The Cambridge Companion to Textual Scholarship

An introduction to studying and editing texts in all forms, from manuscript to digital.

Neil Fraistat (Edited by), Julia Flanders (Edited by)

9780521730297, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 May 2013

328 pages, 29 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.52 kg

'In all, a neat introduction to textual studies that offers to the reader a range of ways to think critically about ancient, early modern, and modern texts, from scribal to digital. The volume is useful for those who wish to find ways to articulate and theorize historical and modern conceptions of texts and textual studies.' N. C. Aldred, Notes and Queries

As more and more of our cultural heritage migrates into digital form and as increasing amounts of literature and art are created within digital environments, it becomes more important than ever before for us to understand how the medium affects the text. The expert contributors to this volume provide a clear, engrossing and accessible insight into how the texts we read and study are created, shaped and transmitted to us. They outline the theory behind studying texts in many different forms and offer case studies demonstrating key methodologies underlying the vital processes of editing and presenting texts. Through their multiple perspectives they demonstrate the centrality of textual scholarship to current literary studies of all kinds and express the sheer intellectual excitement of a crucial scholarly discipline entering a new phase of its existence.

Introduction: textual scholarship in the age of media consciousness Neil Fraistat and Julia Flanders
1. A history of textual scholarship David Greetham
2. Anglo-American editorial theory Kathryn Sutherland
3. Continental editorial theory Geert Lernout
4. Late twentieth-century Shakespeares Hans Walter Gabler
5. Apparatus, text, interface: how to read a printed critical edition Paul Eggert
6. The politics of textual scholarship Michelle R. Warren
7. Fearful asymmetry Random Cloud
8. What is a book? Roger Chartier and Peter Stallybrass
9. Orality John D. Niles
10. Manuscript textuality Michael Sargent
11. Picture criticism: textual studies and the image Kari Kraus
12. Track changes: textual scholarship and the challenge of the born digital Matthew G. Kirschenbaum and Doug Reside
Coda: why digital textual scholarship matters Jerome J. McGann
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP], Literary studies: general [DSB]