6.2 Text-critical analysis

Marina Buzzoni addresses the specific case in which the stemma is used to produce a critical text with the genealogical or common-errors method. The principles of the method and criticisms of it have been presented in earlier sections (see e.g. 2.1, 2.4). Buzzoni offers a number of examples from textual traditions that illustrate the principles of recensio (the establishment of the stemma and the classification of witnesses and readings), emendatio (the selection and emendation of readings), and dispositio (the final stage of laying out the edited text, apparatuses, and other material). The section also examines new perspectives that arise out of an increasing awareness of the prevalence of traditions that resist the clear lines and structures of a closed tradition.