Interweave 18: Textual Imperialism, Post-Colonial Bibliography, and the Poetics of Culture

IN TEXTUAL SCHOLARSHIP, AS IN MOST OTHER ACADEMIC FIELDS, there is a lag between the moment of composition and the published work. For longstanding, multi-volume editions this lag can mean that an edition may be planned in one era, begin production in another, and reach completion in yet another. The critical ground under our feet is forever moving, and this can be a liability for the glacial progress of much editorial work. Perceiving the chronological gap, a critic ought therefore to make allowances for a discrepancy between current theory or ideology and actual editorial production.¹