The Genesis of Lachmann's Method by Sebastiano Timpanaro, Glenn W. Most

Abstract

MLR, I02.2, 2007 469 Its English is also at times not fully idiomatic, so it is not always easy to read. Its consolidation of such a wealth ofmaterial, however, makes it a valuable reference tool, and itoffers, in its intermittentattention to the importance of literaryand mate rial intertextuality,and tobroad cultural contexts, including audience and patronage, timely and productive suggestions for further work in this field. UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS CATHERINE BATT The Genesis ofLachmann's Method. By SEBASTIANOTIMPANARO. Ed. and trans. by GLENN W. MOST. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2005. 252 pp. $47-50; ?30. ISBN 978-o-226-80405-7. La genesi delmetodo del Lachmann by Sebastiano Timpanaro (1923-2000), firstpub lished in I963 and acknowledged on the dust jacket of this firstEnglish translation as 'the best contribution that anyone has made in the last fifty years to the history of classical scholarship' (M. D. Reeve), is amasterly analysis of theways inwhich themodern method of editing texts came intobeing. Although pursued and at times prefigured by other scholars before him, themethod was named after theGerman scholar Karl Lachmann (I793-I 85 I), who vigorously advocated the need for rigor ous procedures in theevaluation of the textualwitnesses of fundamental works in the West-the Bible, the JustinianCodex, the classics of the ancient andmedieval world. His ultimate goal was the establishment of texts thatwould constitute the nearest possible approximation to the authors' originals. Such was the success of themethod that itwas soon adopted for the editing ofmodern and contemporary texts as well. The method also succeeded in subverting the generalized acquiescence to any text transmitted bymere forceof tradition-the so-called textusreceptus ('received text'). In his examination ofLachmann's contribution, aswell as of thatof predecessors and followers, Timpanaro explores intellectual and doctrinal motivations, conditions of work, achievements, and failures of his protagonists, giving unicuique suum, and pro gressing from the incunabula ofmodern textual philology to themost urgent issues at stake in thecontemporary scholarly debate. Glenn W Most's excellent translation is 'based onTimpanaro's own copy of the last edition printed during his lifetime' (p. 2 I7), and complemented with an introduction, the variant readings of the earlier editions, an unpublished essay by Timpanaro, an up-to-date bibliography, and indexes of names, topics discussed, andmanuscripts-a piece of exacting scholarship, yet somewhat diminished by the (publisher's?) decision to impose theEnglish language throughout. The charming symphony of theoriginal, where quotations inancient and modern languages offera genuine sense of a republic of letterswithout frontiersand provide a guarantee of terminological accuracy, is lost in this translation, and will be sorelymissed by anyone who cannot content himself or herselfwith translated sources (however accurate thesemay be). One is lefttowonder whether the current, strictlymonolingual approach, which now applies to the vast majority of scholarly publications, is in fact foreshadowing a rather gloomy future, when a decreased familiaritywith formsof expression belonging to alien cultures will impose drastic limitations upon our ability tounderstand alien cultures at all. Timpanaro the classicist has also exercised a positive influence upon scholars in medieval and modern studies, while being at the same time extremely receptive to their ideas. Beside his multifarious competence, itwas his genuine and passionate inclination todebate that made him a leading authority not only inclassics, but also in such diverse fieldsas thehistory of linguistics,Marxist theory,psychoanalysis applied to literature, and nineteenth-century Italian intellectual culture. The text published here in English for the first time is a reply toM. D. Reeve 470 Reviews on a particular aspect of post-Lachmannianism, the nature and frequency of bi partite stemmas ('Additional Materials A. [Final Remarks on Bipartite Stemmas]', pp. 207-15; the Italian original is inBelfagor, 6i (2006), 452-65). Despite itsbeing an unpolished torso, this isTimpanaro at his best. He concedes defeat with unreserved frankness, and yet keeps on discussing with no hidden intent to reverse the already accepted verdict, but rather to clarify, to the best of his knowledge, the ramifications and implications of the complex argument. A lesson tobe learnt. DURHAM UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITA DI SIENA CARLO CARUSO Ecrire l'animal aujourd'hui. Ed. by LUCILE DESBLACHE. (Les Cahiers de Recherche du Centre de Recherches sur les Litteratures Modernes et Contemporaines) Clermont...