The literary manuscript at the time of its (multi) technical reproducibility

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to give an account of the process of transcription of the first manuscript notebook of one of the most significant novels of 20th century Mexican literature: El libro vacío (1958), written by Josefina Vicens. It also tries to problematize the notion of transcription. First, the general characteristics of the corpus object of the transcription are described and information is provided on the conditions and repercussions of its discovery, as well as of the novel. In the second instance, the phases that the transcription went through are exposed, emphasizing both the various supports used and some inconveniences that arose during the process, with the purpose of highlighting that the final result (a hybrid diplomatic transcription: electronic and manual), although it was the product of multiple reconsiderations, it found its final form thanks to the previous completion of an apographic transcription. For this reason, the last part proposes as a method not only technical but also properly hermeneutical, in relation to a literary manuscript, the realization of an apographic transcription, as it enriches its decipherment and study, as well as results in a more precise consolidation of the criteria for a possible genetic edition.