Textual Editing and Criticism: An Introduction
Textual Editing and Criticism: An Introductionis a pioneering work that closes a gap in available materials for English and American literature instructors who make textual editing and criticism part of their courses. Writing for undergraduate and beginning graduate students, Erick Kelemen masterfully introduces readers to the field and provides them with a broad range of both examples and materials for hands-on practice. Concerned with the history of the text and with the aesthetic and political choices made in textual transmission,Textual Editing and Criticismis an essential work in courses concerned with questions of literary interpretation and value.In his foreword to the book, esteemed scholar and editor Donald H. Reiman discusses the recent renaissance in textual studies and demonstrates why textual editing and critical skills are so important to students of literature. He writes that Erick Kelemen’s book “will enable students—and empower many teachers to strengthen—their understanding of how to analyze texts, permitting all of them to distinguish well-prepared editions from careless ones and stimulating many to gain the skills to improve, or even to undertake their own editions of short texts, thereby preparing themselves to do whatever is necessary in the academy or in other professions based upon the accurate use of words and symbols.”Textual Editing and Criticismoffers readers several paths to understanding the field. Part One provides an overview of what textual editing and criticism are and why they should be actively practiced by students of literature, of textual transmissions, and of textual criticism and kinds of editions. Part Two includes major theoretical statements and textual-critical essays by A.E. Housman, W. W. Greg, Leah Marcus, G. Thomas Tanselle, Ralph Hanna, Jr., and Charles E. Robinson, among others. Part Three consists of student exercises of increasing difficulty, divided into two sections—“Working with Editions” and “Working with Documents.” “Working with Editions” focuses on reconstructing witnesses by working backward through notes and understanding the editorial choices made. “Working with Documents” includes five collections (of facsimiles, transcriptions of works, and parts of works) allowing students to perform a variety of exercises—including producing their own editions.More than one hundred illustrations of facsimile and manuscript pages, a glossary of key terms, and a comprehensive bibliography are also included.