Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'This collection provides the first comprehensive account of eResearch and the new empiricism as they are transforming the field of Australian literary studies in the twenty-first century...The essays range from accounts of the state of the discipline in its international contexts with a particular focus on future directions, to exemplary applications of empirical methods by leading critics and scholars. Reports on current large-scale online projects that represent a significant future direction of literary studies in Australia are also included. Together, they demonstrate the possibilities and the range of new empirical and electronic approaches to Australian literary studies.' (Source: back cover)

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:Sydney University Press , 2009 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Resourceful Reading : A New Empiricism in the Digital Age?, Katherine Bode , Robert Dixon , single work criticism (p. 1-27)
Structures, Networks, Institutions : The New Empiricism, Book History and Literary History, David Carter , single work criticism
An overview of the different kinds of work on culture that are contained in the term 'the new empiricism'. Carter emphasises the status of the new empiricism as 'post-' rather than 'anti-theoretical'.
(p. 31-52)
The Book, Scholarly Editing and the Electronic Edition, Paul Eggert , single work criticism
Discusses scholarly editing, the oldest empirical form of literary scholarship, and explores the different problems involved in print and e-editions.
(p. 53-69)
Old Tricks for New Dogs : Resurrecting Bibliography and Literary History, Carol Hetherington , single work criticism
Hetherington argues 'for the need to reinstate bibliography as the cornerstone of literary studies, with central importance not only in literary scholarship but in teaching, specifically in the undergraduate curriculum' (71).
(p. 70-83)
Australian Literature in the Translation Zone : Robert Dessaix and David Malouf, Robert Dixon , single work criticism
Dixon applies the techniques of close and 'distant' reading to explore contemporary Australian literature in the 'translation zone' with other languages. He discusses the influences, national and international, which lead to translations, and the significance of translators.
(p. 87-104)
Australian Literature in a World of Books : A Transnational History of Kylie Tennant's The Battlers, Roger Osborne , single work criticism
'Drawing on the large collection of papers held at the National Library of Australia, this chapter explores the first editions of Kylie Tennant's The Battlers in New York, London and Sydney during the 1940s.' (106)
(p. 105-118)
Books in Selected Australian Newspapers, December 1930, Robert Thomson , Leigh Dale , single work criticism
Focusing on newspapers, the essay reports on an element of the Resourceful Reading inquiry, 'a project which aims to bring large-scale empirical data collection and analysis to the study of Australian literature' (119). The authors are examining the ways in which books are represented as cultural and commercial objects in newspapers in the interwar period, choosing as an example the month of December, 1930. The findings in relation to Australian literature 'point to the previously under-reported significance of the regional press, as well as the enormous diversity and range of books discussed in Australian newspapers' (120). The collected data also suggests that the book trade in Australia at the time was dominated by English publishers.
(p. 119-141)
Magical Numbers, Ivor Indyk , single work criticism
The essay looks at the profitability of literary books for publishers, taking as examples data from the University of Queensland Press and some other publishers. The empirical research finds as the baseline reality of literary publishing 'its unprofitability, its fundamentally uncommercial nature' (147). Three case studies reveal that factors other than literary criteria tend to contribute to a book's commercial success.
(p. 142-155)
Emerging Black Writing and the University of Queensland Press, Deborah Jordan , single work criticism
The article examines the role the University of Queensland Press played in publishing and promoting black writing since the late 1970s, and some of the difficult issues involved.
(p. 156-175)
Making Aboriginal History : The Cultural Mission in Australian Book Publishing and the Publication of Henry Reynold's The Other Side of the Frontier, Mark Davis , single work criticism
This essay examines the publication process and publication history of Reynold's classic book, The Other Side of the Frontier (Penguin, 1982). It also looks at Aboriginal publishing programs of several other publishers during the past decades, and at the socio-historical issues involved in their development.
(p. 176-193)
From British Domination to Multinational Conglomeration? : A Revised History of Australian Novel Publishing, 1950-2007, Katherine Bode , single work criticism
Examining the publishing history of Australian novels based on data from AustLit, Bode distinguishes three phases: British Domination 1950-1970, National Awakening 1970s and 1980s, and Multnational Domination 1990-. Resisting the frequent argument that the book and the book industry are dying, the essay explores 'some of the complex ways in which both novel and industry are Janus-faced: turned to the national and the transnational, the cultural and the commerical' (196).
(p. 194-219)
Squinting at a Sea of Dots : Visualising Australian Readerships Using Statistical Machine Learning, Julieanne Lamond , Mark Reid , single work criticism
'One reason critics have been arguing for a more empirical approach to Australian literary studies is that we have access to new and much broader kinds of data than ever before. Data, however, are of little use in and of themselves. The key question when approaching literary studies with empirical methods is how to move between the generalisations involved in empirical research and the attention to the particular that characterises literary analysis: in other words, how such data could be made useful to literary analysis? This chapter examines one such approach. Specifically, it uses a collaboration between Australian literary studies and statistical machine learning to suggest how, in practice, empirical modes of research can speak to, enhance, or even help to direct more traditional modes of literary analysis.' (223-224)
(p. 223-239)
Is a Picture Worth 10,175 Australian Novels?, Jason Ensor , single work criticism
'This chapter will explore the work behind the charting. This will include the necessary apologetics and methodological uncertainties that contextualise analytic labour, and it will put forward an alternative reading of new empiricism which suggests that internet and computing technologies are shaping the cultural grammar of the domain of Australian literature in ways yet to be fully understood but which need to be corralled methodologically. It will propose that in the contemporary humanities environment new empiricism should continue to provide important "reference points from which qualitative data can be understood" and a way for literary scholars to visualise quantitative research but from within the framework of an Australian Charter for the Computer-Based Representation of Literary History.' (244)
(p. 240-273)
Voices from the Past : Gender, Politics, and the Anthology, Gillian Whitlock , single work criticism
Seeing the anthology as a particularly useful tool to address some issues about gender, writing and empirical critique, Whitlock returns to her eighties anthology 'to re-engage with my former self at work as an editor, critic and anthologiser', using data which 'has the potential to bring a different approach to bear on Australian women's writing in what...I confidently described as "a phase in the national literary history when women writers and readers entered the mainstream".' (274)
(p. 274-295)
AustLit : Creating a Collaborative Research Space for Australian Literary Studies, Kerry Kilner , single work criticism
The chapter discusses some of the requirements the layers of technical and institutional support impose upon the emerging landscape of eResearch practice in literary studies. It also considers some of the larger, global issues around scholarly communication within the research sector. Finally it outlines the innovative ways in which AustLit 'is trying to address emergent eResearch needs of scholars of Australian literary culture through the Aus-e-Lit project, funded by the Australian Federal Government's National E-Research Architecture Taskforce, an NCRIS Platforms for Collaboration program' (300).
(p. 299-314)
A Place in Stories : A Report on the Literature of Tasmania Subset of the AustLit Database, Tony Stagg , Philip Mead , single work criticism
Discusses the Literature of Tasmania Research Community of AustLit, focusing on the literary representation of place.
(p. 315-324)
AusStage : From Database of Performing Arts to a Peforming Database of the Arts, Neal Harvey , Joanne Tompkins , Helena Grehan , single work criticism
This chapter briefly outlines the history of the AusStage database before 'articulating the ways in which it has attempted to provide new ways to intersect with its community of researchers and contemporary technological developments' (326).
(p. 325-333)
Constructing APRIL : The Australian Poetry Resources Internet Library, John Tranter , Elizabeth Webby , single work criticism
Outlines the history of APRIL: The Australian Poetry Resources Internet Library and the issues involved in its development.
(p. 334-339)
An Australian Reading Experience Database, 1788-, Patrick Buckridge , single work criticism
'An Australian reading experience database has the potential to unite the benefits of large-scale historical synthesis with those of intensive qualitative analysis of the act of reading. What follows is an account of the present state of the project, together with some consideration of the questions of design and definition that have already come to light.' (340)
(p. 340-347)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Untitled Simone Murray , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Reviews in Australian Studies , vol. 6 no. 1 2012; (p. 1-2)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Untitled Susan Sheridan , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , March vol. 35 no. 1 2011; (p. 1127-129)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Impossible Literary Histories Nicole Moore , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 25 no. 3 2010; (p. 49-60)
'The extent to which a notional Australia is at stake in new ventures in Australian literary history is ... a timely and productive question. These three new titles present quite varied versions of both literary history and any proffered "Australia", reflecting at once the current state of the field and the impulses galvanising literary endeavour in different quarters' (p.50-51).
Deeply Wired John Byron , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 320 2010; (p. 51-52)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Deeply Wired John Byron , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 320 2010; (p. 51-52)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Untitled Susan Sheridan , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , March vol. 35 no. 1 2011; (p. 1127-129)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Untitled Simone Murray , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Reviews in Australian Studies , vol. 6 no. 1 2012; (p. 1-2)

— Review of Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009 anthology criticism
Impossible Literary Histories Nicole Moore , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 25 no. 3 2010; (p. 49-60)
'The extent to which a notional Australia is at stake in new ventures in Australian literary history is ... a timely and productive question. These three new titles present quite varied versions of both literary history and any proffered "Australia", reflecting at once the current state of the field and the impulses galvanising literary endeavour in different quarters' (p.50-51).
Last amended 17 Mar 2010 14:47:15
X