Notework: Victorian Literature and Nonlinear Style

Notework explores the writer's notebook as a genre, presenting unpublished writings by prominent Victorians to offer an expansive approach to literary formalism for the twenty-first century. The notes of Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vernon Lee, and George Gissing record ephemeral and nonlinear experiences, revealing each author's desire to leave their fragments scattered and unused. By presenting notes in terms of genre, Simon Reader suggests inventive new accounts of key Victorian texts and reinterprets them as meditations on the ethics of compiling and using data. Notework recasts information collection as a personal and expressive activity that contrasts with large-scale systems of knowledge organization.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 256 pages
\n Publication date: 22 June 2021
\n Publisher: Stanford University Press
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Notework, a groundbreaking exploration by Simon Reader, delves into the enigmatic realm of the writer's notebook as a distinct genre in its own right. Through meticulous readings of unpublished writings by prominent Victorians, Reader presents an expansive perspective on literary formalism, tailored to the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. These notes, which encompass drafts and diaries, shed light on the fleeting and nonlinear experiences of Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vernon Lee, and George Gissing. By framing notes as a genre, Reader unveils a fresh lens through which to interpret these authors' desires to scatter and disregard their fragments.

This innovative approach enables Reader to propose novel interpretations of pivotal Victorian texts, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, On the Origin of Species, and Hopkins's devotional lyrics. By reinterpreting these works as meditations on the ethics of compiling and utilizing data, Notework offers a profound reevaluation of information collection. It recasts the act of gathering information as a deeply personal and expressive endeavor, standing in contrast to the vast systems of knowledge organization that dominate our contemporary world.

Through this exploration, Reader finds resonances between today's digital culture and its nineteenth-century predecessors, honoring the most disposable, improvised, and fleeting written gestures. Notework serves as a testament to the enduring power of the written word, reminding us of the profound impact that even the smallest and most fleeting expressions can have on our understanding of the world.

\n Weight: 522g\n
Dimension: 159 x 235 x 24 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781503615267\n \n