SNP’s word of the day: Marginalia

Word: Marginalia

Meaning: Scribbles or doodles in the margins of printed matter—although the definition given by writer Katrina Onstad below, which more loosely implies extraneous surface detail in other art forms, is interesting too.

Usage: “But unlike certain directors who fixate on marginalia… [Miranda] July‘s seemingly superficial gestures service something greater: a pulsing emotional centre,” wrote Onstad in a recent New York Times Magazine article on the indie filmmaker-artist.

You should know it because: “Marginalia,” in the sense of literally belonging to the margins of books, is—in the dawn of e-reading—an endangered art. The New York Times, the National Post, and the Guardian have all written plea-like pieces on the textual, extra-personal thrill of marking up manuscripts. Voltaire wrote Candide in the margins of other books, during his imprisonment. Mark Twain was a devoted marginalianist, as was Sylvia Plath. And if you want to see some really impassioned scribbles, look at David Foster Wallace‘s favourite novels.

Then compare those examples to one possible future of marginalia: Perez Hilton‘s “signature” scrawls (insults, LOLs, and the like) over paparazzi photos using white MS Paint marker. Charming. But then again: the artist/writer Justin Wolfe parodied this by scanning pages from printed tabloids and doodling sardonically on them. His tumblr, Firmuhment, is one my favourites—and proof positive that old-media and new-media arts can overlap enticingly. Make a note of that.

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