Well, as it turns out, I was correct in believing that my manuscript leaf was not from the
Reading chapter of
Walden. It is from the
Economy chapter. Figuring this tiny detail out helped me move forward with my text encoding immensely in class today. I was able to find the
Economy chapter online and search words which I had found within my manuscript leaf and believed to be correct to find exactly where my text is placed in the book. I laughed out loud at myself when I compared what I
thought some of the words were to what they actually
are. There were one or two instances, however, where it was clear that Thoreau's original manuscript did not match up with the print I had found online, but which I could not completely read, either. Perhaps this is the reason why the published text is altered somewhat - maybe nobody knew what on earth Thoreau was writing.
Further progress came with some of the solutions to my questions during the workshop. These included how to deal with the page numbers in the margins, what to do with brackets, boxes, and squiggles, and how to decipher where a zone begins and ends. I feel much more confident about my transcription, but I expect it to still be rife with mistakes. It would be naive to assume that any stab at TEI could be perfect on the first try. But I feel good knowing I can do something that I never thought I could/would ever do, and which confuses lots of people (even if I am among those poor souls).
My feelings about TEI today remain consistent with those of last night. It's an insta-headache. But I guess it's kinda cool.
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