A társadalmi szöveg

Az irodalmi mű keletkezését és szövegtörténetét meghatározó kollaborációkról

Absztrakt

This study focuses on the concept of the social text as it has evolved within the field of Anglo-American textual criticism. Its theoretical background is provided by the works of Jerome J. McGann, Donald Francis McKenzie, and John Bryant. The concept of the social text, as discussed here, emerged from a critique of Anglo-American scholarly editorial practice. The textual-critical tradition associated with W. W. Greg and Fredson Bowers gives a central role to authorial intention in establishing the text of a critical edition. In contrast to this practice, which has its roots in Romanticism, McGann and others emphasise the collaborative aspects of the creation of literary works, highlighting the role of other social agents – such as friends, critics, editors, and publishers – alongside the author in the process of a text’s development. The fundamental principles of the so-called eclectic textual edition criticised by McGann correspond to the practices of Hungarian critical editions. Therefore, McGann’s critique may offer insights relevant to a rethinking of the principles of scholarly textual editing in Hungary. To this end, the study illustrates its theoretical conclusions with examples drawn largely from Hungarian textual criticism, which enter into fruitful tension with its theoretical propositions and thereby help to clarify the issues discussed. This paper attempts to address two closely related questions. First, it considers how the concept of the social text can be defined and analysed within a textual-critical framework based on an examination of modern literary text production and circulation. Second, it explores how a social text can be edited and published in ways that move beyond the theory and practice of traditional textual criticism.