Mallorie Guerra and Dr. Michelle S. James, Germanic and Slavic Languages
For a number of years, students within the German Department have been working with professors on The Sophie Digital Library and Resource Center project. This project, known affectionately within the German Department as “the Sophie project”, involves the transcription, translation, and web posting of works by German-speaking women. The Sophie project, simply put, is massive. There are hundreds of texts which have already been posted online, but there remains still quite a bit of work to be done.
As part of the Sophie project, many books are being produced in order to introduce specific authors and their works. One such publication, The Critically Annotated Works of Elisa von der Recke, is due for print in the near future. Dr. Michelle S. James has seen The Critically Annotated Works of Elisa von der Recke through to its finest details. Much of the research to be included in the volumes of this publication was completed by Dr. James.
An avid fan of both feminism and German, I knew as soon as I heard about it that I wanted to be part of the Sophie project. In the German 202 class I took during my freshman year at Brigham Young University, I was able to participate in the project with a bit of translation and transcription. That experience, while fantastic, did not quench my thirst for helping with the Sophie project. In the fall of 2008, I went to Dr. James and asked if she would be willing to be my mentor for an ORCA project that would involve the Sophie project. I was pleased to learn that she would and that she had already thought of a task I could complete for the project. That task was to prepare an introduction to the autobiographical work of Elisa von der Recke, an eighteenth-century author. In the weeks that followed our first meeting together, Dr. James and I worked on preparing my ORCA application. In February 2008, I was awarded the ORCA grant, and my work officially began.
At first, the task was simple. I found Recke’s autobiography interesting, exhilarating, and amusing. I lost myself in her words for hours at a time. The Gothic script, in which the autobiography was published, did not prove too difficult for me to read. Grateful to have received the grant and to find so much joy in my work, I continued with satisfaction.
Eventually, however, I finished the reading and then had to begin the task of writing the introduction. This step proved to be long and somewhat tedious. This was to be my first published work, and although I was experienced in the area of formal and scholarly writing, I felt overwhelmed with the task ahead of me.
Thankfully, Dr. James was always helpful during our weekly meetings. She provided useful feedback on my drafts and titles of secondary literature to study. Together, we worked out an outline of the major themes found in Recke’s autobiography. Dr. James assigned me the task of completing all the writing.
Several drafts were compiled, but in its final state, the introduction to Recke’s autobiography discusses the difficulties Recke faced. The three main areas addressed in the paper are (1) Recke’s struggle in writing her autobiography, (2) Recke’s difficult familial situation, and (3) Recke’s lack of education. The introduction will appear in The Critically Annotated Works of Elisa von der Recke, which is due for publication in summer 2010. It will be listed as co-authored by Mallorie Guerra and Dr. Michelle S. James.
At last, I have participated in the Sophie project. Although my thirst to assist in any way I can remains, I think I have contributed to the project in a noteworthy manner. The introduction itself is certainly significant, but it is not as significant as the impact my work on it has had on me. A challenge was presented to me, and through a number of priority-realigning sessions, I was able to rise to the challenge and complete the introduction. I feel much more justified and complete as an undergraduate for having completed such a task.