In praise of the variant

by Bernard Cerquiglini

"It has long been a task of great scholars to establish definitive texts of major works. But why, Bernard Cerquiglini asks, must there be such a preference? Might such a preference distort the fundamental understanding of what texts are or could be?" "In this study, Bernard Cerquiglini examines the relation between philosophical studies and their texts, paying special attention to texts from the Middle Ages. He finds that the scientific reconstruction of texts is not only a recent historical phenomenon but also an anachronism that loses exactly what it seeks: a way of confronting a text in its own terms. In the medieval period, Cerquiglini observes, works were translated into French and transmitted in French copies that often varied greatly. For centuries such texts were valued, in part, precisely because each was in some manner unique. The variant was not necessarily a careless accident but a sign of precious individuality and a source of pleasure, even joy. To honor those texts, Cerq