About the event

Before a book can be read, it needs to be written first. To write a great work of literature a writer needs to make sure that it ‘works’, that it somehow strikes a chord. A major element in this process is to ‘kill your darlings’, or the act of cutting. This form of creative undoing involves more than just authors cancelling words in their drafts. Writers are also readers; they take notes, some of which are processed in their own work, but many of which remain vestigial. Like vestigial organs, they have no direct function in the finished product, but they did have a function in the creative production process. The writer decided not to include them in their work.

One would expect these ‘cuts’ to disappear into the waste-paper basket. But, very often, writers do not throw them away, and many of them are carefully preserved in libraries and archives. 

The exhibition Write Cut Rewrite at the Weston Library is a peek behind the scenes, into authors’ workshops. It reveals ideas that did not make it into our best-known novels, poems or plays, the evidence of which can only be recovered in manuscripts, held in archives and special collections.

In this talk, meet the curators behind this incredibly successful exhibition.

 Speaker

Dirk Van Hulle is Professor of Bibliography and Modern Book History at the University of Oxford.

Mark Nixon is Professor of Modern Literature and Beckett Studies at the University of Reading.

Booking information

You can attend this event in person at the Weston Library or online via Zoom. The event is free and open to all but booking is required. When you have booked your place, the ticketing system will send you an automated confirmation.

Book now – in person

Book now – online

Details will be confirmed to registrants ahead of the event. If you have booked to attend online, you will receive a link to the Zoom webinar in the week before the event.

Friends of the Bodleian

This talk is supported by the Friends of the Bodleian. To enjoy closer access to the Bodleian, including exclusive events and priority access to online content, join the Friends today.

For more information email fob@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

 Location

This lecture will be held in person in the Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre at the Weston Library.

Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG

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 Wheelchair access

The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible.