 1868. MS. Morgan Library and Museum, New York. Print.
Drew, John, and Tony Williams. Dickens Journals Online. University of Buckingham. Web. 6 October 2015.
Lanning, Katie. “Tessellating Texts: Reading The Moonstone in All the Year Round." Victorian Periodicals Review 45.1 (2012): 1-22. Print.
Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Lisa Surridge. “The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper’s Weekly.” Victorian Periodicals Review 42.3 (2009): 207-243.
Leverenz, Molly Knox. “Illustrating The Moonstone in America: Harper's Weekly and Transatlantic Introspection.” American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography 24.1 (2014): 21-44. Print.
Sutherland, John. Introduction. The Moonstone. By Wilkie Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. vii-xxix. Print.
Sutherland, John. A Note on Composition, Reception, and Text. The Moonstone. By Wilkie Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. xxx-xxxix. Print.
Vega, Carolyn. “RE: The Moonstone Research.” Message to Kirsten Brassard. 5 October 2015. E-mail.
"The Transatlantic Moostone Part: XXII"
Wilkie Collin’s released The Moonstone serial, in both Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round. Although both magazine’s covered the identical story, they each presented The Moonstone in a different style corresponding to the style of their individual magazines.
Harper’s is more inclined to add pictures to The Moonstone, possibly to enhance the reader’s experience in reading this serialized text. In All the Year Round, the magazine sticks strictly to text, with no illustrations to help guide the reader’s imagination. This non illustrated format could arguably be seen to present a better experience, because the readers get to use their imagination and not the illustrator’s imagination imposed upon them.
In Katie Lanning’s article, “2011 VanArsdel Prize Essay Tessellating Texts: Reading The Moonstone in All the Year Round,” she describes the way in which serialized readings were tessellated with the other articles in the papers. She describes tessellated readings as a process where the “reader fits texts or pieces of texts together to create a mosaic of meaning. A tessellation is necessarily made up of multiple pieces; thus, the term “tessellated reading” emphasizes the multiple texts with which a reader engages in a periodical” (1). She argues that both the advertisements in Harper’s, and in All the Year Round incline the readers to do a tessellated reading between The Moonstone and the advertisements placed around The Moonstone.
The May 30, 1868 instalment of The Moonstone, covers chapters 2 and 3 of the third narrative, told by Franklin Blake. These chapters consist of Franklin Blake returning from England to keep searching for the Moonstone. He finds Betteredge reading his copy of Robinson Crusoe. Betteredge and Franklin receive a letter from Limping Lucy which leads them to the quicksands where Rosanna has hidden a clue to the mystery. Franklin finds the thief’s nightgown that Rossana hid. He finds out that it was, in fact, his nightgown.
Lanning explains that tessellated readings were used advantageously to catch reader’s attention for “editors were “sensitive” to the connections readers made between texts in an issue, and editors often carefully selected and arranged materials with those possible connections in mind” (15). There are clear examples of these placements in both Harper’s Weekly and All the Year Round. In Harper’s, we see advertisements for diamonds and pipes. Similarily, in All the Year Round, we see stories relating to quicksand, and an advertisement for a news vendor with graphic pictures of death.
Lanning, Katie. “2011 VanArsdel Prize Essay Tessellating Texts: Reading The Moonstone in All the Year Round.” Victorian Periodicals Review 45.1 (2012): 1-22. Web.
