The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies
Scholarly Editing and Book History

'Advancing a literary-aware form of book history and a book-historically informed literary criticism, Paul Eggert's The Work and The Reader in Literary Studies presents one of the finest and best-argued editorial theories textual scholarship has seen since the beginning of the twenty-first century.' Dirk Van Hulle, Universiteit Antwerpen

'We can imagine Eggert's digitally deployed work-concept as … an assembly in cyberspace-time, a gathering of minds around a matter of common concern.' Christine Froula, Textual Cultures

'This book will certainly be of interest to textual scholars and scholarly editors (especially those engaged in digital projects) … [and] for those seeking an introduction to the major theoretical problems in scholarly editing and textual studies.' Anna Muenchrath, The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America

'… practising print and especially digital editors, book historians, and those more broadly interested in (re)incorporating those disciplines into the practice of reading, will find much to learn from in this always fascinating and richly detailed volume.' John K. Young, Script & Print

'What follows is 200 pages of brilliant editorial discussion that blends strands of nostalgia wth strands of elegant self-deprecating irony.' Cristina Urchueguía, Ecdotica

'The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies is the most substantial book I am aware of today to lay out the land of literary study on foundations of documented transmission of works of literature …' Hans Walter Gabler, Variants

'Paul Eggert's The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies makes an important intervention in textual scholarship by redefining scholarly editions as functions of a process enacted in dynamic relation to an idea of a work on one hand and imagined readers - including the author as a first reader of drafts - on the other.' Matt Cohen, Textual Cultures

'Concepts of document, text, and work are parsed with care, generating many valuable insights and clarifications …' Ian Cornelius, Textual Cultures

'Paul Eggert's The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies offers an important perspective on the value of the work-concept in textual scholarship.' Alan Galey, Textual Cultures

'In the meantime, practising print and especially digital editors, book historians, and those more broadly interested in (re)incorporating those disciplines into the practice of reading, will find much to learn from in this always fascinating and richly detailed volume.' John K. Young, Script and Print

'… The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies is the most substantial book I am aware of today to lay out the land of literary study on foundations of documented transmission of works of literature: works and the texts that adumbrate them, written and re-written, read and re-read, and ever safeguarded by the manifold agencies of authors, scribes, typists and typesetters, digital key-strokers, publisher's editors, book historians, commercial or scholarly editors, and ever and ever again readers. The Work and the Reader in Literary Studies forms an important point of entry to re conceptualisings of literary study.' Hans Walter Gabler, Journal of the European Society for Textual Scholarship (ESTS)