MATLIT Handbook: Handbook of Materialities of Literature

The MatLit Handbook is an ongoing project of the PhD Programme in Materialities of Literature and the Research Group “Digital Mediation and Materialities of Literature” of the Centre for Portuguese Literature (CLP) at the University of Coimbra. Its aim is to make available, through an open-access digital platform and in bilingual format (Portuguese and English), a set of articles/entries on operating concepts and theoretical categories that are relevant for the analysis of literary forms, practices and processes from the perspective of the materialities of inscription and communication. The preparation of articles/entries will be in charge of PhD students, professors and researchers associated with the Programme, but specialized external collaboration may be requested for certain topics.

The digital platform will offer a repository of articles, and it will also include tools for information retrieval and analysis. In order to increase visibility among potential users and long-term sustainability, we envision a dynamic database, subject to revisions, commentary and new updates whenever authors wish to improve earlier versions of their texts. During the experimental stage, entries will be developed collaboratively using a wiki platform, with access restricted to group members.

We hope that this will result in a useful working tool with a pedagogical purpose, easy to navigate and available to a wide audience with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, but which meets criteria of high scientific quality. The tradition of creating “Handbooks” for certain subjects or scientific areas is strongly rooted in the Anglo-American cultural and academic context (e.g. The Oxford Handbooks; The Routledge Handbooks and Companions), but it is relatively uncommon in other contexts such as Portuguese or even Portuguese in a transnational perspective, so the eventual success of this project will contribute to enhancing the public image of the Programme, showcasing its activities and the quality of the academic training provided.