Principles of Textual Criticism

by James Thorpe

This book is the first comprehensive study of the basic principles that govern the editing of literary texts. The focus is on English and American literature, and discussion is illuminated by a multitude of examples from the Renaissance to the present time. It deals with the topics that are essential to all editorial work and conveys attitudes and approaches that should animate all literary scholarship.

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, well written book that explains textual criticism of the most recent variety. It gives you a good idea of how difficult the art of the editor is, and how important it is to show your work and explain what text you are using. A book that really encourages humility. He goes after the idea that we should aim at recovering the original manuscript, but that we should use the published version whenever possible, since that's a real work of art the author has submitted to us, not the private sketches. He pours scorn on the idea that textual criticism is a science and shows that it's very subjective, indeed at times aesthetic. What goes best? Which ending fits Great Expectations the best? He also points out that punctuation and other such small things are mostly not important for the authors of works before the modern era, and often were done by publishers for authors who didn't care. Very helpful and reassuring in a lot of ways.

The one critique I would make of it is the critique of Paul McGann who successfully shows that Thorpe is inconsistent in defining the author as the only one whose voice matters: the editor and publisher of original works are authors too. This does not go against Calvin's idea of authorial intention or the grammatical-historical method. I also am open to the idea that there are not multiple works of art in the construction of a literary work, but rather different and equally valid variations of one work.

[Jacob Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book and introduces a balanced view and even skepticism about the limits of text criticism. He is heavily concerned about the intentions of the author while admitting that in certain instances of editorial work, we have little to no access to this. In effect, he chastens criticism while saying we ought to strive to accurately posit the text which best represents what the author wanted to say. The problem arises when we speak of the Bible, of course. And *that* sort of textual criticism must proceed from a host of other assumptions.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping this book would go into more practical aspects of textual criticism than it did. That being said, Thorpe did lay out the basics of textual criticism in a clear and concise way, so I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.