Editing and Interpretation of Middle English Texts: Essays in Honour of William Marx

These fifteen essays, all published here for the first time, explore issues related to the editing and interpretation of Middle English literature. These include the treatment of all types of evidence in relation to both manuscript transmission and the transition from manuscript to print. The editorial representation of these and other aspects constitutes an act of textual interpretation at the most fundamental level, which subsequently influences scholarly understanding. Two major fields of writing, religious texts and chronicles, provide the focus of this enquiry. Major works that receive attention include Trevisa's translation of the Polychronicon, the Middle English Brut, Piers Plowman, Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, and Mirk's Festial.