Chaucer from Manuscript to Print: The Social Text and the Critical Text

Description: Edwards surveys pre-twentieth-century editions of Chaucer to see how their editorial goals anticipate and differ from those of the "modern critical edition." Print technology enforced a "single monolithic conception of text" that differs from the variations among manuscripts; however, modern technology can encompass the variant forms of manuscripts. Scholars need to assess relations between textual and contextual approaches to medieval literature.