Standing in Rich Place: Electrifying the Multiple-Text Edition or, Every Text is Multiple

Back in 1996, W. Speed Hill listed eight different kinds of editions being created by current editors, one of which was the hypertext edition. In the ten short years since then, the hypertext edition has blossomed to the extent that it includes within its one category many of the different kinds of editions Hill listed. This paper reviews the way the electronic medium has been used thus far in the development of editions, discusses some of the challenges that editors face as they work in the new medium, and explores issues in the further development of electronic texts, especially in the way that multiple versions and meanings can more accurately—and more dramatically be represented in a medium that allows for a dynamic rather than static text.