Hard Times & Materiality of the Text

Before we move into a discussion about the content of each serial issue for Hard Times, let's post your responses to a series of questions we discussed on February 23:

• How are the engravings situated in relationship to the text? Include a brief discussion of Ruskin's article - take a look at the Barnaby Rudge image to compare the look of the Hard Times illustrations (VPM 399)
• How much of the narrative is in each column?
• How is the story divided between issues? do you need to have read all preceding issues to understand the narrative?
• How the column width impacts reading?
• How did the newsprint impact your reading?
• Where is the story divided in the columns? Does it impact the narrative?
• What was it like to read aloud and/or by candlelight?
• How many chapters in each issue number?
• Did the typography impact your reading experience?
• What about the white space and borders? How do they impact the reading experience?
• What did you find about word choice, sentence length, or complexity of sentences?

The following question is based on the concept of Benedict Anderson's "imagined communities." At our next meeting, we'll take up the content of the serials and what's missing (similar to what we did with The Penny Magazine in class). To prepare for that conversation, briefly respond to the below question:

• What or who is the "imagined community" for your issue(s) numberof Hard Times? Do the different issue numbers offer a different community (based on either content on materiality)? Include a brief discussion of "Illustrated Periodical Literature" (VPM 391)