Steering Committee members Paul Eggert and Roger Osborne attended the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) at Wagga Wagga (2-5 July): http://asaliterature.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ASAL-conference-final-programme1.pdf
Paul and Roger presented papers on their research in a panel with Professor Leigh Dale. Paul’s discussion of the interpretative challenges caused by the material record of Henry Lawson’s short story collection While the Billy Boils was complemented by Roger’s discussion of the interpretative challenges caused by the fragmentation and uncertainty of Joseph Furphy’s Such is Life. Roger argued that an electronic edition of Such is Life was the best way for researchers to deal with this fragmentation and uncertainty, and he provided an introduction to the way the AustESE Workbench makes this possible.
The panel drew attention to the AustESE Project, and this was supplemented by discussions with interested researchers throughout the conference. Roger organised a live demonstration of the AustESE Workbench in action. In addition to editorial projects already testing the AustESE Workbench with the works of Charles Harpur, Joseph Furphy, and Katharine Susannah Prichard, the AustESE presence at ASAL attracted the interest of several other researchers, including one researcher who is exploring the ‘archaeology’ of convict ballads as they were passed down to us via oral delivery and print. This transmission has left a number of competing versions with questionable authority to represent the ‘genuine’ version.
The AustESE Project will build on the interest of ASAL members with continuing advice and assistance as the AustESE Workbench is refined over the next few months. A numer of those people attending the ASAL conference will also be attending the AustESE Workshop on 3 October. This will provide a great opportunity to showcase the contribution that the AustESE Project has made to thought and practice in a wide variety of textual studies.