Not everyone knows what textology is. The definition of the scope of this discipline, meanwhile, is of great practical importance. Let's consider it in more detail.
What is textology?
In literature , as in discipline, numerous works are collected. Various plots, folklore, and human achievements were used to create them. Textology is a science that studies manuscripts, posthumous and lifetime editions of various authors, their diaries, letters, and notebooks. Within the framework of the discipline, works of folk art (fairy tales, epics, etc.) are also studied. Historical textology is a special field of philology. She explores the features of the creation and publication of works.
Industries
First of all, textology is a science that studies folklore and artistic recordings. Its branches are allocated depending on the specific problem posed. On this basis, the following directions are distinguished:
- Of antiquity.
- The Middle Ages.
- Folklore.
- Eastern literature.
- The works of modern times.
- Linguistic sources.
- Historical records.
It is worth saying that such a variety of industries does not prevent us from considering a single discipline.
Value
Textology is an industry that occupies a very specific and independent place. Discipline is closely related to other areas of philology. In particular, the research uses theoretical and historical sources. The analysis of works is carried out not only in spatial dimensions and in the final form. Textology is also studying the source temporarily.
Discipline in Europe
Textology is an industry whose existence has been traced from the most ancient times. Moreover, its formation took place in stages and was closely associated with the development of social culture and life. Methods of textology were used in ancient philology to correct, interpret and comment on records. The so-called "biblical criticism" was formed early enough. Its appearance is associated with the names of Origen, Porfiry, Celsus. Subsequently, "biblical criticism" gradually acquired a scientific character. By the 17-19th centuries, a basis had been formed for the introduction of a sound analysis of religious books. A new direction in historical consciousness was formed in the Renaissance. At this time, the link between textology and the sciences of the humanitarian sphere was significantly strengthened. The founders of the European trend in modern times are considered Herman, Reisk, Bentley, Porson, etc.
German school
In the 19th century, she made a significant contribution to understanding the basics of textology . Key attention was focused on the study of sources, the identification of the "archetype", and the analysis of homogeneous motives. Professor Becker developed a critical approach to the preparation of publications by Greco-Roman classical authors. Subsequently, it was applied by Leopold von Ranke to the vast field of historical research. The German school as a base for analysis used mainly ancient works.
Mechanistic theory
The latest textology as a science began to be formed by Karl Lachmann. He developed the theory of "common mistakes", the detection of which indicated a similar origin of the manuscripts. The basis for the mechanistic theory of Lachmann was a rigorous technique and stable principles of textology. She was built on a quantitative comparison of elements. The scientist applied approaches to the critical processing of antique records to the works of the German Middle Ages. The principles of textology in the study of manuscripts of the New Age were introduced by the school of Scherer, Bernays. Lachmann's ideas were developed in the works of the Prague School. Meanwhile, the mechanistic theory was criticized by Bedier because of its non-universality.
The formation of discipline in France
In this country, attention to textology began to be actively manifested in the middle of the 19th century. The 20th century was marked by the emergence of the Lanson School and the active work of the Paris Institute. In the 1970s In France, a new direction emerged and began to actively develop - genetic criticism. The key center was the Paris Institute of manuscripts and texts of our time. The philosophical base of the school was the theory of relativity. It largely explains the position of genetic criticism. At this stage, key questions were formulated that were explored by the new textology. This is primarily the origin, movement of records, reproduction of all stages of the creation of a work in the process of writing. However, the researchers did not give any preference to any one edition. Followers of the school did not consider that the last author's manuscript has advantages over the original draft. They regarded them as different stages in the creation of a work.
Nuances
It is necessary to note the specifics that the process of creating a work has, its history. Textology in the framework of genetic criticism significantly expands the scope of research. She addresses the essence of the writing process. This, in turn, helps to scale up the subject of genetic criticism. In this case, it is aimed at the text not only in a narrow, literary aspect, but also in a general sense. This implies the inevitable combination of different disciplines. Among them are history, linguistics, medicine, psychology, and mathematics. As for the study of the classical forms of art of the New Age, genetic criticism is important, but not enough.
Textology in Russia
The works created in the 11-17 centuries are presented mainly in the form of manuscripts. This fact predetermined the key features of the creation, existence and dissemination of numerous monuments of Russian literature. There were also some problems of textology. Rewriting books inevitably led to a loss of stability of presentation, presenting everything in new editions. The longer the existence of the work, the more it was processed. The new editions reflected the skill of the copyist (or lack thereof), artistic tastes, and the demands of life. The period in which textology began to develop is the 16-17th centuries. In these centuries, active corrections, systematization and description of manuscripts were carried out.
Peter's times
During this period, special attention was paid to Old Russian writing. It is known that by decree of 1722 the tsar ordered to collect and bring to St. Petersburg chronicles, chronographs, and power books. In 1724, the Academy of Sciences was established. From this moment began an active study of ancient monuments. Schlezer and Miller made a great contribution to the study of manuscripts.
New stage
In the second half of the 18th century, systematic textual-textual work began. The first steps in this direction were the publication of Russian Truth, the annals of Nestor. Novikov created a collection that included information about 300 authors from ancient times. The new stage was caused by the development of the author’s beginning. The traditional achievements in European book culture, its approaches and experience were used in publications of the works of Feofan Prokopovich, Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Kantemir.
19th century
The first decades of the XIX century were marked by the improvement of the textological approach. The applied methods significantly enriched bibliographic and bibliographic studies of ancient sources. In turn, this process to a large extent influenced the appearance of folklore - processing of records of the folklore. The question of the identity of culture in its various expressions was introduced into the circle of subjects of study by scientists of the East, Makarov, Born. The basic concepts of textology were improved, new definitions arose.
The emergence of a "skeptical direction"
In the early 30s. A new school appeared in the 19th century. Her ideas were largely connected with the thoughts of Schletser. Kachenovsky was the head of the "skeptical school." His approach was based on the idea that not every evidence of an ancient source can be trusted. In such skepticism there were unconditional advantages, and obvious disadvantages. Kachenovsky's critical thought led to an improvement in the techniques used in the study of narrative sources. She taught to evaluate facts in terms of internal reliability and consistency with the general laws of historical development. At the same time, school supporters tended to deny the Kiev period only because the materials narrating about it were preserved in later sources.
Pogodin's Approach
This researcher developed the ideas of Schletser in relation to artistic sources. Pogodin insisted on studying all editions of the text, using the method of analogy. He managed to prove the fallacy of a large number of specific conclusions made by "skeptics." In the study, Pogodin used an analysis of the national and general historical circumstances of the emergence, existence, and distribution of the work. His approaches, in turn, were developed by Buslaev.
Mythological School
Its largest representative was the above-mentioned Buslaev. He developed the idea of the continuity of language and folk tradition, myth. His dissertation was considered as the first experience of applying comparative and historical linguistics to the antiquities of Slavic speech. Subsequently, Buslaev detailed all his views in a fundamental two-volume work.
The border of the 19-20 centuries.
Over time, researchers have increased interest in later sources. A historical approach to the literary heritage of the 18th and 19th centuries began to be developed. For the first time that in order to improve the national culture in modern conditions it is necessary to carry out a “critical review of books, annual and individual reviews of works in general,” Poleva began to speak. Most of his ideas were continued in Belinsky's works. Scheduled in 1841 and partially implemented, the work of the latter was aimed at contrasting the conditionally aesthetic approach to individual works with a new look at the writer's entire heritage in chronological sequence and creative completeness.
Traditional culture
It developed significantly and reached a high level by the middle of the 19th century. In many respects this was facilitated by the formed organization of academic work on the publication of works. An invaluable contribution to the publication of monuments of antiquity and modernity belonged to Tikhonravov and Buslaev. They created a model of scientific publication exemplary for their time. Veselovsky developed a new approach to philological research. This was of great importance for the development of the method of textological analysis.
Activities Annenkova
At an early stage in the development of domestic textual science, as applied to the literary sources of the New Age, a certain imitation of the ideas of classical philology was noted. However, researchers soon began to search for their own techniques. This was due to the release of a series of scientific and critical works. In 1851, Annenkov began preparing one of them. The researcher conducted a textual study of Pushkin's manuscripts. In parallel, he created a work in which he collected materials for the biography of the poet. Both of these works became parts of a comprehensive study. Annenkov’s innovation was highly appreciated by Nekrasov, Turgenev, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky and others.
Improving Approaches
Based on the factual material, the researchers studied a wide range of literary work. This activity, observed since the mid-19th century, yielded tangible results. The need for factual, bibliographic, source studies developments led to the emergence and successful development of a new direction in the discipline. Researchers began to perceive the importance of bibliography in a new way. Mintslov, in particular, wrote that without preliminary work it is impossible to describe the history of literature. And without it, in turn, no fundamental research can be successful.
Systematization Features
The discovery of reliable facts, their historical assessment formed the fundamental approach of the school, led by Maykov and Saitov. The first considered himself a student of Sreznevsky. The works of these scientists published the Collected Works of Batyushkov. In the future, the ideas of the school in the direction of archival searches, compiling biographies, working with sources were developed by Modzalevsky. He created the famous card index, which includes 165 thousand cards. It is stored in the Pushkin House, in the Department of Manuscripts. His contribution to the study of Decembrism is especially noted. The highest achievement in academic Pushkin studies is the commentary on the editions "Pushkin. Diary" and "Pushkin. Letters" that he created. The systematization of the material that was accumulated in the framework of philological studies on the history of Russian literature of the 19-20 centuries gave a huge amount of reference information. Among them, among other things, are the works of Vengerov, the fundamental work of Mezieres. The key principles of Russian classical textology, thus, developed by the beginning of the 20th century. They were based on the colossal traditional experience already existing at that time and a critical review of the ideas of the West European formalist doctrine.
New time
By the beginning of the 20th century, the St. Petersburg Scientific Academy was regarded as a center for textual research. It formed two advanced schools. One was led by Chess, the other by Peretz. These schools, in fact, promoted quite close ideas. They studied the text in the history of its creation and all its changes. Shakhmatov relied on materials obtained in the course of linguistic observations. Peretz applied to a greater degree literary approaches. Shakhmatov developed a technique for analyzing the annals. At the same time, he used the principles of historicism and proposed methods for studying complex sources in all forms and editions. He devoted a lot of time to ancient manuscripts, questions of ethnogenesis. Shakhmatov laid the foundation for the historical study of the literary national language, as well as textology as a science. As for Peretz, he first led the seminar in Kiev. After being elected to the Academy, the scientist moved to Petrograd. He created the only textual guide in the pre-revolutionary doctrine. This paper presents ideas for understanding the new approach. The reception was based on attention to the study of the literary history of the source.
Conclusion
A fundamental step towards the formation of a general concept of textology with the substantiation of principles and approaches was made in the work of academician Likhachev. The author put forward a qualitatively new idea that affirmed the need to investigate the meaning and movement of the source content over time. This finally refuted the mechanistic theory, based on the preference of a chronologically earlier text. Over time, from the applied direction, focused mainly on solving publishing problems, the discipline moved into the basic category. The development of textology proceeds in line with the cultural and general historical changes in the country. Currently, the key areas of Russian textology have been identified: ancient literature, texts of the New Age and modernity, as well as folklore.