Through the concept of contamination, David Greetham highlights various ways that one text may invade another, carrying with it a residue of potential meaning. While the focus of this study is on written works, the scope ranges widely over music, politics, art, science, philosophy, religion, and social studies. Greetham argues that this sort of contamination is not only ubiquitous in contemporary culture, but may also be a necessary and beneficial circumstance. Tracing contamination from the Middle Ages onward, he takes up issues such as the placement of quote marks in Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn," the controversy over the use of evidence for "yellowcake" uranium in Niger, and the reconstitution of reality on YouTube, to illustrate that the basic questions of evidence, fact, and voice have always been slippery concepts.

Truthiness, tainted evidence, and other transgressions

About the Author

David Greetham is Distinguished Professor of English, Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate School and founder of the interdisciplinary Society for Textual Scholarship. He is author of Theories of the Text and Textual Transgressions: Essays toward the Construction of a Biobibliography.

Reviews

. . . particularly impressive in its engaging style and wide-ranging scope ... The writing throughout is smart and fun. . . Summing Up: Highly recommended. July 2011

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Book Information
ISBN 9780253222169
Author David Greetham
Format Paperback
Page Count 402
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 544g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm