Transitions 2.0

As announced in Textual Cultures 7.1, with this issue the Society for Textual Scholarship concludes its relationship with Indiana University Press and moves to its new home of IndianaUniversityScholarWorks (IUSW), now part of the Office of Scholarly Publishing at Indiana University. This transition will be reinforced by my own departure as editor-in-chief, leaving that task in the very capable hands of my friend, colleague, and editor-in-arms, Daniel E. O’Sullivan, duly appointed at the STS meeting in Chicago, March 2013. Dan has been part of the mix very much from the beginning of the raucous days of the move from Text to Textual Cultures (2005). While his title was editor of the Anglo-American review section, Dan has been involved in virtually every decision, editorial and managerial, that the journal has faced in its seven years in print and electronic form. An accomplished editor and scholar with an important literary and musicological edition of Thibaut de Champagne in the works and a wide array of languages at his disposal, he will be the perfect shepherd to guide Textual Cultures in the years to come.

Along with Dan’s taking over the reins as editor-in-chief, the number of editors grows as well to handle the ever-larger number of submissions. In this issue, I have already taken advantage of the wisdom and good work of my friend and collaborator, Dario Del Puppo. Marta Werner, whose guidance and intellectual courage I have often called upon in these years, has been working tirelessly to develop essays for future issues. John Walsh, a long-admired STSer and scholarly editor, also joins the team to provide his special expertise in the field of digital editing. And we welcome Michelangelo Zaccarello, who has been one of Textual Cultures’ most stalwart supporters and promoters abroad, both in print and in his presentations on textual editing from Tallinn to Seattle. And, of course, the journal will still rely on the good work of Edward Burns and Alvaro Barbieri, to whom I have turned so often in these past seven years for their sound judgment and intellect. Taking over for Dan as editor of the Anglo-American reviews will be Heather Allen. We are very excited about what we know will be Heather’s additional focus on textual work being done by Hispanists and Native Americanists. The picture is complete with Tony Brewer, our compositor from 5.1 on, who has worked miracles as a skilled collaborator with an eye for the book arts I can only envy. I leave Textual Cultures in better hands and destined for a brighter future.

The journal’s past is a matter of record, some of it is in print and digital archives, some of it perhaps still lingers in the memory of those who participated in it. There is no reason to fill more pages, reviewing any of it here. But I would like to thank all those who had a hand or voice in shaping it in these years, especially those who made me sharpen my methods and arguments to lead a journal often against the grain, to borrow an expression put to sprightly use by Teodolinda Barolini. I am grateful for all I have learned, but most especially for a bit of simple advice that Trevor Howard-Hill once gave me: You’re the editor; the final say is yours.

A final debt of sincere gratitude must go to Maria for her support and encouragement during eight years of toil, discovery, love, frustration, and satisfaction devoted to the work of others; eight years that she bore with grace and understanding. She was literally one of Textual Cultures’ first subscribers. Fifteen issues later, including Text 17, as I hand over these final pages, this last number I have edited is dedicated to her.