Textedition in der Romanistik: Zwischen wildem Denken und blinder Praxis?

Abstract

In spite of a few promising initiatives from recent linguistics, the interest in textual criticism is waning among German Romance scholars. A look at the historical achievement of the founder generation of German studies in Romance philology can therefore only be the starting point of the present survey. At its centre are the renewal of Lachmann's method in Italy and new departures based on it, which are linked with the names of Contini (criticism of variant readings), Segre (diasystem), and Vàrvaro (active transmission). In contrast to the criticism of variants, which has proved useful mainly with late medieval authors, the French critique génétique deals mainly with manuscripts by modern authors. On the other hand, the discussion of Cerquiglinis emphasis on the variance of medieval texts and his negation of the concept of the author is concerned with a renewal of the editorial theory and practice of medieval texts. The latter, even today, often takes Bédier and Lachmann as its model; on the other hand, editions of early modern texts often do not achieve the standards expected of a critical edition.