An electronic edition of eighteenth-century drama: the materiality of editing in performance

Abstract

In the domain of electronic edition, drama’s specificity has been considered in terms of metadata improvements and possibilities. At the same time, an increasing closeness between art history research and performance art has demonstrated its methodological value to assess the complex nature of the archive. My post-doctoral research follows the lead and goes as far as proposing that performance art can be an adequate methodology when preparing the electronic edition of eighteenth-century drama. Furthermore, “performing the archive” can help to fill the gap between the eventful nature of drama manuscripts and the audience of today, suggesting new ways of approaching the specific materiality of the plays.

Keywords

• performance art
• electronic edition
• eighteenth- century drama
• manuscripts
• archive