critical text–any edited text that results from the application of rationally defensible editorial principles. One could say that a documentary edition that produces an edited text that is textually identical with its source text is a critical text because its text was chosen on some critical basis over any alternative authoritative source text. That is, however, a wasteful and potentially misleading use of the term.
critical text. Any edited text that results from the application of rationally defensible editorial principles. One could say that a documentary edition that produces an edited text that is textually identical with its source text is a critical text because its text was chosen on some critical basis over any alternative authoritative source text. That is, however, a wasteful and potentially misleading use of the term.