ABSTRACT
In the editing encounter, one is exposed to the other through questions and critique that intimate the possibility of a text’s transformation. The communicative space of editing can be a space of labor, struggle, negotiation, judgment, irritation, transformation, and discovery. In this chapter, we explore Georges Bataille’s concepts of fissure and, nonknowledge—the rebellion against the closure of meaning—to bring into view the interplay of diverse voices that may enter the exchanges between authors and editors. We further integrate John Keats’s discussion of negative capability, the ability to be with uncertainties without jumping into quick judgments and conclusions, as a practice of pausing and staying open to the gaps and ruptures in meaning, and engaging the conversation in exploring emergent meaning as part of dialogic editing. We reflect on pausing and inquiring as new flavors in one’s writing become accessible through the “bite” of an editor’s questions and critique.
