Earlier this summer, three interns from the BA English programmes, Emily, Jess, and Hayley, were recruited to work on a forthcoming edition of the writings of Aphra Behn (1640-1689), England’s first professional woman poet. The Behn edition is being prepared by Claudine van Hensbergen, Associate Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature, and is part of her ongoing work on this important author. It will be published by Oxford University Press, as part of their 21st-Century Oxford Authors series.
The interns were tasked with transcribing text from early copies of Behn’s writings. Transcription is a crucial early step in the process of producing an edition of an author’s works. The goal was to provide a semi-diplomatic transcription, where a transcriber makes small adjustments to make the text more readable (unlike a diplomatic transcription, where the transcriber represents the text exactly with no adjustments). The interns worked from electronic scans of Behn’s works to produce the first ‘layer’ of transcription. This action required close attention to detail: as Behn’s works were originally printed in the late seventeenth century, several of the scans of the early printed texts were partially damaged or contained subtle typographical errors.
For Emily, the task of transcribing Behn’s works was initially daunting: “The transcription process was different to anything I had ever done before” but after she had familiarised herself with the language Behn used, her confidence grew.
Jess also found the transcription process challenging at the start. “A challenge I initially faced was familiarising myself with the language and the spellings of certain words in the text”, Jess explained. However, Jess found that the more she worked on the text the easier the process became.
The interns were mentored by PhD student Daisy Winter, who has also been working on the edition’s transcriptions and is in the final stages of writing a thesis exploring early women’s memoirs of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Daisy met with the group regularly throughout the summer over Microsoft Teams to discuss the interns’ progress and support the development of their editorial skills. Indeed, the interns completed most of their work remotely over the course of the summer.
Hayley really enjoyed working remotely and appreciated Daisy’s support during the weekly meetings. “I think the meetings with Daisy were really helpful, as she helped to clarify any issues that we were all having, and it was just nice to speak to people and catch up”. Emily enjoyed working remotely as it allowed her to manage her hours around her other commitments: “It was flexible and very effective”.
At the beginning of the semester the interns were also able to meet in person with Claudine and Daisy to reflect on their experience and discuss the benefits of completing an internship alongside their studies. Jess particularly appreciated the opportunity to develop her knowledge of Behn’s work. “As I am now taking the ‘Women in Writing: Aphra Behn’ module in my third year, this opportunity has really helped shape my knowledge of Behn prior to joining the module.”
Overall, Emily, Jess, and Hayley thoroughly enjoyed the internship and recommend the experience to their fellow students. For Jess, the internship was “a fantastic opportunity” which “has supplied me with new skills that I wouldn’t have gained otherwise”. Emily thinks that the internship enables students to develop skills in “problem solving and working as a team” which will benefit her future career. Hayley agreed that the completion of an internship “looks great on your CV”, and felt the experience was “an incredible opportunity that I recommend to everybody”.
Northumbria Englishes 