Undergraduate Research Scholarship project 2020
Department of English
Project summary
I am co-editing the final volumes of the Oxford English Texts (OET) edition of the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde for Oxford University Press (OUP). These volumes, Unpublished, Incomplete, & Miscellaneous Works, include—as the title suggests—a wide range of texts, some never before published in a scholarly edition.
As part of my summer 2020 tasks for this project, I will be completing editorial work on Wilde’s epigrams and finalising an extended bibliography and critical introduction to the wide-ranging spurious works published under Wilde’s name: the ‘dubia’. Taken together, these portions of the volume offer fascinating insight into often-overlooked (and understudied) corners of Wilde’s oeuvre, one which most students will not have had the opportunity to explore.
What you will do
- Learn the processes of oral and textual transcription and collation, essential foundations of textual editing; become familiar with Wilde’s (quite readable) handwriting
- Collate manuscript material with transcriptions to verify the accuracy of the typescript
- Cross-reference multiple manuscripts for repetitions or allusions
- Ensure transcription and reference formatting is consistent with the edition’s style guide
Skills required
- Scrupulous attention to detail and a keen eye for parsing handwriting
- Excellent organizational skills
- Strong command of academic English and MS Word
- Curiosity and perseverance
How will the project benefit you?
The scholarship holder will learn a great deal about textual editing practices and—moreover—about Wilde’s work and its (often tangled) publication history. The student will also expand and refine his/her research and sleuthing skills, especially through work with nineteenth-century journals and newspapers. These skills will be enormously beneficial—and marketable—for students seeking to continue their academic studies or wishing to enter the job market.
Where now?