Greenberg, SL;
(2014)
The hidden art of editing: theory, history and identity.
Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).
Abstract
This thesis addresses a gap in both popular and scholarly literature about the nature and practice of third-party editing, as a specific stage in the publishing process. The role’s invisibility reflects its inherently ambiguous and varied nature, a feature shared with other forms of mediation. This makes it difficult to study as a specific practice in its own right. The subject is therefore approached here from a deliberately varied range of perspectives to create a more clearly defined and fully rounded picture. A working definition and a set of foundational principles, described as a poetics of editing, are put into dialogue with other interpretive frameworks. Descriptions of editing practice are traced through time, following the act – not the actor – into new locations in the present, demonstrating the centrality of editing to contemporary debates about digital communication. The comparative exercise is carried into a set of semi-structured interviews, which provide fresh empirical evidence about what editing practitioners do and how they articulate their concerns. The results convey the potential of the editing perspective to provide a dynamic, creative understanding of failure and change, based on an acute awareness of both possibility and constraint. The research suggests further evaluation of the role based on comparative empirical discovery and analysis.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Title: | The hidden art of editing: theory, history and identity |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | Editing, book history, material culture, publishing, digital humanities, creative writing, curating, digital publishing, poetics, poetics of editing, magazine editing, book editing, editors, interviews with editors, textual mediation |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1418517 |
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