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  • © 2018

A Poetics of Editing

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Adds a perspective to the traditional perception of editing as the policing of error, or the imposition of judgment and closure, as a dynamic process with a built-in understanding of failure and a sense of the possible

  • Argues that its subject’s elusiveness can only be addressed through a sustained and determinedly comparative analysis that takes the long view and fully integrates the insights of practitioners

  • Offers a first attempt to define a poetics of the editing arts: an approach that denigrates neither practice nor theory but brings them into dialogue with each other

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. Definitions, Descriptions, and Comparisons

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2
    2. Editing and Mind: The Search for Meaning

      • Susan L. Greenberg
      Pages 55-78
  3. History, Time and Change

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-81
    2. Editing in the Digital Present

      • Susan L. Greenberg
      Pages 115-139
  4. Theory Frames

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-142
    2. Anti-Editing and the Digital Romantics

      • Susan L. Greenberg
      Pages 199-224
    3. A Poetics of Editing

      • Susan L. Greenberg
      Pages 225-250
    4. Coda

      • Susan L. Greenberg
      Pages 251-253
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 255-265

About this book

This original and authoritative book offers a first-ever attempt to define a poetics of the editing arts. It proposes a new field of editing studies, in which the ‘ideal editor’ can be understood in relation to the long-theorised author and reader. The book’s premise is that editing, like other forms of ‘making’, is mostly invisible and can only be brought into full view through a comparative analysis that includes the insights of practitioners. The argument, laid down in careful layers, is supported by a panoramic historical narrative that tracks the shifts in textual authority from religious and secular institutions to the romanticised self of the digital present. The dangers posed by the anti-editing rhetoric of this hybrid romanticism are confronted head-on. To the traditional perception of editing as the imposition of closure, A Poetics of Editing adds a perspective on a dynamic process with a sense of the possible.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Roehampton , Roehampton, UK

    Susan L. Greenberg

About the author

Susan L. Greenberg is Senior Lecturer in creative writing at the University of Roehampton, UK, and programme convener for the department’s MA Publishing, following a long career in journalism and media. She holds a PhD in Publishing from University College London and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Publications include Editors Talk About Editing (2015).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: A Poetics of Editing

  • Authors: Susan L. Greenberg

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92246-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-92245-4Published: 13 September 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-06392-4Published: 03 January 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-92246-1Published: 03 September 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 265

  • Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Literary Theory, History of the Book

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access