Episode 8.2: Literary treasure hunting

Meet Zachary Turpin, an associate professor in the Department of English at University of Idaho who researches 19th-century periodical culture, archival research methods, digital humanities and textual recovery. He has worked to uncover unaccounted-for periodical works by American authors, including Walt Whitman, Emma Lazarus, Mark Twain, Anne Sexton, Cormac McCarthy and more. On this episode, he discusses uncovering lost works of literature.

Email us at vandaltheory@uidaho.edu.

What do you think are some of the reasons why an author would prefer to use a pen name over their real one?

Turpin takes us on a thrilling journey into the world of literary treasure hunting. His career-changing moment came as a doctoral student when he unearthed a forgotten work by Walt Whitman hidden in a New York newspaper under a pseudonym. This serendipitous find ignited a passion for diving into archives, where routine searches sometimes yield dazzling gems. Comparing archival research to panning for gold, Turpin highlights the joy of sifting through old newspapers, where the oddities of 19th-century life sit alongside surprisingly familiar news cycles. These explorations unveil both stark contrasts and uncanny parallels between past and present. Turpin shares stories of uncovering early interviews with Cormac McCarthy, Anne Sexton’s initial poems and a lost novel by Whitman, revealing how such discoveries breathe new life into literary history. Looking ahead, Turpin is headed to Germany on a Fulbright award to delve into how Whitman’s intricate, inventive poetry has been translated over the years. He’ll teach archival research and study the challenges translators face with Whitman’s sprawling syntax and coined words. Encouraging others to dive into archives, Turpin emphasizes the democratized thrill of discovery in the digital age.

Music

“Young Republicans” by Steve Combs via freemusicarchive.org, not modified.
“Detective Obvious” by Daniel Davis via Amphibious Zoo.