Download or read book Pursuing History written by Ralph Hanna and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume argues through a series of selected local studies, for the importance of "textual criticism" as a fundamental act of historical interpretation and recovery, pointing out the need for attention to the physical bearers of our knowledge of the English Middle Ages, the books themselves, and the ignored and alienating features of manuscript culture. The book begins with three essays that seek to problematize medieval book production, to show the procedure as more a fluid and emergent than a foreplanned process. The following two essays provide theoretical statements about the textual uses of manuscripts.