Thousands of literary texts are now available online, all submitted by volunteers. Is this the most enlightened initiative since English studies was invented?
John Sutherland wrote an interesting article for the Gardian Unlimited back in July.
In this article he make mention of Project Gutenberg along with several other online projects.
Here’s a short extract to wet your tastbuds;
This summer, I suspect, a student will graduate from a good university with an excellent degree in English. No rarity there. The degrees get better every year. Too good, some cynics say.
But this student, as he/she takes his/her scroll and smiles for the parental video, will be a new kind of academic animal: one on whom the antique gown, mortar board, and vellum sit awkwardly.
She/he will never – in their three years of undergraduate study – have worked in a library, or bought a book from a walk-in bookshop.
There may only be one, or a handful, of such graduates this year. In 10 years time it’s the other kind that will be the rarity.
Extract taken from;
Wednesday July 25, 2007