Textual History of Li Livres dou tresor: Fitting the Pieces Together

Thumbnail Image
Supplemental Files
Date
1993
Authors
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract

Modern editors of medieval texts all face the singular difficulty of determining which version of a text they will edit. Will they adhere to one manuscript? Will they attempt to recreate the author's original? Will they eliminate or include interpolations and glosses? In the Middle Ages, the concepts of literary originality and authorship were not exalted as they are today. In fact, as succinctly stated by Cerquiglini (1989, 25), "L'auteur n'est pas une idee medievale." Rather, literary compositions were fluid artifacts which were commonly modified with every copying or recitation, although they were frequently attributed to one source. Today, when faced with several extant versions of a given text, scholars of medieval texts must inevitably choose one for publication and subsequent incorporation into the literary canon. As Speer (1991 , 42) asserts, the factors which determine how an editor shapes his/ her text can be found in a three-fold response to the question "What is the text?" These factors are (l) the material considerations, grounded in codicological evidence; (2) literary history, which considers the author and his socio-historical milieu; (3) theoretical perspectives, stemming from the intent of the piece.

Series Number
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Academic or Administrative Unit
Type
article
Comments

This article is from Manuscripta 31 (1993): 276, doi:10.1484/J.MSS.3.1445. Posted with permission.

Rights Statement
Copyright
Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 1993
Funding
DOI
Supplemental Resources