| [vheissu] | [criticism] | [biblio] | [bio] | [misc] |
| [ A ] | [ B ] | [ C ] | [ D ] | [ E ] | [ F ] | [ G ] | [ H ] | [ I ] |
| [ J ] | [ K ] | [ L ] | [ M ] | [ N ] | [ O ] | [ P ] | [ Q ] | |
| [ R ] | [ S ] | [ T ] | [ U ] | [ V ] | [ W ] | [ X ] | [ Y ] | [ Z ] |
The pages in this map are the result of a database built in order to create a systematic overview of Pynchon criticism and other assorted articles, ranging from professional criticism to gossip in the mainstream press. The database contains a report module that generates ready-to-publish html code (hence the ´export´ mention in the header) in order to update as flexibly as possible. The database model is rather complicated and consists of 22 different tables. Using the referential integrity idea for relational databases, only automatically validated entries are shown. While building this database, gradually certain rules had to be applied, and a short explanation of these rules is given below. If you are interested in a screen dump of the main form, click here.
A complete bibliographical reference is enclosed in an html paragraph and contains author(s), title, subtitle, publication details. These elements are comma-separated. After a line break, a 2nd line gives information on subject, genre, language, country and (if applicable) a link.
Names of authors are in the format name, surname, first letter
of middle name. If an article is written by more than 1 author, the 2nd
name is in the format surname space first letter of middle name space
name, and both names are linked with 'and'; the authors are put in alphabetical
order. The html format is emphasis. Example for the authors
entry:
Kraft, John M. and Khachig Tölölyan
A title consists of a main title, usually followed by
a subtitle; using 2 fields for a complete title makes it possible
that a complete title can contain up till 510 characters (at the moment,
the shortest complete title is 7 characters long, the longest 195). In
English and French, both are separated by a double point, in Dutch by
a dot (this behaviour is generated by the database). When a title refers
to one of Thomas Pynchon´s or another writer's works, or it is
a quote, it is always enclosed between single brackets. A complete title
is followed by a comma, and enclosed between double brackets. Both signs
get their format from the paragraph. The title itself has an html strong format.
Like this:
'''Forward Retreat': Thomas Pynchon's 'Vineland',''
The publication details usually state 'in', unless the article
was brought forward during a conference. In the latter case, it states
'during'. In both instances, a double point is generated (all this in
paragraph format), preceding the publication name, year, volume, edition,
period and page details. If not enough details are available, a 'sine
dato' or 'sine loco' is generated. The publication details always end
with a dot. The html format for the publication is italics. Result:
in: Contemporary Literature, 2004, Vol. 45, Spring, # 1, pp. 22-48.
After a line break, more details are shown. These details are divided by a vertical line, surrounded by spaces ( | ) and are in following order: subject, genre, language, country and url. The subject refers to a work, and refers to a database table containg following entries:
There are two genre table:a main genre (criticism, students, popular press and assorted) which is linked to a publication, from which is derived a subgenre, linked to the title; both entries are necessary before an entry validation. Only the subgenre is displayed.
The language refers to the language in which the article was
published (so there may be a difference between the language of the publication
and the language of the article, like a publication in Spanish that contains
entries in English. As a rule, the lower level, in this case English,
overrides the higher one, Spanish). After a country reference, it is
possible that a url is given. For the sake of readibility, it is shown
as a link to an article or, like the first 20 or so Pynchon Notes issues,
to an issue. If a web site needs registration, or an article can only
be bought, no url is shown. This also accounts for the articles in the
Muse project of the John Hopkins University, to which non-academic readers
have no direct access. The format is paragraph, and the result looks
like this:
General | Dutch | Belgium | Editorial | URL title:[+]
Many articles have a history and most online databases do not show these. An article can be first presented during a conference, translated, reprinted, reworked, reviewed, etc. At the moment, the export mentions translations, and both the translators´ names and the original title are shown, according to the same rules as for the authors names. Since the entries in this map show all validated entries, the original entry is just above or underneath the translation. Further developments will give more details on the history of the articles.
Some (in fact, a lot) database fields are not shown, but may be inlcuded in future exports. Examples are: the url of publications, the ISBN, ISSN and e/ISSN numbers, publishers of book-length studies, etc —but they are already inserted in the database. As for book-length studies, the different chapters are given, and not the study as a whole. This makes it possible to show articles about Thomas Pynchon in studies that are not wholly devoted to his work. Finally, each database entry contains the place (www, publication, footnote, …) where the information was found.
The current status gives an overview in alphabetical order by author. Navigation is made as intuitive as possible. New reports are being developed so the result is based on subjects, genres etc. Any comments on this database experiment are more than welcome. It is not hard to imagine that entries are not correct or incomplete. If you think that an entry has a wrong qualification, get in touch.
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