Benjamin Alexander
“Ourwritingtoolsarealsoworkingonourthoughts,”
FrederickNietzsche,typewrittenmanuscript
⸪
Thefollowingdiscussionisshapedbyaparticularhistoriographicsensitivity
thatcombinesaperspectiveonthearchiveasanintellectualbodythatfacili- tatescomplexscholarlypracticesofremembering,forgetting,andre-remem-bering,withaparallelconcernforevolvingprocessesofintellectualexchange
involvingthearchiveandtheliteraryscholar.Atthecentreofthisdiscussion
reststheSalmanRushdieArchive,acollectionofpersonalmaterialsthat,from
thepointofviewofboththearchiveandtheliteraryscholar,isradicalinboth
itsformandcontent.
My particular engagement with the Salman Rushdie Archive introduces
(and then offers to reconcile) two distinct observations. First, The Salman
RushdieArchiveisamongthefirstcollectionstoprovideascholarlyperspec- tiveontheincreasinglyintricatepracticeoftwenty-firstcenturytextualin-quirythatis,atpresent,beingshapedandreshapedbyscholars’accesstoan
archivalrecordthatincreasinglyincludesauthors’engagementswithbothma-terialevidenceandcomplexdigitalmatrices.Second,datingfromthe1990s
(approximatelytheyearsinwhichRushdiepreparedandtransferredhismate-rialstothecareofthearchive),someliteraryscholarsbegantoengageinwhat
theycalledNewPhilologyandtoapplyitsstrategiestotheinterpretationand
re-interpretationoftexts.BasingthemselvesontheworkofBernardCerqui-glini(1989),theyarguedforthestudyoftextsinallitsvariationsfromabroad
spectrumofliterary,historicalandcriticaldiscourses.1Whensensitivelycon- figured,theselinesofdiscussioncoalescearoundabroadeningcriticalper-spective regarding the subjective nature of the manufacture of texts
1 Esp.Nichols(1990)andWenzel(1990).
© BenjaminAlexander,2015 | doi10.1163/9789004270848_006
ThisisanopenaccesschapterdistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttribution-Noncommercial3.0Unported(CC-BY-NC3.0)License.
(manuscript,printedanddigital);and,whichrecallsBernardCerquiglini’sob-servationthat,“medievalwritingdoesnotproducevariants;itisvariance.”2
TheRushdieArchiveisamongthefirstarchivalcollectionstodocumentthe
evolution of the intellectual and imaginative practices of a twentieth and
twenty-firstcenturyauthorastheyprogressedfromacombinedrelianceon
materialinscriptionandtypewritingtechnologies,to,atpresent,analmostex-clusivedependenceonthefluidityofdigitalcomposition.Mostsuccinctly,the
SalmanRushdieArchiveisrevolutionary(Iusethistermwithextremecau-tion);and,itisrevolutionaryfromacombinationofintellectualandhistorical
perspectivesthatreachdeepwithinthearchiveandacrossabreadthofaca-demicandhistoricalinterests.3
Salman Rushdie and the Archive: Shaping Twenty-first Century Literary Memory
OnMarch15,2010The New York TimespublishedanarticleentitledFending Off Digital Decay, Bit by Bit.“AmongthearchivalmaterialfromSalmanRushdie
currently on display at Emory University in Atlanta are inked book covers,
handwritten journals and four Apple computers (one ruined by a spilled
Coke)”thearticlebegins.“The18gigabytesofdatatheycontainseemedto
promisefuturebiographersandliteraryscholarsadigitalwonderland:com-prehensive, organized and searchable files, quickly accessible with a few
clicks.”4
Withtheopeningof “SirSalmanRushdie’sarchive,”visitorstothewebpor- talforEmory’sManuscript,Archives,andRareBookLibrary,observe,“thecel-ebratedwriter’scomputerfiles,privatejournals,notebooks,photographsand
manuscriptsthatprovideinsightintohiscreativeprocess,campaignsforhu-manrightsandcelebrity.”“Themultimediaexhibit,A World Mapped by Sto-ries,”theweb-pagefurthernotes,“alsomarkedasignificantstepforwardinthe
preservationofpersonaldigitalmaterials.”5
2 Cerquiglini(1989),quotedinNichols(1990)1.
3 Likemanythingsarchival,itisworthnotingthehistoricalfortunethatexplainsthepreserva-tionofRushdie’soriginalcomputingdevices.DuringarecentinterviewpostedtoEmory’s
webpage,RushdieexplainedtocuratorErikaFarrthatduringthefatwa,heavoideddiscarding
hiscomputersoutofconcernforhispersonalsafety.Insteadofthrowingthemawayhesimply
kepttheminaclosetuntiltheireventualtransfertothearchive.
4 Cohen,Patricia,“FendingoffDigitalDecay,BitbyBit,”inNew York Times15March2010.
5 ElaineJustice,A World Mapped by Stories: The Salman Rushdie Archives.EmoryUniversity,
RobertWoodW.WoodruffLibrary.Web.library.emory.edu.
Abriefreviewofcataloguerecord(FindingAidinarchivalparlance)tothe
RushdieArchiveimmediatelypointstoitsgroundbreakingcontributionboth
tothearchivegenerallyandbyEmory’sarchivistsspecifically.Itfollowsthat
theFindingAiditselfidentifieswaysinwhichthetwenty-firstcenturyarchi-vistwillplayanincreasinglyvisibleroleintheshapingofliteraryscholarship.
“Thepapersincludejournals,appointmentbooks,andnotebooks;writingsby
Rushdie, specifically manuscripts and typescripts of his fiction, nonfiction,
scriptsandotherwritings,”thefindingaidbegins. Theguidethendepartsfrom
thefamiliaritiesofmaterialmatricesandintroducespointsofaccesstothe
gestationoftwenty-firstcenturyliteratureswithintheexpandingfluidityof
digitaltechnologies.
Ofparticulatenoteinthecollectionisthedigitalmaterialfromfourof
Rushdie’scomputersinadditiontoaharddrive.Thefilescurrentlyavail-abletoresearchersarefromoneofhisearliercomputers,aMacintosh
Performa5400;theydatefrom1992–2002,andconsistofnotesanddrafts
ofRushdie’swritingsandselectedcorrespondence.Ofparticularinterest
is a small cache of email correspondence, representing Rushdie’s first
forayintothisemergingformofcommunicationinthelate1990s.6 WhatistrulyrevolutionaryabouttheSalmanRushdieArchiveistheconver- genceofscholarlyopportunitytoexploreboththeevolutionofRushdie’scre-ativitywithinthespecificmaterialspaces(hardware),and,theevolvingdigital
matrices(software)thattheauthorpreferredacrossthefirstdecadesofthe
personalcomputerrevolution.
“AttheEmoryexhibition,”observesErikaFarr,DirectorofBornDigitalAr-chivesatEmory,“visitorscanlogontoacomputerandseethescreenthatMr.
Rushdiesaw,searchhisfilefoldersashedid,andfindoutwhatapplicationshe
used.TheycancallupanearlydraftofMr.Rushdie’s1999novel,The Ground Beneath Her Feet,andeditasentenceorpostaneditorialcomment.”7 “Tothe
Emoryteam,”Farrfurtherobserves,“simulatingtheauthor’selectronicuni-verseisequivalenttomakingareproductionofthedesk,chair,fountainpen
andpaperthat,say,CharlesDickensused,andthenallowingvisitorstositand
scribblenotesonacopyofanearlyversionof“BleakHouse.”8Farr’sobserva-6 Rushdie,Salman,Salman Rushdie papers, 1947–2008.EmoryUniversity,Manuscript,Archives,
andRareBookLibrary.
7 ElaineJustice,A World Mapped by Stories: The Salman Rushdie Archives.EmoryUniversity,
RobertWoodW.WoodruffLibrary.Web.library.emory.edu.
8 Ibid.
tionspointdirectlytothefundamentalobservationofthisessay:namelythat
the introduction of multifaceted combinations of material and digital evi-dencesintocontemporaryliteraryarchivesisconcurrentwiththeemergence
ofnewdevelopmentsintextualscholarshipwhichseektoapplyNewPhilolo-gytotheinterpretationoftextsacrossincreasinglybroadfieldsofstudy.
Atpresent,researcherscaninteractwithRushdie’sdigitaltoolsfromthe
relativeoriginofthecommercializationofthepersonalcomputerthroughto
thepresent. Oneofthegreatchallengesofthedigitalageremains,ofcourse,
thefactthatthetechnologiesofcompositionwillcontinuetoshapeandre-shapeauthors’creativeprocessesatapacethatobscuresourjudgmentofthe
relativeprimitivismofmachinesproducedonlyayearortwoago.Sotoosuch
technologies of composition will remain in advance of the commensurate
technologieswhicharecapableofpreservingandprovidingaccesstooutdated
hardwareandsoftware.TheRushdieArchiveretardssuchdistortionsandal-lowsscholarstosensitivelyconsidertheproductionofliteratureaccordingto
limitedspacesandoperatingcapabilitiesofthewordprocessingtechnologies
datingfromthemid-1980s.
Farrnotesspecificallyscholars’accesstoboththeactualhardwareRushdie
engagedwithandtheabilityto:“searchhisfilefoldersashedid,andfindout
whatapplicationsheused(MacStickieswereafavorite).”9Suchremarkable
accessilluminatesthetremendousbroadeningofpotentialcaptureandpres-ervationofliterary“memory”thatdigitaltechnologiesofferfirsttothearchive,
andthentothescholar.Suchaccessprovidesakindofsimulationofexperi- ence(thatis,opportunitiesforresearchwithinanexpandingcontextofcre-ation) that are unimaginable within the comparatively limited matrices of
manuscriptsandprintedtexts.Whilescholars’engagementwithRushdie’spri- marymaterialswillalwaystakeplacewithinthecontextofthearchive(apriv-ilegedculturalspacedistancedfromtheauthor’senvironmentofcomposition),
thearchivecreatesanadditionallayerofcontexttothegestationofparticular
textsthatistrulyrevolutionary,byprovidingaccesstobothRushdie’scomput-ersandtheiroperatingsystems.
Further,andofparticularimportancetothestudyathand,Emory’scontri- butiontoboththeexpandingperspectivesofthearchiveandconcurrentevo-lutionsoftextualandliteraryscholarshipportendsadditionalpointsofentry
into textual analysis.To-date, archivists have provided access to the digital
manuscripts and drafts of manuscripts that Rushdie, himself, saved; i.e. to
thosefilesthatarerepresentativeofRushdie’screativeprocess.These“digital
9 ElaineJustice,A World Mapped by Stories: The Salman Rushdie Archives.EmoryUniversity,
RobertWoodW.WoodruffLibrary.Web.library.emory.edu.
manuscripts”areemphaticallydistinctfromtheadditionallayers(Iusethis
wordliterally)ofevidencethatremainimprintedontheauthor’shard-drives.
Thisisanessentialdistinction.Whileaccesstotheformerisunquestionably
profound,theopportunitytoaccessthelatterwillbetrulyrevolutionary.And,
Iargue,itisasharedawarenessamongacademicsofthisemergingpotentialto
accesslatentanddiscardedevidencesthathelpstoexplaintheon-goingre-valuationsamongtextualscholarsfromtheearlymodernperiodthroughto
thepresent.
Emory,however,isnotaloneitseffortstocaptureandprovideaccesstoour
twenty-firstcenturyliteraryheritage.TheHarryRansomCenterisworkingto
makeavailabledigitalrecordscontainedwithintheNormanMailerPapers.10
Mailer,acontemporaryofRushdie’s,sharedhisexperienceoftransitioning
frommanuscripttodigitalwritingpractices. Moreover,theRansomCentercan
makethepersuasiveclaimthatitcontains(perhapsmaintains)thearchival
recordthatgivescontexttothefirstcomprehensiveevidenceofhypertextfic-tion:MichaelJoyce’sAfternoon: A Story.
ThecommitmentofinstitutionslikeEmorytopreservingtheevolutionof
thetwenty-firstcenturyimaginationasitcontinuestointeractwithdigital
technologiesishistoricallyunprecedented.IfinstitutionslikeEmoryUniver-sityandtheRansomCenterweremorelimitedintheirperceptionsoftextual
scholarshiptheycouldeasilymigratethedigitalevidencescontainedonthe
hard-drivesofauthorslikeRushdieandMailerand,muchtotheirfinancial
benefit,disregardtheresponsibilityformaintainingtheoperationofauthors’
computers.
Reimagining the Text
DuringthepreciseyearsthatRushdiewasnegotiatingforthetransferofhis
archivetoEmory,andduringwhichtimearchivistsatEmoryweremaking
revolutionaryforaysintothepreservationandaccesstodigitalevidences,liter-ary scholars began to ask some fundamentally New Philological questions
abouttheverynatureoftextsdatingfromtheearlymodernperiodthroughto
therelativepresent.Thereasonsforthisconcurrentshiftor,perhaps,advance-ment in archival practices and literary scholarship are, I believe, easily ex-plained.Datingfromtheearly1990s,textualandliteraryscholarsgenerally
10 For additional information about the Norman Mailer Papers, seeNorman Mailer: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center availableathttp://www.hrc.utexas.
edu/.
began to appreciate the coming challenges that digital technologies intro-duced.Indeed,datingfromthisperiodtherewasareorientationinscholarly
perspectiveontheverynatureofprimaryevidences,andtheirprocessofpro- duction,preservation,andfutureaccess,thatremainsrootedinscholars’vari-ousengagementswiththecomplexitiesofdigitaltechnologies–thatis,their
personal experiences of the “computer revolution.” Hindsight reveals a re-markableparallelenergyoccurringbothwithinthearchiveitself,and,across
thefieldofliteraryscholarshipmoregenerally.TheopeningoftheSalman
RushdieArchivesimplybringsintofocustheseparallelinterests,andillus-tratestheirincreasingconvergenceandprocessofmutualexchange.
Attheverycentreoftheseconvergentenergiesrestsafundamentalengage-mentwithNewPhilologyasitwasenvisionedbyscholarsdatingfromthe
early1990s.“Arethinkingofphilologyshouldseektominimizetheisolation
betweenmedievalstudiesandothercontemporarymovementsincognitive
methodologies, such as linguistics, anthropology, modern history, cultural
studies,andsoon,”StephenNicholsobservesintheintroductiontoThe New Philology,“byremindingusthatphilologywasonceamongthemosttheoreti-callyavant-gardedisciplines.”11“Initswidersensephilologyservesthebasic
urge to understand a work of verbal and usually written communication,”
writesSiegfriedWenzelinthesametext.“But,”Wenzelcontinues,
indoingsoitgoesbeyondthestrictconcentrationonlanguageandits
aspects,toincludewhatevercontextualinformationmighthelptoeluci-dateatext:firstofallitssources,butthenalsopoliticalandotheraspects
ofhistory,biographywherethewriterisknown,socioeconomiccondi-tions(suchaspatronageorpracticaldemandforbooks),theconditions
andprocessesofwritingorcopyingadocumentandofprinting,thereli-gionorWeltanschauungoftheculturefromwhichthetextcomes,the
intendeduseofthetext(itsSitzimLeben,tousethefashionablephrase),
andmuchelse.12
Toaligncriticalobservationsregardingtheevolutionoftextualscholarship
acrossthepasttwodecadeswiththeintroductionofdigitalevidencesintothe
archiveistoobserveakindoffruitionofthecriticalobservationsofferedby
NewPhilologistsincludingNicholsandWenzel.
InmyviewscholarslikeAdrianJohns,DavidKastanandFrancoMoretti
havebothincorporatedandexpandedupontheNewPhilologists’concernfor
11 Nichols(1990)1.
12 Wenzel(1990)12.
contextualstudyinordertoexplaintheformationofliteraryconventionsdat-ingfromtheEnglishRenaissancethroughtotheVictorianage.Otherscholars,
IamthinkingofLawrenceRaineyspecifically,havepioneeredaphilological
approachtotheinterpretationoftwentiethcenturytexts;indeed,textswhich
hadlongassumedtohaveexhaustedtheresearchvalueoftheirprimarysourc- es. Mostrecently,MatthewKirschenbauminparticularhasturnedhisatten-tiontotheexplorationoftherevolutionaryadvancesinwritingtoolsthathave
reshapedcreativepracticesacrossthepasthalf-century,exploring,inKirschen-baum’swords,thetwenty-firstcentury“forensicimagination.”13
This is a tremendous breadth of recent scholarship that has coalesced
aroundwhatarefundamentallynewphilologicaldiscoursesandwhichhas
beensimultaneouslyfacilitatedbyscholars’engagementwithdigitaltechnolo-gies.
Thequestion,ofcourse,iswhydidtheseseeminglydistinctinterestsemerge
frombothwithinthearchiveandtheacademyduringthisconcurrentperiod
intime? Theanswer,Ibelieve,isinthewaysthatdigitaltechnologieshaveen-couragednewwaysofviewingourliteraryandculturalheritage.
The Text Re-Imaged
Itisacasebestmadethroughexample.OnOctober29th1998,ChristiesAuc-tionHouseauctionedanextraordinaryvolume. Thetext,athirteenthcentury
prayerbookcomposedinConstantinople,waspurchasedbyananonymous
collectorwhoimmediatelyplacedthevolumeinthecareofcuratorsandcon-servatorsattheWaltersArtMuseuminBaltimore,Maryland. Whatmakesthe
volumesoextraordinaryisthatitis,byeverydefinition,apalimpsest.14 Initself
thismaynotseemremarkable. OnceinthecareofconservatorsattheWalters,
however,afascinatingcombinationofintellectualandtechnologicalenergies
convergedonthisvolume. Infact,theparticularnexusofthesetechnological
andinterpretativepracticesidentifytheArchimedesPalimpsestasadefining
momentinanticipatinghowculturalheritagematerialsandmanifestationsof
“memory”ingeneralwillbeaccessedandre-imaginedintwenty-firstcentury
contexts.
TheArchimedesPalimpsest,asthisvolumehascometobeknown,isoneof
onlythreemanuscriptsthatareknowntohavecontainedseminalphilosophi-cal and physionlythreemanuscriptsthatareknowntohavecontainedseminalphilosophi-cal observations attributed to Archimedes written in ancient
13 Kirschenbaum(2008).
14 NetzandNoel(2007).
Greek,thelanguageofthephilosopher. ThetextincludestwoofArchimedes’
treatisesthatcanbefoundnowhereelse:The MethodandStomachion. Two
othervolumesthatarebelievedtohavecontainedcomparabletracesofArchi-medes’treatisesdisappearedinca.1311and1550,respectively. Theonlyother
comparablevolumethatcontainsevidencesofArchimedes’ideasdatesfrom
approximately700CE(400yearsbeforetheproductionofthepresenttext).
Whatmakesthisvolumesosingularlyremarkable,however,isthatitre-mains,initsverynature,apalimpsest. Thepresentvolumecomprises174folio
pagesinscribedonparchment.Collectively,however,thesepagesrepresenta
physicalandintellectualsynthesisofleavesthatwereexcised(literallyextract-ed)fromatleastfivedistinctpre-existingtexts,including:tenpagesofwritings
attributedtoHyperides;sixfoliopagesofanunidentifiedNeoplatonictext;
fourfoliopagesfromanunknownliturgicalmanuscript;andafurthertwelve
pagesfromtwotextsthathavenotyetbeenidentified.
ThemonksworkinginConstantinopleduringthetwelfthcenturyandwho
intendedthecompositionofaprayerbookidentifiedforthematerialsoftheir
volumeleavesfromthesedisparatetexts.15Theythenscrapedtheextantinks
fromtheirpagesandresizedtheleavestofittheuniformdimensionsoftheir
intendedvolume,andtheninitiatedtheirprocessofcomposition.Fromthe
pointofviewofthearchive,whatthetwelfthcenturymonkspursuedduring
theirproductionofaEuchologionwasinfactacomplexprocessofremoving
previousattemptstoconvergethought(cultureinitsimmaterialform)withits
materialrepresentation,thatis–inthecaseoftheArchimedesPalimpsest–
leavesoftext,fromtheirexistingorpre-intendedintellectualandphysicalcon-texts (again, leaves of text). They then reconfigured their intellectual and
physicalpropertiestofittheirownparticularsetofintellectualandcultural
interests. Fromourpost-modernarchivalperspectivetheArchimedesPalimp-sestrevealsafascinatingandliteralprocessofremembering,forgetting,and
re-remembering.
OnceinthecareofconservatorsattheWaltersArtMuseum,afascinating
confluenceofscholarlyandtechnologicalenergiesconvergeduponthisre-markable document. After the volume was dis-bound (a process that took
closeto4years),theindividualpagesweredigitallyimagedusingaprocess
calledmultispectralimaging.Theprocessallowsforthelayersoftexttobedif- ferentiatedanddiscerned.Theentireprocessisakindoftextualarchaeolo-gy. Layersoftextualhistoryhaveinfactbeenliftedfromthevellumwiththe
15 TechnicallythevolumethemonkscomposedisknownasaEuchologion;aliturgicaltext
oftheEasternCatholicChurchcorrespondingroughlytoaRomanCatholicMissal,Ritual
andPontifical.
resultthatscholarshavehadtheopportunitytotranscribetheArchimedes
treatise.
IoffertheexampleofThe Archimedes Palimpsest asasegueintoamore
IoffertheexampleofThe Archimedes Palimpsest asasegueintoamore