He the Editor Barbara Bordalejo Textual Scholar barbara
He, the Editor Barbara Bordalejo @Textual. Scholar barbara. bordalejo@kuleuven. be
I am a man. Now you may think I’ve made some kind of silly mistake about gender, or maybe that I’m trying to fool you, because my first name ends in a, and I own three bras, and I’ve been pregnant five times, and other things like that you might have noticed, little details. But details don’t matter… I predate the invention of women by decades. (…)
So when I was born there actually were only men. People were men. They all had one pronoun, his pronoun; so that’s who I am him, as in “If anybody needs an abortion he will have to go to another state, ” or “A writer knows which side his bread is buttered on. ” That’s me, the writer, him. I am a man. ” (Ursula Le Guin, ‘Introducing Myself’ in The Wave of the Mind)
So when I was born there actually were only men. People were men. They all had one pronoun, his pronoun; so that’s who I am him, as in “If anybody needs an abortion he will have to go to another state, ” or “A writer knows which side his bread is buttered on. ” That’s me, the writer, him. I am a man. ” (Ursula Le Guin, ‘Introducing Myself’ in The Wave of the Mind)
Unacknowledged political agendas of disinterested pursuits of knowledge were, it became widely thought, designed to protect the status quo power structures in academe and in society. One result of the rebellion against disinterested, but actually self-interested, scholarship, was to pursue openly a vast array of interests and agendas, both in the original literary texts and in the scholarship purporting to elucidate such works. Among the most valuable ensuing developments was women's studies, post-colonial studies, gay and lesbian studies, and ethnic studies.
In this book, it might have been good to illustrate the relationship between textual knowledge and these overtly political approaches to literature. I have not done that. The central concern of this book is not the writings by men or women or minorities. Instead, my central concern is the value, indeed necessity, of determining the relationship between the texts one is using and the knowledge one purports to support by reference to them.
The principles I am exploring are, I believe, the same regardless of the gender, geography, ethnicity, or temporal placement of a writer. The relation between documents as evidence and criticism as argument is without gender, nationality, time, or place. (Peter Shillingsburg, Textuality and Knowledge)
The principles I am exploring are, I believe, the same regardless of the gender, geography, ethnicity, or temporal placement of a writer. The relation between documents as evidence and criticism as argument is without gender, nationality, time, or place. (Peter Shillingsburg, Textuality and Knowledge)
All editions , 1860 – present. 1994 men, 403 women
All editors, percentage by decade.
An apparatus criticus [. . . ] is a list of the MS. variations, with occasional remarks thereon. Only men of the highest moral character, religion, and social grace can produce one satisfactorily. (Gilbert Murray)
An apparatus criticus [. . . ] is a list of the MS. variations, with occasional remarks thereon. Only men of the highest moral character, religion, and social grace can produce one satisfactorily. (Gilbert Murray)
The choice is necessarily a matter for editorial judgement, and an editor who declines or is unable to exercise his judgement and falls back on some arbitrary canon, such as the authority of the copy-text, is in fact abdicating his editorial function. (Greg)
The choice is necessarily a matter for editorial judgement, and an editor who declines or is unable to exercise his judgement and falls back on some arbitrary canon, such as the authority of the copy-text, is in fact abdicating his editorial function. (Greg)
Every editor aiming at a critical edition will, of course, correct scribal or typographical errors. He will also correct readings in accordance with any errata included in the edition taken as copy-text. I see no reason why he should not alter misleading or eccentric spellings which he is satisfied emanate from the scribe or compositor and not from the author. If the punctuation is persistently erroneous or defective an editor may prefer to discard it altogether to make way for one of his own. He is, I think, at liberty to do so, provided that he gives due weight to the original in deciding on his own, and that he records the alteration whenever the sense is appreciably affected. (Greg)
Every editor aiming at a critical edition will, of course, correct scribal or typographical errors. He will also correct readings in accordance with any errata included in the edition taken as copy-text. I see no reason why he should not alter misleading or eccentric spellings which he is satisfied emanate from the scribe or compositor and not from the author. If the punctuation is persistently erroneous or defective an editor may prefer to discard it altogether to make way for one of his own. He is, I think, at liberty to do so, provided that he gives due weight to the original in deciding on his own, and that he records the alteration whenever the sense is appreciably affected. (Greg)
An editor of the revised version has no choice but to take the folio as his copy-text (Greg)
An editor of the revised version has no choice but to take the folio as his copy-text (Greg)
These, however, are all matters within the discretion of an editor: I am only concerned to uphold his liberty of judgement. (Greg)
These, however, are all matters within the discretion of an editor: I am only concerned to uphold his liberty of judgement. (Greg)
A man who possesses common sense and the use of reason must not expect to learn from treatises or lectures on textual criticism anything that he could not, with leisure and industry, find out for himself. What the lectures and treatises can do for him is to save him time and trouble by presenting to him immediately considerations which would in any case occur to him sooner or later. And whatever he reads about textual criticism in books, or hears at lectures, he should test by reason and common sense, and reject everything which conflicts with either as mere hocus-pocus. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
A man who possesses common sense and the use of reason must not expect to learn from treatises or lectures on textual criticism anything that he could not, with leisure and industry, find out for himself. What the lectures and treatises can do for him is to save him time and trouble by presenting to him immediately considerations which would in any case occur to him sooner or later. And whatever he reads about textual criticism in books, or hears at lectures, he should test by reason and common sense, and reject everything which conflicts with either as mere hocus-pocus. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
But it is certain, and admitted by this writer when he uses the phrase "comparatively uncommon, ” that interpolation does occur; so he is telling us that we should be loth to assume interpolation even when that assumption is true. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
But it is certain, and admitted by this writer when he uses the phrase "comparatively uncommon, ” that interpolation does occur; so he is telling us that we should be loth to assume interpolation even when that assumption is true. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
In such a case it may be argued that even though the earlier edition, if printed from his own manuscript, will preserve the author's individual peculiarities more faithfully than the revised reprint, he must nevertheless be assumed to have taken responsibility for the latter in respect of accidentals no less than substantive readings, and that it is therefore the revised reprint that should be taken as copy-text. (Greg)
In such a case it may be argued that even though the earlier edition, if printed from his own manuscript, will preserve the author's individual peculiarities more faithfully than the revised reprint, he must nevertheless be assumed to have taken responsibility for the latter in respect of accidentals no less than substantive readings, and that it is therefore the revised reprint that should be taken as copy-text. (Greg)
The former practice of modernizing the spelling of English works is no longer popular with editors, since spelling is now recognized as an essential characteristic of an author, or at least of his time and locality (Greg)
The former practice of modernizing the spelling of English works is no longer popular with editors, since spelling is now recognized as an essential characteristic of an author, or at least of his time and locality (Greg)
It may be that a scribe who interpolates, who makes changes deliberately, is guilty of wickedness, while a scribe who makes changes accidentally, because he is sleepy or illiterate or drunk, is guilty of none; but that is a question which will be determined by a competent authority at the Day of Judgment, and is no concern of ours. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
It may be that a scribe who interpolates, who makes changes deliberately, is guilty of wickedness, while a scribe who makes changes accidentally, because he is sleepy or illiterate or drunk, is guilty of none; but that is a question which will be determined by a competent authority at the Day of Judgment, and is no concern of ours. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
It follows that in the manuscript blewe is nothing but the conjecture of a scribe who did not understand his original: only the mesmeric influence of the copy-text could obscure so obvious a fact. (Greg)
It follows that in the manuscript blewe is nothing but the conjecture of a scribe who did not understand his original: only the mesmeric influence of the copy-text could obscure so obvious a fact. (Greg)
A scribe using two manuscripts, he says, would not think of himself as conflating them but as attempting to produce a more accurate text (a text nearer the archetype) than either of them; to say that he had "manufacturered one state of the message out of two others" would be "to confuse means and ends" (G. Thomas Tanselle. “Classical, Biblical, and Medieval Textual Criticism and Modern Editing. ”)
A scribe using two manuscripts, he says, would not think of himself as conflating them but as attempting to produce a more accurate text (a text nearer the archetype) than either of them; to say that he had "manufacturered one state of the message out of two others" would be "to confuse means and ends" (G. Thomas Tanselle. “Classical, Biblical, and Medieval Textual Criticism and Modern Editing. ”)
Not to be a textual critic is no reproach to anyone, unless he pretends to be what he is not. To be a textual critic requires aptitude for thinking and willingness to think; and though it also requires other things, those things are supplements and cannot be substitutes. Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
Not to be a textual critic is no reproach to anyone, unless he pretends to be what he is not. To be a textual critic requires aptitude for thinking and willingness to think; and though it also requires other things, those things are supplements and cannot be substitutes. Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head. (Housman, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism)
The same principle obviously applies to manuscripts as well: in the case of manuscript texts not in their authors' hands, the scribe or copyist occupies the roles of publisher's editor, compositor, and pressman combined. (G. Thomas Tanselle. “Classical, Biblical, and Medieval Textual Criticism and Modern Editing. ”)
The same principle obviously applies to manuscripts as well: in the case of manuscript texts not in their authors' hands, the scribe or copyist occupies the roles of publisher's editor, compositor, and pressman combined. (G. Thomas Tanselle. “Classical, Biblical, and Medieval Textual Criticism and Modern Editing. ”)
The text is not so much what the author intends to achieve as it is what he or she does, or fails to, achieve. (Fredson Bowers, Textual Criticism)
The text is not so much what the author intends to achieve as it is what he or she does, or fails to, achieve. (Fredson Bowers, Textual Criticism)
In the end, we are still subject to the remarks of A. E. Housman who said that knowledge and method were important, but that besides those a scholar was required to make use of her brain. (The Genealogy of Texts)
In the end, we are still subject to the remarks of A. E. Housman who said that knowledge and method were important, but that besides those a scholar was required to make use of her brain. (The Genealogy of Texts) On page 20, line 26 reads "a scholar was required to make use of her brain", which would make it seem as if all scholars were female.
An editor should not do things just because they are possible; she should do things because they matter to the type of edition being produced and are appropriate for its public.
An editor should not do things just because they are possible; she should do things because they matter to the type of edition being produced and are appropriate for its public.
In Marta and Martha Nell’s work, there is meticulous respect for the original documents. There is an inclusiveness, that seeks to give a voice to the smallest mark. There is a refusal to judge, a refusal to impose views. In its place, there is a patience which waits for meaning. (Peter Robinson, Gender, Feminism, Textual Scholarship and Digital Humanities)
Both the practice and the study of human culture comprise a network of symbolic exchanges. Because human beings are not angels, these exchanges always involve material negotiations. Even in their most complex and advanced forms ‘when the negotiations are carried out as textual events’’ the intercourse that is being human is materially executed: as spoken texts or scripted forms. To participate in these exchanges I to have entered what I wish to call here “the textual condition. ” (Jerome Mc. Gann, The Textual Condition)
John M. Manly and Edith Rickert 1932
<L 604 -1>Yet I haue Martes Mark vpon my face <L 604 -2>And also in another priuee place <L 604 -3>For god so wys be my sauaciou <L 604 -4>I ne loued neuere by no discreciou <L 604 -5>But euere folwed myn appetit <L 604 -6>Al were he short or long or blak or whit <L 604 -7>I took no kepe so that he liked me <L 604 -8>How poore he was ne eek of what degree
…this description may fit the Ellesmere Wife, it does not fit the Hengwrt Wife. Hengwrt’s Wife is arguably a more subtle, more satisfyingly rounded portrait than is Ellesmere’s: she is still outrageous, but with hankerings after respectability, and is certainly a character better suited to the romance Chaucer puts in her mouth. (Peter Robinson, Introduction to the Wife of Bath’s Prologue on CD-ROM).
Thank you for your attention. Barbara Bordalejo @Textual. Scholar barbara. bordalejo@kuleuven. be
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