Texts, Editors, and Readers
Methods and Problems in Latin Textual Criticism

A critical reassessment of the methods of Latin textual criticism and editing, in a form accessible to non-specialists.

Richard Tarrant (Author)

9780521766579, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 March 2016

206 pages, 5 b/w illus.
20.3 x 12.7 x 1.3 cm, 0.33 kg

'… this is an excellent book both in itself and because it puts so many things into question. It paves the way for a huge improvement in the editing of classical texts.' Franz Dolveck, École française de Rome

This book re-examines the most traditional area of classical scholarship, offering critical assessments of the current state of the field, its methods and controversies, and its prospects for the future in a digital environment. Each stage of the editorial process is examined, from gathering and evaluating manuscript evidence to constructing the text and critical apparatus, with particular attention given to areas of dispute, such as the role of conjecture. The importance of subjective factors at every point is highlighted. An Appendix offers practical guidance in reading a critical apparatus. The discussion is framed in a way that is accessible to non-specialists, with all Latin texts translated. The book will be useful both to classicists who are not textual critics and to non-classicists interested in issues of editing.

Introduction
1. Textual criticism in a post-heroic age
2. The rhetoric of textual criticism/textual criticism as rhetoric
3. Establishing the text 1: recension
4. Establishing the text 2: conjecture
5. Establishing the text 3: interpolation, collaboration, and intertextuality
6. Textual criticism and literary criticism: the case of Propertius
7. Presenting the text: the critical edition and its discontents
8. The future: problems and prospects
Appendix: reading a critical apparatus.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary theory [DSA], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Language teaching theory & methods [CJA], Language: history & general works [CBX], Usage & grammar guides [CBG]