Textual Criticism and Editorial Techniques

Textual criticism focuses on the identification of different variants and versions which might exist for a single text. It is considered to be a branch of literary criticism and textual scholarship. It helps in the identification of intentional and unintentional alterations in manuscripts and documents as well as information about the creation and historical transmission of the text. There are various approaches towards textual criticism, such as stemmatics, eclecticism, best-text editing and copy-text editing. The main task in the editorial process is the formation of a text for publication by studying its history. An established text must agree to the creative intentions of the writer and be free of extraneous additions and damage. This book elucidates the concepts of textual criticism and related editorial techniques in an extensive manner. It is an essential guide for both academicians and students in the field of language, literature and linguistics.