Transmission and Materiality: Philology, Old and New, in German Medieval Studies

This essay addresses the reception of the New Philology, and its more recent iteration, material philology, in German medieval studies. Whereas the New Philology elicited a largely skeptical response from practitioners of textual criticism and editorial philology, approaches informed by cultural studies have been more open to a constructive engagement with its tenets. Nevertheless, the question remains open as to whether German medieval studies have really followed the lead given by material philology and placed the manuscript as a physical object at the center of research to the extent that is often claimed.