Blog Post - Week #5

I found this week to be especially interesting because, rather than analyzing a story as I am so used to doing, I was simply asked to research and relay the technical details of my rendition of Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market. What I found so interesting about this was how my rendition had been altered in relation to its original publication, in order to suit its intended child audience. Examining the details of the illustrations - which were devoid of the poem's sexual subtext - really emphasized this fact, and led me to consider how one text can be interpreted for specific readerships. This became even more evident as I was able to look at my peers' curations; there were some that emphasized the poem's eroticism and even others that were only vaguely reminiscent of the original poem. Examining all the editions/renditions allowed me to understand just how versatile Rosetti's poem is; even further than that, these renditions show how much of a cultural impact the text has had over the years, since its initial publication.

Another aspect I noted while completing this assignment was how frustrating it can be to find specific details concerning certain publications. As my other peers noted during class, this does illustrate how publishers are so marketing-minded; they are concerned with what will appeal to their targeted audiences. As someone seeking this information for academic research purposes, I did find this daunting. 

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Meta data

Meta data is something all scholars interested in books and their histories crave. One excellent source is the actual online Library Catalogue; each item allows you to click for "more details," which gives you more information than you might otherwise locate in the item. Of course, working with digital surrogates is never as good as working with the material copy itself.