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Dr. Torsten Roeder
Genesis and Variance: From Letter to Literature
ABSTRACT: The paper examines the nature of textual genesis and textual variance, based on a letter which was later elaborated into an epistolary novel.
KEYWORDS: textual variance, textual genesis, alignment, critical apparatus
The study of textual genesis, as introduced by Karl LachmannEditionswissenschaft. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Reclam, 27–45.
Documents are what is left of such textual dynamics. Understood as physical manifestations of text, documents appear as stable entities, which can relatively easy be digitized, transcribed, and described. The current standard guidelines for text encoding seem ideal for both machine- and human-readable representations of documents, and they strongly support document-related studies of all disciplines.
However, in order to pursue the question of what “text really” might be, the encoding
philologist should also take a look beyond the document and refocus the attention on
the examination of textual processes.Schreiben als Kulturtechnik. Berlin:
Suhrkamp, 10–16.Vom authentischen Brief zur durchgestalteten Literatur.
[Blog] Digital Humanities am DHIP. Available at:
The idea of this paper is based on an autobiographical text by Friedrich Rochlitz, an
author of the early 19th century, who wrote an eye-witness report of the Battle of
Leipzig (1813) to a close friend in Dresden.Tage der Gefahr. [Blog] Digital
Humanities am DHIP. Available at: Neue Erzählungen, 2, Leipzig/Züllichau: Darnmannsche
Buchhandlung, 149–365; Rochlitz, F. (1822). Tage der Gefahr. In: Auswahl des Besten aus Friedrich Rochlitzʼ sämmtlichen
Schriften, 6, Züllichau: Darnmannsche Buchhandlung, 185–312.
While the variants between the two printed editions can be described and presented by
means of a classical TEI inline apparatus,P5 Guidelines for
Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange Guidelines. Available at:
Outgoing from recent research, the paper presents markup approaches, analysis
tools
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Torsten Roeder graduated in musicology and Italian studies at the
Humboldt University in Berlin. He works in the area of digital humanities since
2007, starting his career at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and
Humanities. His PhD thesis, presented at the University of Würzburg, is based on a
TEI edition of 19th century music criticism. Currently he works
as Digital Humanities officer at Leopoldina (German National Academy, Halle an der
Saale).
Contact: torsten.roeder@leopoldina.org