Early modern editors and the value of middle english literature
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Date
2019-03-29
Authors
Burt, Cameron Bryce
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Abstract
My dissertation, “Early Modern Editors and the Value of Middle English Literature,” examines the emergence of editorial figures in sixteenth-century editions of Sir Isumbras, Robert Henryson’s Fables, John Lydgate’s Serpent of Division, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry. My study argues that the increasing alterity of Middle English texts in the early modern period compelled editorial interventions designed to make the texts accessible as well as to identify, to emphasize, or to establish the texts’ relevance to contemporary audiences. Early editors managed and controlled the contents and appearance of the books in which the older literary texts appeared in order to redefine their value and purpose for a new audience. They accomplished this with practices such as editing the primary text, collecting or contributing paratext, selecting or designing codicological features, as well as through methods I have termed “codicological translation,” “gathering and framing,” and “selective copying and purposeful omission.” By comparing what these editors say they are doing in their prefatory writings to the results of their editorial contributions, my methodology allows me to determine what these early editors believed themselves to be doing, why, and in what context. These insights have significant implications for the study of both early modern book history and literature. Specifically, they contribute to developing academic conversations among critics like Stephanie Trigg, Tim William Machan, and A.E.B. Coldiron concerning the influence and authority of editors and craftspeople in the production of early modern books.
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Keywords
Middle english literature, Early modern book history, Codicology, Textual Criticism, Editors