‘Some people used old books as the basis of their scrapbook, … Definition of palimpsest. Palimpsest, manuscript in roll or codex form carrying a text erased, or partly erased, underneath an apparent additional text. It is a city of great terror and wonder, impossible beauty and unimaginable cruelty, known simply as home to its inhabitants. 1 : writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased. A palimpsest is a manuscripton which an earlier text has been effaced and the vellum or parchment reused for another. The underlying text is said to be “in palimpsest,” and, even though the parchment or other surface is much abraded, the older text is recoverable in the laboratory by such means as the use of ultraviolet light. ‘By going back to journal entries in which I initially recorded some of the events that surfaced in the ‘written’ writing, I was able to locate an initial palimpsest, or precipitate, of the writing.’. 2 : something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent …

More example sentences. Over the years, the book's methodological proposals have been confirmed as effective operational definitions, and have been widely adopted in literary criticism terminology. noun.
Palimpsest definition, a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text. 1 A manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing. Palimpsest is a fantasy novel by Catherynne M. Valente. Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree is an influential 1982 book by French literary theorist Gérard Genette. It was a common practice, particularly in medieval ecclesiastical circles, to rub out an earlier piece of writing by means of washing or scraping the manuscript, in … See more. Deep in the recesses of dreams, or so it seems, there lies the city of Palimpsest.