WHAT?
For our book about a book project, we have decided to create 8 journals or reflections of Hester Prynne. The journal is intended to look like something Hester has created. In terms of material and visual display for our book, we’ve come about with the idea of creating a book that seems timeless/old, maybe torn and very used. The material for our pages inside the book will consist of a simple brown paper. My group members and I will enhance the worn out look of it. Also, on the top right corner of each page, our group thought about having a small but visible imprint of the letter “A”. We were thinking, for textual purposes, like how a letter was stamped with wax, we can find something similar to represent the “A”.
We took a slightly different approach for the cover, but with the same vintage feeling. We were thinking, if possible, our cover will be made out of a soft wood, maybe chipboard. But, we would probably use more than one piece for thickness. Also, the binding of our book will be somewhat sewn together out of fabric. The design of the cover will have a large imprint of the letter “A”, also inspired by the paper haptic experience.
WHY?
Being that the narrator of the book itself tells this story based on a manuscript he finds in a customhouse, our group felt it would be appropriate to make a physical book. Since our ‘book about a book’ will be from the perspective of Hester, we are going to make it with specific materials that reflect Hester’s character. As Hester was isolated to the outskirts of the town as close to the woods as one could be, we decided to make the book out of natural-looking materials. The idea being that Hester created this journal herself out of materials she found and made use of around her house. Our group is making the pages look worn being that this will be a book that will have been made during a time of Puritan settlements. The materials we use to make the book will reflect Hester’s individuality such as the binding of the book being sewn, as that was something Hester was known around the town for.
By creating a book about a book in the form of a journal, we hope to make the readers of our book look at the story in a new light. It was originally written by a narrator in the third person, but our book will be from the perspective of a specific character. After I attended the book series panels, I realized the important of the haptic experience of paper. This influenced my group and I to make sure there is a physical component and experience for the reader. Making the paper look and feel worn and marked reflects Hester as an individual as she has been marked with the letter ‘A’ and been through difficult times herself. By stamping the letter ‘A’ onto the paper with a material that sticks out from the paper and can be felt, we hope to highlight the letter Hester had to wear that stood out from everything she wore. We plan to use the materials mentioned above as well as more that we think of in the future to reflect the personality and experiences of the character we are making our ‘book’ from the perspective of.
I like the idea of having diaries that retell the story through Hester Prynne’s perspective. I am also excited about your attention to the haptic experience of this book.
A few thoughts and concerns (in no particular order):
-Be careful about conflating old with timeless. That something can be old already suggests it is not timeless. To be old is to bear the passing of time. Additionally your project seems concerned with creating a relic to be recovered from a specific past moment.
-I like the idea of wanting to think about the way the narrator/author perspective shapes how we see Hester Prynne by trying to imagine from her perspective. I’m curious though about the structure and scope of the diary’s content. How long of a period in her life or even within the story do you plan to focus on? How many entries? Will the diaries only be entries reflecting her feelings? Or will it include scraps of other “documents” (which you created) to help tease out the story (i.e. a pressed flower or a page of the catechism she was teaching Pearl)?
-Relatedly how do you plan to integrate the various aspects/information the assignment ask you to include within your book content (i.e. information about the history of the book and about the reception of the book over time)? See assignment page for all things that need to be included.
-To help you think about the above question, you might consider having a “forward.” So when historians/scholars make the manuscript treasures they’ve uncovered from the archive available for purchase, they often introduce the reproduced edition with a forward about the process of recovery and some notable points about the work that they believe other scholars will find significant. The only thing about this option is that it is incongruous with your desire to make the relic. You wouldn’t put a forward in the original copy. Another idea, which might be extremely nice is to put each copy of the diary in a plastic sleeve and file folder the way it might be kept in an archive. In the file folder you could then include a note card or sheet of paper that does some of the works that a forward does though not necessarily completely in prose. If you are interested in this option, let me know, and I can show you a picture of what that might look like. The added benefits of this option is that it also increases the life span of your created books should you decide you’d like to actually keep them for a while (and it enhances the feeling of authenticity).
-Again I like your interest in the haptic, and I want to encourage you to perhaps let that also drive the focus of the content of the book. For Hester Prynne was a woman alone in a strange place, which must be very hard, and indeed the relief she finds in Dimsdale is quite haptic and everything that seems to come out of that experience (for better or worse) constantly seems to bring her into a relation of touch and texture (i.e. the haptic quality of the A and Pearl’s own haptic orientation to the world). So when it comes to including some literary analysis in the paper (which is tricky because it’s a journal, but again there are ways), perhaps you might actually focuses on moments of touch and texture in the narrative. I’m thinking most explicitly when Pearl reaches out to touch the A on her bosom. That must have been emotional moment. It seems that it might be a point to analyze in the text and rework through Hester’s point of view in the diary?? It seems that you are already very interested in Hester as a seamstress and wanting that to show in the materiality of the diary, which is great! You might also consider the references to her relationship to sewing as potential points of analysis.
I’m also wondering about logistics of your book. What you describe seems amazing. It also seems like it might present you a myriad of difficulties that if not planned for will really be a problem.
-When you say simple brown paper, what are you thinking? Brown paper bag, brown construction paper, brown butcher paper? a combination or something else? Each has a different feel and likely a different way of acquiring it, and you will need a certain amount of it to have enough pages for 8 books.
-Also when you say you will make the page look worn, how do you plan to go about doing so? Burning the edges? Putting it in water and then leaving it out to dry? Where will you do these things? How much time will it take? You likely can’t do this on campus? So will you all meet up some place to do it will just one person do it?
-My biggest concerns with the materiality has to do with the cover. I love the idea of trying to use thin wood. I’m wondering though if someone in your group has experience working with thin wood because it might not be so easy to work without special skill sets. How will you write on the cover (or do you not plan for it to have any writing)? Additionally purchasing it and getting it cut to size might also be more expensive than you’d like. I don’t know for certain. I’m raising the concern so you can know to look into the logistics asap lest you find at the last minute you are in over your heads.
-I love the idea of stitching the book together; it seems fitting for Hester. However I’m wondering about stitching a wood cover to the paper pages. What kind of needle? Will you have to prep the material in any particular way? Sewing paper is not that hard (though you have to experiment with needle size and being consistent with the pressure so as not to create too big a hole or tears, but the cover might create problems.
-As a potential alternative to wood cover, have you considered a cloth cover? Maybe even one that has some cardboard in it to make it sturdy, but which you can sew up the edges to make it look clean, and then you can first sew the pages to each other and then sew the collected pages the back of the cloth spine?