Original, Authentic, Copy: Conceptual Issues in Digital Texts

This article focuses on the conceptual issues faced by scholarlyeditors and textual studies specialists. Theoretical debatein this general field is still active as digital texts presentspecial problems and magnify others. Older theory and methodologyare hampered by unacknowledged, sometimes inappropriate culturalvalues and other limitations, and are not always useful in connectionwith digital texts. Nevertheless, the distinction between theabstract work and its concrete expression is influential bothwithin and outside the field. In this approach, the conceptof authenticity relates to the degree of change a work undergoesor the accuracy of the ‘instructions’ for its reconstitution.Whether the digital text is best thought of as immaterial ormaterial is not as crucial as might first appear. The way adigital text is made visible is important, though potentiallyparadoxical. In order to be workable, the concept of authenticationby instructions needs further technical assistance, like thatprovided by the Just-in-Time Markup System. But, despite itslimitations, traditional textual scholarship still has muchto offer textual studies in digital environments.