HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM

A text is... many different things! For example: it is the document (the medium on which it is written, in some cases so valuable that it is exhibited in a museum), it is the language in which it is written, it is the message it conveys. Depending on the historical periods considered, there are different modes of transmission and use of texts. Sensitivity towards texts is crucial in any working context.
The module serves as an introduction to the study of manuscript traditions (medieval, but also modern) primarily in the Germanic area, and to the discussion of the main editing approaches (how does one transition from a handwritten text to a printed text?). Tools and methods for digital text processing will also be presented, including Artificial Intelligence (for example, for automatic recognition of handwritten scripts).

1. Knowledge and understanding
To know and understand the problems related to the transmission of both manuscript and printed literary texts in the medieval and modern Germanic field; to know and understand the philological practices and the theorisations developed in connection with the preparation of the critical edition of the text.
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
To be able to recognise the problems inherent in the transmission of texts and the philological procedures necessary for the restitution of the text in the form presumably closest to the original; to acquire awareness of the linguistic, stylistic, historical-cultural, palaeographical and codicological knowledge indispensable to the practice of text edition.
3. Autonomy of judgement
Being able to recognise, by comparing manuscript or printed witnesses with modern editions of a text, the practice followed by individual editors and to assess, through analysis of the critical debate, the greater or lesser goodness of their choices.
4. Communication skills
To be able to communicate in a clear and technically adequate manner the contents of the course
course content in a clear and technically appropriate manner, using the register relevant to the communicative situation.
5. Learning ability
To be able to present the course content in an organic manner and to consult reference texts critically.

There are no prerequisites.

- What is a text: levels of textuality and the "text-wheel"
- Text transmission in the medieval and modern periods (Germanic area)
- The scholarly editing of a text: principles and methods, terminology and abbreviations (diplomatic edition, critical edition, DSE, etc.)
- Digital tools for scholarly editing
- Artificial Intelligence for scholarly editing
- Practical examples primarily from the English area (Old English, Middle English, Modern English), with some comparisons from the German and Nordic areas. For the daring students who wish to engage right away with an example: https://ebeowulf.uky.edu/ebeo4.0/CD/main.html (more during the course!)

- Notes taken in class and materials in Moodle
- Paolo Chiesa, Elementi di critica testuale, Bologna: Patron, 2012.
- Patrik Sahle, What is a text? (Open Access) https://readcoop.eu/what-is-a-text/
- Patrik Sahle, What is a Scholarly Digital Edition? (Open Access) https://books.openedition.org/obp/3397?lang=it
- Selected readings from: "Handbook of Stemmatology" (Open Access) https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110684384/html
Students who are not able to complete their preparation in class are kindly invited to contact the lecturer in order to receive any further bibliographic indications on supplementary materials.

The 90-minute exam consists of a written assessment of the course content based on the learning objectives. Four open-ended questions will be assigned, each associated with a score, for a total of 30/30 cum laude. The evaluation will take into account the descriptors specified in the relevant section (see above). More specifically:
- Knowledge and understanding: assessed through questions on the course content;
- Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: assessed through a practical exercise (e.g., describing and evaluating the characteristics of an edition);
- Independent judgment: assessed through methodological questions (e.g., editorial methods, neural networks for philology, etc.);
- Communication skills: assessed based on the ability to express oneself in a technically correct and clear manner (using appropriate philological terminology);
- Learning ability: assessed based on the student's level of autonomy in formulating a judgment on the proposed topics.

written

Question 1: Theoretical foundations of text criticism - up to 6 points
Question 2: Application of editorial methods and XML - up to 7 points
Question 3: Theory of artificial intelligence methods applied to philological studies - up to 8 points
Question 4: Application of these methods - up to 9 points and honors
The final grade is given by the sum of the partial grades.
Within each question (already weighted in terms of score), the grade is determined by:
- knowledge of the topics covered in lectures and textbooks (34%)
- ability to organize information hierarchically (33%)
- use of appropriate technical terminology (33%)

The module consists of lectures by the teacher and exercises on specific case-studies.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development