The p ro d u c tio n o f any book is a com posite a c tiv ity . It requires the com in g together o f m any d iffe re n t contexts, fro m w r itin g and illu s tra tin g the sto ry to p rin tin g and p u b lis h in g the book. In a d d itio n , the relations o f a ll the people in v o lv e d in these processes influence the project, and the a rtistic beliefs o f the tim e intersect w ith a ll o f these elem ents.15 A ll o f these as aspects o f "b o o k co m p o sitio n ," w h ic h has several com ponents.
"C o m p o s itio n " refers, first, to the physical act o f com posing type in letterpress p rin tin g , w h ich is the h isto rica l genesis and reference p o in t fo r a ll p rin tin g processes in the West since the G utenberg Bible was produced in
their anthology, Reading Books: Essays on the Material Text and Literature in America,
they write,
Clearly, w hen we read books, we really read books—that is, we read the physicality or m ateriality of the book as well as and in relation to the text itself. Literacy, then, may be said to include not only textual competence but material competence, an ability to read the semiotics of the concrete forms that embody, shape, and condition the meanings of text. Bindings, illustrations, paper, typeface, layout, advertisements, scholarly
introductions, promotional blurbs—all function as parts of a semiotic system, parts of the total m eaning of a text. (2)
While the list that Moylan and Stiles compile forms a rich umbrella for the diverse essays their anthology, they m uddy the category of "physicality or materiality" by including scholarly introductions and illustrations in the same category as bindings and paper. The linguistic or imagistic elements that do not belong to a given literary work, but are still included in the same book, are more properly identified, as McGann quotes G erard Genette, as "paratexts" — texts that are "ancillary to the main textual event" (Textual 13).
1^ In this last assertion, I stop short of saying that any particular belief "influences" or "causes" any particular w ork of art. The relation between philosophy and artistic production is complicated; Roger Fry, for example, coined much of the terminology that later described his own work.
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the fifte e n th century. A "c o m p o s ito r" is h isto rica lly a pressroom w o rke r w h o assembles (or "com poses") w o rd s and lines, letter b y letter (and space by space), on a to o l called a "com posing stick." The next step in the p rin tin g process is to arrange these lines in a m etal frame called a "chase." This step invo lve s creating a visu a l (and p h ysica lly tig h t) arrangem ent, o r
com position, between the text area and the edges o f the page as delineated by the chase. Blocks o f " fu rn itu re " h o ld the letters in p o sitio n inside the frame and therefore f i l l in the com position. T hough the type and fu rn itu re can lo o k elegant in th e ir physical arrangem ent in the chase, this sense o f "c o m p o s itio n " refers to the visua l arrangem ent o f type and w h ite space in the finished product.
T hough this process is ra re ly used in tw e n tie th -ce n tu ry book
p ro d u ctio n , it s till influences the characteristics o f the p rin te d page. P rin t carries the legacy o f being fixed fir m ly in to place. As p rin t h isto ria n W alter O ng notes in his stu d y o f the c u ltu ra l effects o f m aterial te x tu a lity, O ra lity and Literacy,
P rint situates w o rd s in space m ore relentlessly than w ritin g ever d id . W ritin g moves w ord s fro m the sound w o rld to a w o rld o f visu a l space, b u t p r in t locks w ord s in to p o sitio n in this space. C o n tro l o f p o sitio n is e ve ryth in g in p rin t. (Ong, 121)
In con tem p ora ry p rin tin g , w o rd s are composed o r locked onto the page instead o f in the chase.
The m ovem ent fro m speech to w ritin g to p r in t b rin g s d iffe re n t people in to the act o f generating language fo r others' consum ption. In the s h ift fro m o ra lity to litera cy, the fig u re o f the w rite r emerges, and the de ve lo p m e n t o f p r in t adds a person w h o coordinates the typ o g ra p h ica l
com positio n. I call this fig u re the book com poser, b u t p r in t p ro d u ctio n includes m ore than just typ o g ra p h y. The com poser m a sterm inds the look o f the bo ok ove rall. T his person m u st orchestrate diverse elements (such as w ord s, images, bla nk space, paper stock) in to a harm onious or coherent w ho le , and b rin g them in to physical fo rm d u rin g p rin tin g . Also, the com poser m u st coordinate the co llab ora tive efforts of, in a d d itio n to the w rite r, b o o k designers, p rin ters, som etim es com positors, and ( if the book has images or h a n d w o rk ) illu stra to rs, artists, a n d /o r craftspeople. In this sense, bo ok co m positio n is like the process o f com posing a sym p h o n ic w o rk: the w ord s, images, and m aterials in p rin te d books w o rk together lik e the d is tin c t in stru m e n ts o f an orchestra — som etim es w ith dissonance, som etim es in consonance.16 The book can be com posed as a w o rk o f art.
The com poser's w o rk is m ost often done b y a person associated w ith the p rin te r o r p u b lish e r; indeed, the re p u ta tio n o f the p u b lis h e r often influences the reception o f a book as m uch as the a u th o r's name. The
person w h o we co m m o n ly call the a u th o r m ig h t be more p ro p e rly called the w rite r, because w r itin g is o n ly one com ponent o f lite ra ry "c o m p o s itio n ." A u th o rs h ip includes the text's design, and the book com poser coordinates its m a teria l p ro d u c tio n .17 This process generally takes place after the o rig in a l w ritin g , tho ug h not always.
16In the case of Tristram Shandy, the m etaphor of the author as orchestral com poser inspires an entire volume called Laurence Sterne and the Origins of the Musical Novel. Interestingly, the sum m ation of musicality in Tristram Shandy borrows heavily from the terminology of visuality (Freedm an 12-13).
17 Generally, the book is then packaged, m arketed and sold with the assistance of many other people. Though this process may bring the book into a reader's hands, the sociology and economics of marketing books do not fit into my investigation of literary creation. Another study, perhaps, could probe works that make this process integral to the meaning of the book, just as I am reclaiming the significance of the printing process.
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In tw e n tie th -ce n tu ry cu ltu re, o u r custom ary focus on the w rite r as the producer o f lite ra tu re assumes that the w rite r and the "com pose r" are
always separate. The w rite r does the 'im p o rta n t' or 'cre ative' w o rk and hands o ff the text to the composer, w h o does the 'd ir ty w o rk ' o f w re s tlin g the lite ra ry creation in to a m arketable fo rm .18 E arly p rin tin g was lite ra lly filth y w o rk ; p rin tsh o p w orkers w ere called "p rin te r's d e v ils " because they w o u ld in e v ita b ly become covered in black in k and loo k like the d e vil. This fo rm u la tio n makes the com poser's role separate fro m and su b ord inate to the w rite r's . It has been easy, then, to neglect the com poser's im pa ct on the book.
The com poser has also been neglected because in standard novels, the book design is indeed subservient to the lite ra ry text. The im portance o f the w o rd s displaces those w h o facilita te th e ir m aterial p ro d u c tio n . The graphic artist, w rite s typ o gra ph er and book designer Jan Tschichold, is "a mere lie u te n a n t" to "th e sanctity o f the w ritte n w o rd " (8-9); Tschichold advises considering th is p o s itio n as a k in d o f m a rtyrd o m . He w rite s, "To rem ain nameless and w ith o u t specific appreciation, yet to have been o f service to a valuable w o rk and to the sm a ll n u m b e r o f v is u a lly sensitive readers — this, as a rule, is th e o n ly com pensation fo r the long, and indeed never-ending, ind entu re o f the ty p o g ra p h e r" (7). B ut w h e n the m aterial text dem ands a reader's attention, the com poser can no longer rem ain a b a ckgro und figure.
In this project, any lite ra ry text w ill be assumed to have at least tw o figures w h o c o n trib u te to its a u th o rsh ip before p ro d u c tio n and d is trib u tio n : the w rite r and the book composer. The com poser is e ith e r the w r ite r o r an
18 See Masten, Stallybrass, and Vickers 2 for a discussion of the 'perverse' and 'adulterous' nature of the physical text, as opposed to the purity of immaterial language.
a rtis t w ith w h o m the w rite r collaborates. These composers' w o rk is n o t so dista nt fro m the w rite rs ' efforts. The text's tw o "a u th o r fig u re s " in e vita b ly have some relationship, even if a th ird person (such as a lite ra ry agent o r an illu s tra to r) mediates that connection. Thus the p ro d u c tio n o f books is a social as w e ll as a lite ra ry practice, and the chapters w ill exam ine the relations between w rite rs and composers as s ig n ifica n t factors in the
p ro d u c tio n of lite ra ry meaning. The w o rk o f com posing the m a teria l book comes in to the foreground, b u t alw ays w ith reference to the lite ra ry text.
E. Examples
The visua l techniques o f the va rio us composers do not necessarily fo llo w the trajectory o f a rt historical de velop m en t as it is generally studied, tho ug h they d o reflect an e v o lu tio n in p rin tin g and book p ro d u c tio n
techniques. In fact, I see a reverse h is to ry in the ways th a t composers integrate images in to p rin te d texts: tw e n tie th -ce n tu ry artists often lo o k to m edieval illu m in a tio n s o r early exam ples o f illu s tra te d books such as the
Hypnerotom achia P o lip h ili (Francesco C olonna, 1499), com posed b y A ld u s M a n u tiu s, fo r in sp ira tio n . M y s tu d y therefore proceeds th ro u g h a series o f id io syn cra tic examples, chosen fro m m om ents in the h is to ry o f the no vel tha t are p a rtic u la rly conscious o f the lo o k o f the book.
Focusing on the v is u a lity o f prose is an unusual tactic, because critics generally sublim ate the m aterial co m p o sitio n o f a novel to its n a rra tiv e goals. In contrast, Jerome M cG ann claim s th a t p o e try "takes its o w n textual activities as a g ro u n d s u b je c t. . . poetical texts operate to d is p la y th e ir o w n practices, to p u t them fo rw a rd as the subject o f a tte n tio n " (Textual 10-11). T h oug h M cG ann adm its that prose fic tio n can be considered a "p o e tica l
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te xt," theorists w h o investigate the com binations o f w ord s, images, and m a te ria lity often tend to w o rk w ith poetry. W.J.T. M itc h e ll explores Blake's illu m in a te d p o e try in Blake’s Composite A r t; W end y Steiner probes
concrete p o e try in The Colors o f Rhetoric (198-218), and M cG ann relies on the w o rk o f various poets to su p p o rt his ideas about ty p o g ra p h y and
m a te ria l te x tu a lity in The Textual C ondition and Black Riders: The Visible Language o f M odernism .
Reader-response theorists, on the other hand, tend to focus on prose fic tio n fo r th e ir case studies. Roland Barthes explores the categories by w h ic h a reader understands H onore de Balzac's short story, "S arrasine," in S/Z. Robert Scholes and W olfgang Iser also focus on lite ra ry prose, as does Georges Poulet, whose choice is related to his interest in the bo ok as a form . S till, a ll these theorists neglect the physical m anifestations o f w o rd s and h o w they look on the page. Georges Poulet m entions these factors o n ly to note th e ir disappearance in the act o f reading.
T hough the examples in m y stu d y are produced in the context o f the h is to ry o f the n o ve l, none o f them com pletely fits that category; even
T ristra m Shandy stands o u t fro m its eightee nth -cen tury contem poraries. As Ian W a tt w rite s in his la n d m a rk stu d y, The Rise o f the N ovel, " T ris tra m Shandy is n o t so m uch a novel as a p a rod y o f a novel, and, w ith a
precocious technical m a tu rity , Steme turns his iro n y against m any o f the na rra tive m ethods w h ic h the new genre had so la te ly d e ve lo p e d " (W att